Tuula Korolainen considers role models for boys and girls in Finnish school books and children’s books. A recent study shows that men and boys are far more frequently represented in both text and images in school books.

Päivi Heikkilä-Halttunen presents websites on children’s literature aimed at children. She concludes that they serve a similar purpose as the popular children’s magazines used to. The aim is to generate interaction among children, as well as among children and adults, and to stimulate reading, writing and information retrieval. The websites create a sense of community based on the joy of sharing a hobby. Some websites assist school teaching.

Marjo Vepsä explores African influences on illustrator Petra Heikkilä’s work. Through text and pictures, Heikkilä tells animal stories using very humanlike characters. The tales mix everyday observations with personal visions. Planning the illustrations, Heikkilä also composes the make-up of the entire book. Vepsä finds African influences in Mikko Kettusen pupupöksyt (2001), Ilvekset kuin veljekset (2004) and Makin makiikkaa (2007); whereas Pikku Nunuun löytöretki (2010), which originates in Heikkilä’s trip to Uganda, is entirely set in Africa.

Maria Ihonen explores fictitious extinct peoples in Finnish young adult novels inspired by the history of settlement in Finland and the migration of the Finno-Ugric peoples towards present-day Finland. The books examined are from the 1930s, 1950s and 2000s, and they deal with identity, race and social issues in very different ways. The historical novels written in the 30s and 50s carefully construct the mind and social interests of ancient man in a realistic manner, later on influenced by foreign adventure novels; whereas fantasy literature allows contemporary writers to deal more freely with the past. The meeting between Finnish and Sami people is a theme in all books examined, but not until in the novels from the 2000s are the Sami and the Finns depicted living peacefully side by side. Most novels express a strong faith in progress.

Päivi Heikkilä-Halttunen reads Joel Haahtela’s novel Katoamispiste (2009) about the Finnish author Raija Siekkinen’s life and work, alongside Siekkinen’s own picturebook production. A sense of loneliness and estrangement is a typical feature in Siekkinen’s work, including her children’s books. Of these, Herra kuningas (1986), which was illustrated by Hannu Taina, won the Biennale Bratislava Award. Heikkilä-Halttunen finds it strange that Haahtela has completely ignored Siekkinen’s children’s books.

Merja Leppälahti presents the children’s magazine Kipinä, which is published in Petroskoi in Russian Karelia. The magazine amuses and provides information in Finnish, as well as in the regional minority languages. The aim is to enhance and maintain children’s language skills.

Terhi Laitinen writes about the rewarding interaction among teachers and students on Facebook. 
 

Translation: Maria Lassén-Seger