Welcome to Meghann Meeusen’s Teaching & Research Webpage!
Meghann Meeusen teaches children’s and adolescent literature at Western Michigan University, where she serves as the Director of Graduate Studies in English and liaison to the College of Education and Human Development. She regularly teaches both children’s and adolescent literature, as well as occasional film courses, but her favorite classes are focused on diverse texts and questions of representation, such as ENGL 4840 Culture in Children’s Literature and ENGL 5830 Multicultural Adolescent Literature.
Meghann has recently published Children’s Books on the Big Screen with the University Press of Mississippi (2020), a study that posits an overarching theory of adaptation for children’s and young adult fiction. Children’s Books on the Big Screen offers a new way of thinking about the practice of film adaptation by exploring a pattern: consistently, binaries present in the source text are polarized in the adaptation, so that key concepts exist in more stark contrast and striking opposition. The text explores this trend, focusing specifically on causes that contribute to this polarization as well the ideological results and ramifications of a widening of the divide between concepts such as adult/child, male/female, and self/other.
Before joining WMU’s English faculty, Meghann earned her PhD from Illinois State University. She has broader research interests in children’s visual culture, representation in YA fantasy, and pedagogies that highlight social justice. In addition to her manuscript, Meghann has recently published on differences between graphic novel and movie adaptations of Coraline and City of Ember, pedagogical approaches to The Hunger Games, contemporary movie versions of The Wizard of Oz, and the ways adults are uniquely portrayed in picturebooks made into movies such as The Lorax and Jumanji. Her current research project focuses on approaches to teaching children’s media, with an emphasis on student-centered and collaborative pedagogies that involve students and faculty building knowledge together as a community. This multi-faceted project considers how teachers can use children’s and YA texts to develop anti-racist and anti-biased pedagogies that highlight diversity, equity, and inclusion.
You can reach Meghann by email at meghann.meeusen@wmich.edu.
Second Star to the Right 