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.

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.

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.

RESCHEDULED: Teen Reading Ambassadors Present Kathleen Glasgow

Worlds of Words Teen Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Kathleen Glasgow, author of The Glass Girl!

Information found in text of event listing

Modified from the Publisher: Everyone in 15-year-old Bella’s life needs something from her. Her mom needs her to help around the house, her dad needs her to not make waves, her ex needs her to not be so much. The only person who never needed anything from her was her grandmother—and now she’s dead. There’s only one thing that dulls the pressure: alcohol. Vodka, beer, peppermint schnapps—alcohol smooths the sharp edges of Bella’s life. And what’s the big deal? Everyone drinks. Besides, Bella can stop whenever she wants. But after she gets blackout drunk at a Thanksgiving party and wakes up in the hospital, it’s time to face reality. And for Bella, reality means rehab.

Kathleen Glasgow started as a poet and somehow found herself writing novels. She’s the author of the New York Times and internationally bestselling novels Girl in Pieces, You’d Be Home Now and How to Make Friends With the Dark. She’s the coauthor, with Liz Lawson, of the bestselling Agathas mystery series. She has an MFA in Poetry from The University of Minnesota.

This event includes a conversation between Glasgow 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.

Teen Reading Ambassadors Present Bill Konigsberg

Worlds of Words Teen Reading Ambassadors invite you to meet Bill Konigsberg, author of Destination Unknown!

Photo by Gregg Edelman

From Scholastic Press: It’s 1987 in New York City, and Micah is at a dance club, trying to pretend he’s more out and outgoing than he really is. C.J. isn’t just out — he’s completely out there, and Micah can’t help but be both attracted to and afraid of someone who travels so loudly and proudly through the night.

As their lives become more and more entangled in the AIDS epidemic that’s laying waste to their community, and the AIDS activism that will ultimately bring a strong voice to their demands, whatever Micah and C.J. have between them will be tested, stretched, and strained — but it will also be a lifeline in a time of death, a bond that will determine the course of their futures.

Bill Konigsberg is the award-winning author of six young adult novels including The Porcupine of Truth, Openly Straight and The Music of What Happens. Prior to turning his attention to writing books for teens, Bill was a sports writer and editor for The Associated Press and ESPN.com. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with his husband, Chuck, and their Australian Labradoodles, Mabel and Buford.

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

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

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 →

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 →