A book edited by Associate Professor Sarah Park Dahlen and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor in the University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education, has received the Children's Literature Association (ChLA) Edited Book Award. The annual award recognizes the contributions of an outstanding edited collection of essays to children's literature history, scholarship, and criticism. According to ChLA, eligible titles must "make a distinct or significant contribution to our understanding of children's literature from a literary, cultural, historical, or theoretical perspective."
In Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World (University Press of Mississippi, 2022), Dahlen, Thomas, and 17 other scholars examine how the original Wizarding World in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series depicts diverse identities, social subjectivities, and communities. The collection also received a starred review from School Library Journal and was included in the Professional Reading section of School Library Journal's "34 Standout Titles, Including Books in Translation and the Latest by Malinda Lo & Aida Salazar."
"Ebony and I are thankful that our book received this important recognition," said Dahlen. "We hope visibility for the book continues to push forward important conversations about race, justice, and difference in the wizarding world and beyond."
Dahlen's research addresses transracially adopted Koreans in youth literature, Asian American youth literature, and diversity in children's literature and library education. She is coeditor of the open access journal Research on Diversity in Youth Literature, with Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez. Dahlen received her PhD in library and information science from the iSchool at Illinois.