WOW Launches Teen Reading Ambassador Initiative

By Rebecca Ballenger, Coordinator of Outreach and Collections, Worlds of Words

Worlds of Words opened applications for a pilot program that positions local teens as reading ambassadors in their own high schools. Teens in the program interact with published authors of young adult literature, receive books by that author and share their experience with their peers to promote reading in their school communities. The Teen Reading Ambassador (TRA) initiative is administered by WOW in the University of Arizona College of Education.

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WOW Recommends: Refugee

Refugee by Alan Gratz is a poignant, unforgettable novel that effectively interweaves the stories of three 11 and 12-year-old refugees. Josef flees from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1938, Isabel flees from Cuba to the U.S. in 1994, and Mahmoud flees from Syria in 2015. Their traumatic journeys across landscapes of danger and their sacrifices highlight struggles of freedom and responsibility. This hard-hitting novel thoughtfully raises global and intergenerational issues and invites empathy for those involved in current refugee crises. This is a book that will reverberate in your mind long after you put it down. -Recommended by Kathy Short at the University of Arizona Continue reading →