Joan Sandin’s Long Road to Publication

By Maya Patterson

Worlds of Words’s exhibit, Inspiration to Celebration: Publishing Journeys is now open to the public. The exhibit features the publishing journey of Coyote School News by Joan Sandin, an award-winning author, illustrator and translator. Sandin’s original artwork for Coyote School News hangs in the WOW Studio, and the Mary J. Wong Collection showcases her journey of publishing the book. Newspaper covers from two publications that feature the voices of young reporters, the Little Cowpuncher and Bear Essential News, also hang in the exhibit in the WOW Hall Gallery.

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World War II in the Pacific through Harry Mazer’s Novels

By Maya Patterson

This month we discuss World War II experiences, from American Indian veterans and code talkers to Japanese internment camps. These posts follow the Arizona experience as showcased in WOW’s “Code Making and Perspective Taking” exhibit. This WOW Currents post explores World War II in the Pacific through Harry Mazer novels.

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The Arizona Experience: Japanese Internment Camps in WWII

By Maya Patterson

As the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor approaches, we examine Arizona’s experience of World War II. This experience encompasses both the American Indian code talkers and two Japanese-American internment camps, the Gila River Internment Camp in Phoenix and the Colorado River Internment Camp in Poston. Newbery Award-winning author, Cynthia Kadohata, sets her novel, Weedflower, in Poston. The book connects the worlds of Japanese-Americans in the camps and American Indians, whose land the camps occupied.

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Exploring the Unbreakable Code

By Maya Patterson

Last week WOW Currents presented a list of American Indian literature and children’s books. This week, we take a closer look at The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter and illustrated by Julia Miner. This picture book inspired the art from Tucson High Magnet School and Van Buskirk Elementary School in Worlds of Words’s “Code Making and Perspective Taking” exhibit, open from October 28 to December 15.

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