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In:Children’s Literature Across Media: Concepts and perspectives of transmedia narratives
Edited by Nina Christensen, Ute Dettmar and Sarah Mygind
[Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition 21] 2026
► pp. 31–47

Chapter 2
Work in progress

Storytelling and worldbuilding in Cornelia Funke’s Mirrorworld series

This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The art of storytelling does not disappear in today’s “mediatised” societies; rather, the interplay of media opens up new narrative possibilities. Cornelia Funke’s work, and in particular the Reckless series, offers a compelling example of this. Funke not only draws on the traditional repertoire of fairy tales, but also embeds her texts within broader intertextual, intermedial, and transmedial frameworks. This chapter examines the interconnections between storytelling and worldbuilding in the Reckless series and the MirrorWorld app: How do stories give rise to worlds? How do complex storyworlds unfold across books and media? Which media-specific structures contribute to these narrative universes, and what holds them together? Building on concepts from transmedial narratology, the chapter explores these dynamics, dimensions, and relations in greater depth.
Article outline
  • The Mirrorworld books: Plot and narrative structure
  • Intertextuality, intermediality, metafiction
  • Storyworlds and worldbuilding
  • Worldbuilding I: Coordinates and references
  • Worldbuilding II: Transmedia expansion
  • Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
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