Negative Agency in Children’s Picture Books. Non-Empowering and Ethically Dubious Agency

Abstract

Child agency has emerged as a key concept within both child studies and children’s literature research. In the latter, agency is commonly regarded as something inherently positive. This article zooms in on the other side of the spectrum to explore negative agency in two picturebooks: Dorthe Karrebæk’s Pigen der var go’ til mange ting (1996) and Anders Sparring’s and Per Gustavsson’s Vi är pirater (2024). Karrebæk’s picturebook invokes notions of the competent child, but agency emerge as burdensome and solitary; Sparring’s and Gustavsson’s picturebook portrays child agency as ethically dubious and as undermining any clear moral message. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential impact of negative agency in children’s literature and beyond.