Hans Christian Andersen for Children, with Children, and by children

This special issue on children's literature and fairy tales has its focus on Hans Christian Andersen: his unique way of telling and his influence on modern Danish children's literature, as well as the way his fairy tales are used pedagogically by teachers and by the children themselves in their play culture. Thus the articles will show a range of different perspectives on Andersen's fairy tales. The contemporary challenge of research in children's literature is to combine a literary perspective with other angles: children's literature as media, as pedagogical artefact, and as raw material for children's play. You need theoretical framing from different areas of science: in addition to literary theory you need book history, media theory, pedagogical and didactical theory, and cultural theory. This fact is mirrored in the selection of scholars and views in this volume.