Cepeda Stories Exhibit Reception with Joe Cepeda

Joe Cepeda stands next to a wall of sketches.

Photo courtesy of Joe Cepeda

Meet the artist behind the exhibit! Award-winning illustrator Joe Cepeda joins the Worlds of Words Center for a reception featuring Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell, an exhibit that begins with the assertion that each one of us has unique life experiences worth sharing. This exhibit of original art on loan from Cepeda challenges visitors to share their stories.

For the reception, the center will open our special collections to share original illustrations we pulled from our archives to complement the new exhibit. This art includes a variety of mediums to illustrate themes including family mealtimes, scenes from school and children at play.

The reception is free and open to the public. Please RSVP

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Ticketed parking is available in the Second St. Garage and metered parking is available on the street/surface level through the Passport Mobile Parking app. Worlds of Words Center is also located just off of the 2nd St. Modern Streetcar stop.

To request disability-related accommodations that would ensure your full participation in this event, please email wow@arizona.edu or call 520.621.9340.

Event details may change. More information to follow.

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Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell

By Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director, Worlds of Words Center

Joe Cepeda stands next to a wall of sketches.

Photo courtesy of Joe Cepeda

Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell begins with the assertion that each one of us has unique life experiences that are worthy of sharing. This Spring 2025 exhibit of original art by award-winning illustrator, Joe Cepeda, challenges visitors to share their stories. The exhibit is free and open to the public at the Worlds of Words Center in the University of Arizona College of Education. Continue reading

“Black White Grey” Reception

Join the Worlds of Words Center to experience the power of “Black White Grey,” an exhibit on loan from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. Come for a guided tour and stay to enjoy light refreshments and participate in a public art project!

Two women study a puzzle in a corner of a room filled with black and white illustrations

Students from the Indigenous Teacher Education Program (ITEP) visiting the Worlds of Words Center complete a double-sided puzzle that is part of the ‘Black White Grey’ exhibit from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany.

For the reception, the center will open our special collections to look at original illustrations and sketches we pulled from our archives to complement the new exhibit. Additionally, we have seven original illustrations from Moon Song by Ron Himler on display. These striking watercolor and gouache pieces are part of a recent donation by the artist of more than 400 illustrations.

The reception is free and open to the public. Please RSVP.

The “Black White Grey” reception is part of the College of Education Homecoming activities. We hope you can make all of them!


Ticketed parking is available in the Second St. Garage and metered parking is available on the street/surface level through the Passport Mobile Parking app. Worlds of Words Center is also located just off of the 2nd St. Modern Streetcar stop.

To request disability-related accommodations that would ensure your full participation in this event, please email wow@arizona.edu or call 520.621.9340.

Event details may change. More information to follow.

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Black, White and Gray Pop in New Worlds of Words Center Exhibit

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director, Worlds of Words Center

When the average person thinks about picturebooks, black and white illustrations seldom come to mind. But they do exist. “Black White Grey,” a traveling exhibit from the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich, Germany is on view for the first time in the U.S. in the Worlds of Words Center in the University of Arizona College of Education. The exhibit shows how illustrators use the expressive power of lines, shapes, contours and contrasts to create captivating pictures with a unique aesthetic and atmospheric mood.

A young boy holds a hanging sign from the Black White Grey Exhibit that depicts a tiger with a sloth in its mouth.

Oliver (age 6) inspects a hanging medallion that depicts a detail from an illustration in Tierenduin by Dutch author and illustrator, Geert Vervaeke, as part of the ‘Black White Grey’ exhibit on loan from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany and on display in the Worlds of Words Center.

“Using only black, white and gray in illustrations can be surprisingly evocative, stripping away the distraction of color to reveal a depth and nuance that resonates on a profoundly emotional level. These monochromatic palettes invite readers to engage with the essence of the story in a raw and powerful way, proving that sometimes the simplest choices can yield the most profound impact,” says Kathy Short, director of Worlds of Words and Regents Professor. Continue reading

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Worlds of Words Center Expands Holdings of Original Picturebook Illustrations

by Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director of Worlds of Words Center

The Worlds of Words Center adds original illustrations from 55 picturebooks to its holdings as a result of a recent crowdfunding campaign and donations of art by Mary J. Wong. The new pieces are from classic, award-winning, and global children’s literature and include works by illustrators visiting for the Tucson Festival of Books. A selection of the new acquisitions will be on display leading up to the book festival and for UArizona Museum Day at Worlds of Words in the University of Arizona College of Education.

Two women looking at framed art on table easels

Project FOCUS student Daniela Garcia (first-year) and Elementary Education major Lily Volmer (sophomore) compare an original illustration by Jason Chin to its final version. Chin’s work for Watercress earned the 2022 Caldecott Medal.

Continue reading

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The Colourful World Beyond the Seven Hills

By Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director, Worlds of Words Center

The Grimm Brothers’ collection “Children’s and Household Tales” inspired visual images in illustrations that left their indelible mark on the memory of successive generations. For the first time in the U.S., the traveling exhibition “The Colourful World Beyond the Seven Hills” invites people to experience or re-experience this tradition of folktale illustration from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Posters of illustrations from the book collections of the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, are now available for viewing in the Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures of the UArizona College of Education.

Three young people look at a set of cards marked character, setting, plot and resolution one young person in background looking at illustrations

Middle School Reading Ambassadors work through a mixed-up Grimm Brother’s storytelling activity that Worlds of Words offers alongside the The Colourful World Beyond the Seven Hills exhibit on loan from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany.

Continue reading

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Crowdfund Update: With Gratitude

By Rebecca Ballenger, Associate Director, Worlds of Words Center

We keep all the thank you letters we receive from our K-12 visitors. They often share their favorite part of their Worlds of Words Center field trip in these letters. We love these notes! It’s fun to read their thoughts around the exhibits they experience. They almost always mention books, and sometimes we get the best portraits of our staff. The gratitude expressed in these letters has a huge impact on our team.

Handwritten thank you letter Continue reading

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