Ebony Elizabeth Thomas – författare

Diversity in children’s and young adult literature encompasses shifting and often ill-defined historical and contemporary meanings, and yet, remains a necessary term for examining the possibilities and limitations of representation in storytelling for young people. The Handbook of Research on Diversity in Children’s and Young Adult Literature calls attention to the ideologies and social narratives that underwrite how books are published and circulated, how storytellers shape new images and interpretations for themselves and others, how literary works for young people are critiqued and studied, and how these works are made accessible in libraries and introduced in school settings.The editors and contributors raise these questions at a time when storytelling by minoritized authors and illustrators has never been more exploratory and visible and simultaneously more subject to politicized surveillance, isolation, and exclusion. These questions also resonate with scholars in international contexts, highlighting the limits of western meanings and practices of diversity. Across four key dimensions for understanding children’s and young adult literature, authors from multiple fields and contexts illuminate how and why diverse literature matters in the lives of young people and their communities.Part I addresses the history, status, and future of publishing and related ecosystems and the ways diverse literature is foregrounded in the United States and globally.Part II features scholarship on intersectional representations and the speculative possibilities for storytelling within and across ‘beloved communities.’Part III introduces new insights and tensions for studying diverse literature, focusing on methodologies and interdisciplinary scholarship encompassing literary studies, education, library science, cultural studies, media studies, critical race theory, critical youth studies, eco-criticism, and queer theory. Part IV provides comprehensive research reviews on the role of diverse literature in classrooms, libraries, and community settings and proposes new directions for understanding how diverse literature is being reframed through classroom dialogue and pedagogy to advance critical inquiry.Scholars, librarians, and educators working in the fields of Education, English Studies, Library and Information Science, and Ethnic Studies will find historical overviews and new theoretical frameworks suggesting new questions and frameworks for future inquiry. This volume directs the field of children’s and young adult literature scholarship to the most pressing questions of our time, with the intention to inspire and strengthen dialogue, inquiry, advocacy and artistry.

Diversity in children’s and young adult literature encompasses shifting and often ill-defined historical and contemporary meanings, and yet, remains a necessary term for examining the possibilities and limitations of representation in storytelling for young people. The Handbook of Research on Diversity in Children’s and Young Adult Literature calls attention to the ideologies and social narratives that underwrite how books are published and circulated, how storytellers shape new images and interpretations for themselves and others, how literary works for young people are critiqued and studied, and how these works are made accessible in libraries and introduced in school settings.The editors and contributors raise these questions at a time when storytelling by minoritized authors and illustrators has never been more exploratory and visible and simultaneously more subject to politicized surveillance, isolation, and exclusion. These questions also resonate with scholars in international contexts, highlighting the limits of western meanings and practices of diversity. Across four key dimensions for understanding children’s and young adult literature, authors from multiple fields and contexts illuminate how and why diverse literature matters in the lives of young people and their communities.Part I addresses the history, status, and future of publishing and related ecosystems and the ways diverse literature is foregrounded in the United States and globally.Part II features scholarship on intersectional representations and the speculative possibilities for storytelling within and across ‘beloved communities.’Part III introduces new insights and tensions for studying diverse literature, focusing on methodologies and interdisciplinary scholarship encompassing literary studies, education, library science, cultural studies, media studies, critical race theory, critical youth studies, eco-criticism, and queer theory. Part IV provides comprehensive research reviews on the role of diverse literature in classrooms, libraries, and community settings and proposes new directions for understanding how diverse literature is being reframed through classroom dialogue and pedagogy to advance critical inquiry.Scholars, librarians, and educators working in the fields of Education, English Studies, Library and Information Science, and Ethnic Studies will find historical overviews and new theoretical frameworks suggesting new questions and frameworks for future inquiry. This volume directs the field of children’s and young adult literature scholarship to the most pressing questions of our time, with the intention to inspire and strengthen dialogue, inquiry, advocacy and artistry.

What does it mean to be Black in the Obama era? In Reading African American Experiences in the Obama Era, young African American scholars and researchers and experienced community activists demonstrate how to encourage dialogue across curricula, disciplines, and communities with emphases on education, new media, and popular culture. Considering what this historic moment means for Black life, letters, and learning, this accessible yet scholarly volume encourages movement toward thoughtful analysis today.

Winner, 2022 Children's Literature Association Book Award, given by the Children's Literature AssociationWinner, 2020 World Fantasy AwardsWinner, 2020 British Fantasy Awards, NonfictionFinalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction Reveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imaginationStories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children's publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW's The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC's Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world. In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, "we dark girls deserve more, because we are more."

Winner, 2022 Children's Literature Association Book Award, given by the Children's Literature AssociationWinner, 2020 World Fantasy AwardsWinner, 2020 British Fantasy Awards, NonfictionFinalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction Reveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imaginationStories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children's publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW's The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC's Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world. In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, "we dark girls deserve more, because we are more."

Contributions by Christina M. Chica, Kathryn Coto, Sarah Park Dahlen, Preethi Gorecki, Tolonda Henderson, Marcia Hernandez, Jackie C. Horne, Susan E. Howard, Peter C. Kunze, Florence Maätita, Sridevi Rao, Kallie Schell, Jennifer Patrice Sims, Paul Spickard, Lily Anne Welty Tamai, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, Jasmine Wade, Karin E. Westman, and Charles D. WilsonRace matters in the fictional Wizarding World of the Harry Potter series as much as it does in the real world. As J. K. Rowling continues to reveal details about the world she created, a growing number of fans, scholars, readers, and publics are conflicted and concerned about how the original Wizarding World—quintessentially white and British—depicts diverse and multicultural identities, social subjectivities, and communities. Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World is a timely anthology that examines, interrogates, and critiques representations of race and difference across various Harry Potter media, including books, films, and official websites, as well as online forums and the classroom.As the contributors to this volume demonstrate, a deeper reading of the series reveals multiple ruptures in popular understandings of the liberatory potential of the Potter series. Young people who are progressive, liberal, and empowered to question authority may have believed they were reading something radical as children and young teens, but increasingly they have raised alarms about the series’ depiction of peoples of color, cultural appropriation in worldbuilding, and the author’s antitrans statements in the media. Included essays examine the failed wizarding justice system, the counterproductive portrayal of Nagini as an Asian woman, the liberation of Dobby the elf, and more, adding meaningful contributions to existing scholarship on the Harry Potter series. As we approach the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Other provides a smorgasbord of insights into the way that race and difference have shaped this story, its world, its author, and the generations who have come of age during the era of the Wizarding World.