Invest In Youth as Readers: MASH and Matching

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Assistant Director of Worlds of Words

In this last stretch towards our goal, we extend our deepest gratitude to each of you, our co-authors in continuing this program. Thanks to the generosity of 14 donors, we have raised a total of $4827 to support the Reading Ambassadors as they continue to discover, discuss, and delight in the power of literature. We continue the good news today with the announcement of a donor who will match each gift dollar-for-dollar up to $1500! Your gift would be doubled, bringing us closer to (and maybe past) our goal!

Visit crowdfund.arizona.edu/wow to make a gift. Continue reading →

Invest In Youth as Readers: WOW Reads Podcast

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

This month, we launch our third season of WOW Reads, a podcast that centers the voices of middle school and teen readers around literature for young people. The podcast features Reading Ambassadors discussing their experience reading and responding to books, planning and moderating an author event and the lessons they learned along the way.

Donors to our crowdfund campaign with gifts above $1000 can be acknowledged “on air” in an upcoming episode of WOW Reads. Visit crowdfund.arizona.edu/wow for more information. Continue reading →

Invest In Youth As Readers: Catch the Reading Ambassadors In Action

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

Reading Ambassadors participate in literature discussions with books that offer multiple perspectives and equip them to be critical thinkers, empathetic citizens and reading promoters. Those experiences include hosting events with the book authors. Please join these remarkable readers in action at two events this October and consider making a gift at crowdfund.arizona.edu/WOW. Continue reading →

Invest In Youth as Readers: 2024 Crowdfund Campaign

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

This year, Worlds of Words offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on middle and high school readers through a crowdfund campaign benefiting the Worlds of Words Center Reading Ambassador program. Since its inception in 2018, the Reading Ambassador program has been instrumental in creating a community for young people around reading, equipping them with real-world skills and experiences that extend beyond the pages of a book.

For more information, visit our U of A Foundation crowdfund campaign website.
Continue reading →

WOW Dozen: Understanding the Power and Beauty of a Unique Name

By Janine M. Schall, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Several months ago I posted a WOW Dozen called Multiple Perspectives on Names and Naming. While I was collecting picturebooks on names in preparation for writing that post, I realized that while the books connected to the topic in a wide variety of ways, a large percentage of them focused on children learning to love their unique or unusual names. Because there were so many excellent books with this focus, I decided to do a separate WOW Dozen post. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: Spirit Sleuths, How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes

For many people, October includes activities around spirits, ghosts and supernatural beings. On a related theme, although not to take away from the fantasy and fun of autumn, this month’s recommended book is Spirit Sleuths, How Magicians and Detectives Exposed the Ghost Hoaxes. Author Gail Jarrow invites readers to investigate the history behind particular supernatural activities.

This account begins in 1848 with two sisters in upstate New York who claimed that mysterious tappings in their house were communications from ghosts. As this story grew and traveled to nearby communities, the girls gained popularity, as did the séances they held. The author provides narrative detail that describes the experiences of their family. Jarrow continues her account to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when other people such as Ira and William Davenport, Henry Keller, and William Mumler claimed supernatural powers. The stories of their mystic experiences are documented in narrative form and include particular seemingly magical events, such as spirit cabinets, spirit photographs, planchette which led to the Ouija Boards, mind reading and fortune-telling. Each chapter ends with a section titled “How Did They Do It?”

These fraudulent spiritualists traveled nationally and internationally, holding meetings and giving false hope to grieving individuals that they could communicate with their dead loved ones. Eventually, suspicion of these experiences led to exposure of spiritual mediums and the fraudulent opportunities they provided emotional people. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: The House Before Falling Into The Sea

The House Before Falling Into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang is a picturebook that tells a story from Korean history that is seldom found in children’s books. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North and South Korea were at war for 3 years. People fled southward to escape from the war. Korea is geographically a peninsula, with Busan located at the southern tip of the peninsula. Beyond Busan, there is no further land to which people could flee; it was the last refuge on the peninsula.

In the story, Kyung’s family has long resided near Busan, next to the sea. Her family has owned a cozy house shielded from the war which, fortunately, had not reached that far. However, Kyung’s parents opened their home to the refugees fleeing from the war. Kyung’s home is not intended to be a shelter, yet it became a sanctuary for the refugees. Kyung’s family welcomed them with open arms and shared their intimate space. Continue reading →

WOW Dozen: Freed Between the Lines

By Barbara Ward, University of New Orleans & Deanna Day, Washington State University

What could be more important in a democracy than intellectual freedom or the Right to Read? What are the dangers inherent in white-washing history and refusing to acknowledge some of the mistakes our nation has made? What are the consequences for classrooms, schools, libraries, even countries when one person or one small group of vocal individuals makes the decision about what materials can be allowed on classroom and library shelves or included in the curriculum? These and other related questions as well as the recent spate of book challenges as well as the approaching Banned Books Week, set for Sept. 22-28, 2024, prompted us to consider once again the damage caused to children and teens by limiting access to reading materials.

In this blog post, we celebrate some of our favorite titles honoring the value of an informed populace and the freedom to choose reading material even when it might be offensive or problematic to some. After all, one of the purposes of education is about being introduced to many different perspectives and deciding for oneself what to think, not simply swallowing propaganda or one person’s opinion as the truth. Truth is far more complex than the simplistic, easy, one-sided answers that some prefer. Continue reading →

Author’s Corner: Michael Sampson & Olena Kharchenko & Illustrator Polina Doroshenko

By Judi Moreillon, Tucson, AZ

Michael Sampson participated in the 15th Annual Tucson Festival of Books in March 2024. He was a panelist for the “Every Word Counts: Authoring a Picturebook” session. After the panel, Michael introduced me to his wife Olena Kharchenko and their daughter, Michelle. We talked about their co-authored bilingual (English/Ukrainian) book The Story of Ukraine: An Anthem of Glory and Freedom.

In March 2022, Michael, Olena, and the book’s illustrator, Polina Doroshenko, seized the moment and began co-creating The Story of Ukraine. People around the world were focused on Ukraine after the full Russian invasion, which occurred on February 24, 2022. The authors had a timely story to tell about Olena and Polina’s beloved homeland. By August, they released their book so that children and families around the world could learn about Olena and Polina’s fascinating nation.

The book includes information about the geography of Ukraine, its people, their history, national symbols, and cultural aspects such as food, dance, music, and notable people. Presented in the header of several pages, the centerpiece of the book, are the words of the Ukrainian national anthem, which had been forbidden by the Soviet government in 1922. The illustrations reinforce the meaning of the national anthem and show the pride Ukrainians feel in having the opportunity to sing their anthem under the current government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Continue reading →

Launching a Successful AP Seminar

By Deborah Dimmett, Tucson Magnet High School, Tucson, AZ

A fresh beginning of a new school year has presented this 41-year veteran of teaching with a new challenge that few in would take with only three years remaining before retirement. Teaching AP Seminar for the first time and to a class of 39 eager Sophomores promises to test my ability to incorporate every best practice in this project-based English class.

AP Seminar, offered as an English option, incorporates literature with real-world problems and issues that students investigate through a wide range of perspectives. For example, Night, the classic memoir authored by Elie Wiesel, allows students to investigate human rights issues such as genocide, war crimes, and a myriad of human rights issues through sociological, ethical, and political perspectives to name a few. Students can explore complex issues around collective identity and faith through cultural, religious, and political frameworks. They can engage in a comparative study of the issues raised in the novel with one or more real-world issues that include perspectives on resilience, trauma, and the impact of oppressive regimes on individual groups. Continue reading →