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Transmedial narratives and Children`s Literature: (Master thesis)

Καρακιουλάχη, Ειρήνη/ Karakioulachi, Eirini

This dissertation attempts to shed light on various aspects of the modern digital children’s literature and the possibilities it opens up. More specifically, the focus is on picturebook-apps which is a novel field of study and research. This study looks into the conditions that paved the way for the emergence of digital literature for children. In particular, it connects the digital picturebooks with the postmodern movement, the multimodality principle and the pedagogy of multiliteracies. It further presents the genres and the forms digital literature takes on, and examines the various definitions formulated regarding the picturebook-apps, pointing out the inability to reach a widely accepted definition. What is more, it explores its features, and the possibilities digital literature opens up, while attempting to delineate the similarities and discrepancies between the conventional (printed) and digital literature. The study looks into three cases of digital picturebooks, Goldilocks and Little Bear, an adaptation of a nineteenth century popular classic fairy tale, Τhe Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and Τhe Artifacts, two picturebook-apps, created originally on digital platforms, by examining the extent to which they incorporate characteristics recurrent in postmodern picturebooks and their degree of interactivity. Lastly, based on these case studies, it looks into the shifts the meaning of the reader and narrative have undergone.