Journeys: Shared and Forced

by Seemi Aziz-Raina, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

As summer looms many of us think about travel, whether for pleasure or for work, and suddenly the long hot summer seems approachable and accessible. While travel can be exciting and relaxing, journeys and travel don’t always bode well for many. The world that we live in is changing at a very rapid pace due to global discord and accessibility, where news and world events impact us all. This month I look at journeys that are shared and/or forced within recent picturebooks. To do this, the focus will be on the following powerful exemplars while I share other intertextual examples that reinforce the same thematic threads. Continue reading →

Imagination Friday with Rashin Kheiriyeh

Watch (or re-watch) Imagination Friday with Rashin Kheiriyeh below!

Cover for Bahar shows a girl on a floating swing with a background of a sky with a moon, sun, cats, yarn and other objects. Join WOW and the Tucson Festival of Books to meet Rashin Kheiriyeh, author/illustrator of a new picturebook, Bahar the Lucky. Bahar is determined to help her family earn more money than what she makes selling rugs at the local bazaar. So, she decides to become a fortune teller. After some lucky “accidents” telling correct fortunes, the king has summoned her to the palace to be his fortune teller. At this event, Kheiriyeh will talk about creating Bahar, the Lucky, invite children to draw their own designs and answer questions.

Imagination Fridays participants can order signed copies of the books featured at https://shop.uabookstore.arizona.edu/main/wildcats/TFOB/Children.

Host: Kathy Short, Professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies and Director of WOW.
Panelists: Rashin Kheiriyeh
Co-Sponsor: Tucson Festival of Books

portrait of the illustrator in hot pink dress Rashin Kheiriyeh is an internationally recognized, award-winning illustrator/author, animator and painter who has 21 years of experience in publication and broadcasting. She has published over eighty children’s books in countries such as United State, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain, South Korea, China, Brazil, India and Iran.

Imagination Friday is co-sponsored by the Tucson Festival of Books and Worlds of Words, University of Arizona College of Education and occurs Fridays from 1 to 1:40 p.m. through December 2020 with a different author or illustrator each week. Add some excitement to Fridays with world-renowned children’s authors and illustrator to promote new books and encourage children as readers, writers and illustrators.

Tucson Festival of Books logo with sponsors listed

MTYT: Story Boat

By Holly Johnson, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH and Jean Schroeder, The IDEA School, Tucson, AZ

Picking up from our discussion of Other Words for Home last week, we will be discussing another book that questions the concept of home. This week’s read, Story Boat by Kyo Maclear and Rashin Kheiriyeh, is sure to take us on a memorable journey.

Continue reading →