Super-Charlies mamma

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Theme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén Super-Charlie’s Mum: Public Mothers, Adult Address, and Parasocial Relationships in Contemporary Swedish Picturebooks This article examines contemporary Swedish celebrity picturebooks in which the central characters share names with the children of the authors. The focus is on the relationship between the authors’ public personas and the maternal figures depicted in the books, as well as the ways in which such publications can be understood from a book market perspective. The analysis includes Margaux Dietz’ books about Arnold (2020–2021), Marie Serneholt’s books about Nico and Phille (2020–2021), and Camilla Läckberg’s first instalment in the Super-Charlie series (2011–). The rise of celebrity-authored children’s books has been a notable trend in the Anglo-American publishing industry, with parallel developments emerging in Sweden. The symbiotic relationship between celebrities eager to publish children’s literature and publishers seeking to capitalize on public figures is key to understanding the mechanisms that drive the production of such books. By integrating theoretical frameworks from children’s literature research, motherhood studies, and sociology of literature, this article demonstrates the value of a multifaceted disciplinary approach when analyzing the contemporary Swedish children’s book market. The article explores the adult address created by references to the authors’ actual lives — visible through texts, paratexts, and illustrations — which are primarily accessible to the adult reader. This phenomenon reflects the parasocial relationships that these books utilize to engage readers. As a result, different approaches to motherhood can be discerned: as a carer, a role-model, or a playfully distant star author. These variations of the literary mother figure comment on the authors’ public personas for the benefit of the adult readers, which in turn showcase the commercial possibilities surrounding motherhood, online and on the book market.