By Darryn Diuguid, McKendree University, Lebanon, IL, Willeena Booker, Hatboro-Horsham School District, Horsham, PA, Glenda Funk, Pocatello/Chubbuck, S.D. #25, Pocatello, ID, Joe Pizzo, Black River Middle School, Chester, NJ, Junko Sakoi, Tucson Unified School District, Tucson, AZ, April Halprin Wayland, UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, Los Angeles, CA & Jongsun Wee, Pacific University, Forest Grove, OR

Hope! It’s a universal theme we crave in times of uncertainty such as with national polarizing opinions, health crises and personal hardships. For children, they need to understand hope since they encounter instabilities such as having divorced parents, rough patches with siblings and unmet social-emotional needs. To foster hope in the school community, teachers can frame hope as a way for students to become better citizens through hard work while celebrating successes and learning from challenges. Teachers can also create a positive school culture by focusing on hope during difficult times such as staffing, funding and high-stakes testing. NCTE’s Poetry Awards Committee provides contemporary poems, anthologies, and verse novels that embrace hope. We ask that you celebrate hope with us as we share our favorites.

WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.​

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• Themes: Ada Limon, April Halprin Wayland, Bee Johnson, Cedric Abt, Charlotte Cheng, City Sings Green, Daby Zainab Faidhi, Darryn Diuguid, David Harrison, Doan Phuong Nguyen, Erica Silverman, Ginnie Hsu, Glenda Funk, Hannah Barnaby, Home We Make, I Miss You Most, In Praise of Mystery, Joe Pizzo, Jongsun Wee, Junko Sakoi, Kate Cosgrove, Keisha Morris, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Lindsay Bonilla, Loren Long, Maham Khwaja, Nicole Tadgell, One Big Open Sky, Peter Sís, Pumpkin Seed's Secret, Tree is a Community, Two-Placed Heart, We Dream a World, What Can a Mess Make, Willeena Booker, Xindi Yan, Yellow Bus, Yolanda Renee King, You've Got This
• Descriptors: WOW Dozen