Bakom den leende masken

Abstract

Theme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén Behind the Pretty Mask: Vulnerable Mothering in Contemporary Picturebooks about Surrogacy and Illness Children and adults, the dual audience of picturebooks, are joined in the act of reading aloud. For many parents, reading to their child constitutes one of the basic, intimate care practices of mothering (Rich; Holm). In this study, we examine picturebooks about surrogacy and about mothering parents who are mentally or physically ill, published in Sweden in the period between 2010 and 2022. Both types of books depict a vulnerability in relation to parenthood, motherhood and mothering and are often autobiographical and niche- or self-published. With an analytical approach grounded in critical theories of adult agency in children’s literature (Rose; Nodelman; Beauvais), we find that both picturebooks about surrogacy and illness communicate straightforward and often sentimental messages to the child reader, whereas more complex and possibly problematic adult desires and needs can be detected on the level of the adult address. Through the projected child perspective (Rhedin), our material offers the vulnerable adult reader representation and recognition in relation to a motherhood/mothering that is not unequivocally considered sufficient or legitimate. The traditional aesthetics and pedagogical use-value of the picturebook as well as the positive maternal associations to reading aloud, are essential in this legitimization process. Meanwhile, the implied child reader functions as a projection surface for adult wishes of normalcy and happy endings. Although hidden behind adult projections, it is this “mighty” child (Beauvais) who ultimately has the power to acknowledge and justify the parents in an impending future which reaches beyond the control of both adult writer and implied adult reader.