WOW Dozen: Encouraging Hope through the use of Children’s Poetry and Verse Novels

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. Continue reading →

The Power of Graphic Novels to Foster Critical Literacy and Critical Reading

By Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina, Melissa Summer Wells, University of Mary Washington & Jennifer D. Morrison, Sam Houston State University

Graphic novels, often stigmatized as a genre, hold immense potential for transformative multimodal literacy instruction. Paris and Alim (2017) argue that equity and access are best achieved by centering the dynamic practices and identities of students and communities of color within a critical, inclusive vision of education. In our teaching and research, this means prioritizing multimodal texts to help preservice teachers explore diverse ways of knowing, doing, and being in the classroom.

Traditional reading and writing capture only a fraction of students’ literacy capabilities. Carefully selected multicultural, multilingual and multidisciplinary graphic novels offer powerful tools for critical reading and literacy. These texts provide unique access points that connect teaching and learning to the lived experiences of children and their communities. Continue reading →

Current Global Conflicts: Palestinian Perspectives and Experiences, Part 2

by Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

As I looked into Palestinian experiences in children’s literature, I discovered many significant examples. These examples speak to broader issues of displacement, refugees and oppression. These topics/issues are prevalent in the global sociopolitical atmosphere presently, more so now with the two ongoing wars: Ukraine/Russia and Palestine/Israel. If we research and go into depth on both these conflicts and wars, we come away with multiple ways of understanding the conflicts and realize that there is no one easy explanation that pigeonholes the conflicts.

The examples of children’s literature that I explore in this post shed light on Palestinian perspectives on the current conflict through a recent memoir and several nonfiction books. By combining these powerful examples of fiction and nonfiction, readers come away with new understandings. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: The Rock in My Throat

The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Jiemei Lin takes a stance of resistance with an ending that challenges the privileged status of English and the treatment of immigrants in the U.S. This autobiographical picturebook tells the story of Kalia’s childhood decision to be selectively mute in speaking English. Kalia and her family came to the U.S. as Hmong refugees, comfortable in speaking their beautiful native language in their home. When she witnesses a cashier’s demeaning treatment of her mother who struggles to communicate in English, a rock grows in her throat. Kalia stops speaking in school, causing concern and confusion among her teachers and classmates, and growing loneliness in the isolation she feels in this place where English dominates. At recess, she finds solace in the beauty of nature and a relief from the constant scrutiny and embarrassment she feels in the classroom. She is unable to explain to her teachers or parents why she has stopped speaking, and the book ends with Kalia still not speaking in school, but with the hope of a connection to a classmate who invites her to play. Continue reading →

Current Global Conflicts: Palestinian Perspectives and Experiences, Part 1

by Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

News reports of global conflicts raise many questions and confusion for children who do not understand the history or broader context of these conflicts. Children’s books can provide children with perspectives on global conflicts, such as the current conflict between Israel and Palestine. This post highlights books that reflect Palestinian perspectives as part of a larger conversation in the field of the many perspectives, including Israeli voices, related to this conflict. Continue reading →

Invest In Youth As Readers: Certificate of Completion

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director of Worlds of Words

We did it! Thank you for your support attending and promoting our event with author Karen S. Chow, listening to the WOW Reads podcast, and donating to ensure the program continues for another year. We appreciate you!

large group photo of reading ambassadors with certificates

Photo by Bob Bingham Photography

You don’t have to wait for our next crowdfund campaign to support the work of the Worlds of Words Center. Learn more about how we can promote global children’s literature together on our giving page.

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.

Indigenous Stories of Being

By Angeline Hoffman, White Mountain Apache Tribe

Story is about the unique ways of teaching and learning as reflected through special connections to nature, family, community and ecology. It is understanding and acknowledging the connections and deep knowledge through teaching and learning about how life is.

Indigenous stories involve members of a community or small groups of relatives gathering together to hear stories told, mostly by an elder, to convey information about the specific Indigenous culture of the community. The stories, especially through the Indigenous language, support the maintenance of Native identity. Embedded in these stories is the important knowledge that we, as Native Americans from special tribal cultures, must acquire to survive and to conduct oneself appropriately. Both the narratives and the languages that convey them are place-based in the sense that they are tied to the land – especially the knowledge of where we came from, where we live, how we survive and our way of life. Continue reading →

WOW Dozen: Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight

By Michele Ebersole and Avis Masuda, University of Hawaii at Hilo

A proverb or a noteworthy saying is often used to teach important lessons and can help children connect to human experiences in simple, yet profound, ways. This WOW Dozen is centered around the Japanese proverb, “Fall down seven times, get up eight,” another way to convey the message “never give up.” This theme of hard work, perseverance or persistence is reflected through different means — whether overcoming small challenges, dealing with human relationships, standing up for oneself to make a significant change in laws to fight for the rights of others, inventing something new that builds confidence or creating an innovation that makes a big impact in the world. This list introduces biographies of meaningful people who overcame big challenges as well as fictional stories that are fun and whimsical. Reading these books aloud may inspire children to see themselves as capable and resilient beings in the world. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: The Eyes and the Impossible

The Eyes and The Impossible by Dave Eggers is the story of Johannes, an independent stray dog that lives in the park eating the delicious food left by picnickers on the ground or in trash receptacles across his daily route of surveillance. He is, after all, the “eyes” of the park, informing the other nonhuman inhabitants who share the park with him of the changes he notes or of issues of which they should be informed. In many ways, Johannes is the caretaker of those with whom he shares his life.

For the most part, Johannes lives a wonderful life with all manner of possibilities. He runs fast, oh so fast, and sees, yes, sees so much, sees everything, of which he is the first to let the reader know. He reports his findings to the three buffalo who are the oldest and wisest of the inhabitants of the park. Johannes also accepts those around him. He appreciates them and councils with them, and only occasionally disparages the ducks, who seem to be not quite connected to, or concerned with, the rest of the world around them. Continue reading →

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 →