Middle School Reading Ambassadors Present Jose Pimienta

Person with a friendly face wearing ballcap and glasses in front of a packed bulletin board Worlds of Words Middle School Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Jose Pimienta, author of Halfway to Somewhere!

About Halfway to Somewhere:
Ave thought moving to Kansas would be boring and flat after enjoying the mountains and trails in Mexico, but at least they would have their family with them. Unfortunately, while Ave, their mom and their younger brother are relocating to the U.S., Ave’s father and older sister will be staying in Mexico permanently. Their parents are getting a divorce. This thought-provoking middle graphic novel is about exploring identity, understanding family, making friends with a language barrier, and above all else, learning what truly makes a place a home.

Halfway to Somewhere cover depicts a kid in baggy clothing crossing multiple scenarios Jose Pimienta was raised in Mexicali, Baja California, and now resides in Los Angeles where they work on comics and storyboards for animation and film. Suncatcher was their debut YA graphic novel and ended on many “Best of” lists. Their second graphic novel, Twin Cities, is middle grade and received four starred reviews. Most recently, they illustrated the YA graphic novel Luminous Beings, with David Arnold. Forthcoming titles include The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur (ages 10-14) and Let’s Rumble!: A Rough-And-Tumble Book of Play (ages 2-5). Pimienta focuses on the importance of Latinx culture and the experience of growing up on the border.

U of A Campus Store will be on site with copies of several titles available for sale and autographing.

This event includes a conversation between Pimienta 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.

Reading Ambassador Orientation

Middle Schoolers gather around a table for games, food, and books.

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 2025/26 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.

Ticketed parking is available in the Second St. Garage Street parking and surface level lots should be free. 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.

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 Melissa Marr

Worlds of Words combined Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Melissa Marr, author of The Strange Case of Harleen & Harley!

Harleen Quinzel is many things, a gymnast, anxious, broke…but the last thing anyone would call her is evil. Harley Quinn on the other hand…

When Harleen signs up to participate in a clinical research trial with her girlfriend, Pamela, the most she can hope for is extra cash in her wallet and a chance to get her anxiety under control. But what she gets instead are increasingly larger gaps in her memory and stolen mementos from some guy named Jack she’s never met. Soon, Harleen discovers she’s sharing her life with Harley—a take-no-prisoners, who-cares-about attendance, maybe-we-oughtta-save-the-bunnies kind of girl. She is the opposite of Harleen in many ways. She is anarchy in a cute dress. And in this Jekyll and Hyde story, Harleen discovers that maybe evil ain’t so bad—as long as she doesn’t get caught.

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

Melissa Marr is a fiction author who writes across genres and demographics. She has written over 70 books including the middle grade novel The Hidden Knife and the young adult series Wicked Lovely. Her most recent releases are the picturebook Family is Family, novels Remedial Magic and Reluctant Witch. Her upcoming release is Toni and Addie Go Viral. Find more information on her website.

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

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.

6th Annual Read-a-thon

Get lost in a good book with the Worlds of Words Reading Ambassadors as they host their 6th-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!

The Reading Ambassadors will include The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley, written by Melissa Marr and illustrated by Jenn St-Onge, 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 3 when the ambassadors will welcome Melissa Marr 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.

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.

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 →