By Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director, Worlds of Words Center

The Worlds of Words Center exhibits allow people of all ages to embark on journeys that open windows on the world. Sometimes that world is right here in Arizona.

For those considering a donation to our first-ever crowdfunding campaign and want to know more about how we plan and share exhibits, “Arizona Is a Story” serves as an example. This semester we launched an all-new, completely-original exhibit focused on our own story. Arizona Is a Story opened in August and focuses on our histories as told in maps, original illustrations with Arizona connections and books – of course!

We’ve already welcomed visitors from several schools and likely learned as much from them as they did from us. One of the more popular activities pushes back on stereotypes people in other states have of us. Do we have cowboys here? Yes! But we aren’t all cowboys. Are we the Australia of the U.S. No! We are the Arizona of the U.S. We do have venomous critters, and we also have monarchs migrating through our state.

This exhibit includes 17 original illustrations from published picturebooks, eight text sets of books, five maps and a cactus boot. We also use chart paper, markers, crayons, color pencils, construction paper and post-it notes. Additionally, we print and dry mount the interpretive components (the parts that explain the exhibit and exhibit pieces), print and laminate the activity instructions, and use a boatload of putty to keep everything in place. Even an exhibit that uses our own existing archives comes at a price!

Please take a moment to think about how you can help. You can use one of the existing giving levels or type in your own amount. You can also help this effort by sharing a link from our crowdfunding page to your social media feeds or by sending it to your email contact list.

We’d love for you to come visit Arizona Is a Story. Take a self-guided tour, book a tour for a group, or attend our November 3 reception.

Thank you for supporting the Worlds of Words Center and our efforts to bring interesting and relevant exhibits to our community!

https://crowdfund.arizona.edu/WOW

Give Wonder and Imagination!

WOW Currents is a space to talk about forward-thinking trends in global children’s and adolescent literature and how we use that literature with students. “Currents” is a play on words for trends and timeliness and the way we talk about social media. We encourage you to participate by leaving comments and sharing this post with your peers. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit its archival stream.

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• Themes: Crowdfunding Campaign, Exhibits, Rebecca Ballenger
• Descriptors: WOW Currents