In our presentation we analyse how the chapter book Seacrow Island (1964 in Swedish), the original television series of the same name and the subsequent films have been reimagined as two new picturebooks illustrated by Maria Nilsson Thore (2019, 2020). We will discuss the artistic/didactic/considerations given to at once remaining respectful to the source material and to making the story an understandable and enjoyable experience for a new generation of readers.

Astrid Lindgren’s works belong to Sweden’s cultural heritage and many of her books have been translated into multiple languages and are read around the world. It is interesting to ponder which of Lindgren’s books will live on as classics and what adaptations are required in terms of their content, language, style and form for this to happen. Here, it is also appropriate to consider what Göte Klingberg called medium-choosing adaptations, in order to give due consideration to how a story can maintain the reader’s interest in a new millennium (Klingberg 1972: 95). Likewise, to observe the artistic deliberations involved in the illustrator’s visualisations (Nikolajeva & Scott 2001: 41-60). In the context of children’s literature, classics are often adapted works that are more or less reworked versions of the source material, whether originally intended for children or adults. Many of the works we now call classics would not have survived without this reworking (Ehriander 2015: 26-27). It is also striking that the story of Seacrow Island, the archipelago and the people who live there, is now being reworked for a younger readership in much the same way as many of Lindgren’s other works, in keeping with the changing times and changes in reading habits over the half century since the first generation of children encountered the fictional world of Seacrow Island (Almgren White & Ehriander 2020).

Selected Bibliography

Astrid Lindgrens bildvärldar (ed.) Helene Ehriander & Anette Almgren White, Göteborg: Makadam 2019.

“Ett litet djur åt Pelle” – en bilderboks relationer till Vi på Saltkråkan. Anette Almgren White & Helene Ehriander, HumaNetten, 2020, p. 231-255.

“Pictures of Alma in Katthult: Emil’s Mother the Writer in an Intermedial Light”, LP Publishing Contemporary Literary Criticism series: Astrid Lindgren, to be published 2021.