Allyson Wierenga is an English Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University. Allyson’s research focuses on intersections between the fields of children’s literature, health humanities, and disability studies. She is especially interested in analyzing how illnesses and disabilities are constructed in contemporary children’s literature. She has two forthcoming book chapters on topics within children’s literature. Allyson earned an M.A. in English from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. in English Literature and Writing from Calvin University.
This feature is the winner of the 2022 Daniel Walden Prize for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper, awarded annually at the MAPACA conference to outstanding emerging scholars in popular culture studies.