Sharing Maternal Fantasies

Theme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén Adult characters in children’s literature often remain in the “blind space”, Vanessa Joosen observes (Adulthood). Whereas this is true for a lot of children’s books, there are also picturebooks that focus on mothers, often designed as tributes to motherhood. Within this array of books on mothers, however, some offer a more nuanced portrayal of motherhood than others. Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld (Meanwhile in My Imaginary World, 2018) by Lisa Bjärbo and Emma AdBåge shares a mother’s imagination with the readers. The mother’s inner world is connected to shared pleasures, which are easily considered to be “childlike”. By using a mother’s perspective in a picturebook intended for children and adults Bjärbo and AdBåge create an intergenerational experience. Building on concepts and insights from sociology, age studies and children’s literature studies and the textual and visual analysis of Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld, I reflect on the way picturebooks have the affordances to create an intergenerational understanding of daily situations and, by doing so, could contribute to breaking the good mom myth.