Bern l ser faktab cker:en studie om hur n gra barn anv nder och uppfattar faktaboken

In this article the authors direct attention to how children experience and use non-fiction books in their leisure time. The article is based on a Master’s thesis which, through qualitativeinterviews with eight children aged between nine and eleven years old, explored children’s own thoughts concerning non-fiction books as it was found that research on this issue usually reflects adult experiences, even in reports that focus on children and literature. The interviews were analysed using a theory of reading benefits developed by Furhammar. It was found that the children used non-fiction books in their leisure time both for learning about the world and for pleasure. Furthermore, it was found that genre divisions in literature are not particularly helpful for children and may even have a negative effect on their interest in reading. It was concluded that librarians can support children's reading by promoting non-fiction books for recreational reading as well as for learning.