Middle School Reading Ambassadors Present Violet Duncan

Photo of Violet Duncan Worlds of Words Middle School Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Violet Duncan, author of Buffalo Dreamer!

From Nancy Paulsen Books:
Summer and her family always spend relaxed summers in Alberta, Canada, on the reservation where her mom’s family lives. But this year is turning out to be an eye-opening one. First, Summer has begun to have vivid dreams in which she’s running away from one of the many real-life residential schools that tore Native children from their families and tried to erase their Native identities. Not long after that, she learns that unmarked children’s graves have been discovered at the school her grandpa attended as a child. Now more folks are speaking up about their harrowing experiences at these places, including her grandfather. Summer cherishes her heritage and is heartbroken about all her grandfather was forced to give up and miss out on. When the town holds a rally, she’s proud to take part to acknowledge the painful past and speak of her hopes for the future, and anxious to find someone who can fill her in on the source of her unsettling dreams.

Cover of Buffalo Dreamer - Cree girl touches brows with a giant bison Violet Duncan is Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation and an accomplished author, educator, dancer and storyteller. After becoming a mother of four and seeing the need for greater Native representation in literature, Violet has authored three picture books: I Am Native, When We Dance and Let’s Hoop Dance! Her next children’s book, Life is a Dance will arrive in fall 2025. Duncan’s middle school novel, Buffalo Dreamer, is a National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Finalist.

U of A Campus Store will be on site with copies of Buffalo Dreamer for sale.

This event includes a conversation between Duncan and the Reading Ambassadors, followed by audience questions and a book signing. This event is free and open to the public.

Event details may change.

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.

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.

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 →

Invest In Youth as Readers: WOW Reads Podcast

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

This month, we launch our third season of WOW Reads, a podcast that centers the voices of middle school and teen readers around literature for young people. The podcast features Reading Ambassadors discussing their experience reading and responding to books, planning and moderating an author event and the lessons they learned along the way.

Donors to our crowdfund campaign with gifts above $1000 can be acknowledged “on air” in an upcoming episode of WOW Reads. Visit crowdfund.arizona.edu/wow for more information. Continue reading →

Middle School Reading Ambassadors Present Karen S. Chow

Worlds of Words Middle School Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Karen S. Chow, author of Miracle!

Information found in text of event listing

Modified from the publisher:
Amie has spent her life perfectly in tune with her father — she plays the violin, his favorite instrument; she loves all his favorite foods, even if he can’t eat them during his cancer treatments; and they talk about books, including Amie’s favorite series, Harry Potter. But after Ba-ba dies, Amie feels distanced from everyone close to her. More devastating still, she loses her ability to play the violin. With hope and harmony lighting the way — and with help from the people who care about her most — Amie must find the strength to carry on. In the end, she’ll learn that healing, while painful, can be its own miraculous song.

Karen S. Chow is a Taiwanese-American author, who started writing novels as a college sophomore at Arizona State University, while earning a degree in electrical engineering. Now, she is an engineer by day and middle-grade novelist by night. Her debut middle-grade novel, Miracle, is a heart story that combines her love for music with her experiences witnessing her father passing away from pancreatic cancer.

U of A Campus Store will be on site with copies of Miracle for sale.

This event includes a conversation between Chow and the Reading Ambassadors followed by audience questions and a book signing. This event is free and open to the public.

Event details may change.

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.

Invest In Youth As Readers: Catch the Reading Ambassadors In Action

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

Reading Ambassadors participate in literature discussions with books that offer multiple perspectives and equip them to be critical thinkers, empathetic citizens and reading promoters. Those experiences include hosting events with the book authors. Please join these remarkable readers in action at two events this October and consider making a gift at crowdfund.arizona.edu/WOW. Continue reading →

Invest In Youth as Readers: 2024 Crowdfund Campaign

Contact Rebecca Ballenger, Worlds of Words Associate Director

This year, Worlds of Words offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on middle and high school readers through a crowdfund campaign benefiting the Worlds of Words Center Reading Ambassador program. Since its inception in 2018, the Reading Ambassador program has been instrumental in creating a community for young people around reading, equipping them with real-world skills and experiences that extend beyond the pages of a book.

For more information, visit our U of A Foundation crowdfund campaign website.
Continue reading →

Reading Ambassador Orientation

Four middle grade readers gathered around a table reading and writing recommended books on butcher paper.

Reading Ambassadors compile a list of books they suggest for middle school-aged readers.

The Worlds of Words Center welcomes our new cadres of Reading Ambassadors! Middle School Reading Ambassadors (MSRAP) and Teen Reading Ambassadors (TRAP) will meet for the first time in the 2024/25 academic year to go over paperwork, answer questions about the program and engage in a book browse to select our books and authors for the new year.

Parents should consider staying for the first hour to go over expectations and plan for the remainder of the time to exit the center and allow Reading Ambassadors time to meet each other. The U of A campus is an ideal place to stroll and there are several buildings we recommend for tours. Please email us at wow@arizona.edu for personalized recommendations.

For more information about the programs please visit the MSRAP and TRAP pages accordingly.

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

Reading Ambassador author meetings occur every other month throughout the academic year and are open to the public. This free program for area middle and high school students encourages them to promote reading in their own contexts. Additional information on the Reading Ambassadors is available on our website under the About tab.

Event details may change. More information to follow.

Reading Ambassadors Present Adam Rex

a man with short hair wearing glasses Worlds of Words combined Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Adam Rex, author of A Little Like Waking!

Zelda is stuck in a dream. A very strange dream, where people can fly, bears sneeze money and her childhood cat is somehow alive – despite being run over years ago. Things get stranger when Zelda meets Langston, a sweet if overly timid guy who feels more real to her than anyone she’s ever met. As Zelda and Langston explore the far reaches of the dreamscape together, they find themselves growing closer and closer. But what they uncover along the way pushes them towards a truth neither of them wants to face.

Close up of a teen male who reads African American sleeping at the top of the cover in opposite placement to a teen girl who reads white and is awake at the bottom Full of mind-bending artwork, Adam Rex’s A Little Like Waking is a tender, insightful read that defies time, space and expectation that’s perfect for fans of Every Day and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

★ “A charming, funny, highly imaginative story that invites long thoughts about the nature of reality and the enduring importance of romance.” — Booklist, starred review

The program includes a group discussion with the author and personal interactions.

Adam Rex is the award-winning and best-selling author and illustrator of more than forty books for kids. These include Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, On Account of the Gum, Are You Scared Darth Vadar and The True Meaning of Smekday (made into the animated movie Home). He is the author of Oh No, The Aunts Are Here and Pluto Gets the Call, and the illustrator of Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman.

Attendees are welcome to stay after the event for the Reading Ambassadors’ end-of-year celebration and certificate ceremony.

Free parking is available in the Second St. Garage and at the surface parking lot north of the intersection of First and Vine. 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.

5th Annual Read-a-thon

Get lost in a good book with the Worlds of Words Reading Ambassadors as they host their 5th-annual Read-a-thon! The middle and high school reading ambassadors encourage book lovers of all ages to join us for focused reading paired with fun prompts. There is no physical location for the Read-a-thon, so participants can join on Instagram from anywhere they would like to read!

Instagram Graphic with event details from this post

The WOW Reading Ambassadors will include A Little Like Waking by Adam Rex on their reading lists. Read-a-thon participants can read this book or any books they are dying to read — tackle Mt. TBR (to be read) or ignore the pile all together and grab a new book! The titles on everyone’s reading list will be shared on Instagram Stories as a way to build reading lists!

“The Read-A-Thons I’ve been a part of remain my best excuse to spend hours reading uninterrupted,” says Quin, Teen Reading Ambassador.

Mark your calendar for 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 18 when the ambassadors will welcome Adam Rex to Worlds of Words.

Teen and Middle School Reading Ambassador author meetings occur every other month throughout the academic year. This free program for area youth encourages them to promote reading in their own contexts. Additional information on the Teen Reading Ambassadors is available on our website under the About tab.

Event details may change. More information to follow.