Exhibits

“Cepeda Stories: Everyone Has a Story to Tell” begins with the assertion that each one of us has unique life experiences that are worthy of sharing. This Spring 2025 exhibit of original art by award-winning illustrator, Joe Cepeda, challenges visitors to share their stories. The exhibit is free and open to the public for a limited time at the Worlds of Words Center in the University of Arizona College of Education.

When the average person thinks about picturebooks, black and white illustrations seldom come to mind. But they do exist. “Black White Grey,” a traveling exhibit from the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich, Germany is on view for the first time in the U.S. in the Worlds of Words Center in the University of Arizona College of Education. The books in this exhibit show how illustrators use the expressive power of lines, shapes, contours and contrasts to create captivating pictures with a unique aesthetic and atmospheric mood.

The Grimm Brothers’ collection “Children’s and Household Tales” inspired visual images in illustrations that left their indelible mark on the memory of successive generations. For the first time in the U.S., the traveling exhibition “The Colourful World Beyond the Seven Hills” invites people to experience or re-experience this tradition of folktale illustration from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Posters of illustrations from the book collections of the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany, is available for a limited time in the Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures of the UArizona College of Education.

The Worlds of Words Center adds original illustrations from 55 picturebooks to its holdings as a result of a recent crowdfunding campaign and donations of art by Mary J. Wong. The new pieces are from classic, award-winning, and global children’s literature and include works by illustrators visiting for the Tucson Festival of Books. A selection of the new acquisitions will be on display leading up to the book festival and for UArizona Museum Day at Worlds of Words in the University of Arizona College of Education.

The rich and diverse stories of Arizona are on display in an original new exhibit of art, maps and books that showcase the history and perspectives of the state, highlighting this beautiful and complex place. For a limited time, the public can visit “Arizona Is a Story” at the Worlds of Words Center of Global Literacies and Literatures (WOW Center) in the UArizona College of Education.

Using very few words or even none at all, wimmelbooks tell stories about the “whole world” and encourage readers to explore and invent their own tales. This traveling exhibit on loan from the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich, Germany showcases books from around the world from the past 20 years that are often based on actual places. The exhibit is organized in four sections: World Views, Fish and Ships, Pleasure! and City and Beyond. These books invite readers to take a closer look, to marvel and to participate.

Wilson Ong’s last name was Wong until the fourth grade when his father revealed he used a false name to immigrate to the U.S. as a “paper son.” His father’s story isn’t that different from Lee’s story in the picturebook illustrated by Wilson, Paper Son: Lee’s Journey to America. Each of Wilson’s original oil illustrations for this book were purchased by Mary J. Wong, also the child of a paper son, and donated to the Worlds of Words Center where they are on exhibit Fall 2022.

As COVID-19 began its spread around the world, the International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich, Germany, invited children to portray themselves during this unusual time. The response was overwhelming. Over 800 self-portraits from 42 countries and every continent arrived at the IYL. Children aged 3 to 18 depict themselves grey and frightened or colorful and lively, sometimes with a face mask and sometimes without–mostly with big, alert eyes. A curated portion of these self-portraits make up the exhibit Children Draw Themselves: Self-Portraits from All Over the World In Times of Covid, which was on display Spring 2022.

The International Youth Library in Munich, Germany created this exhibit around the idea that maps represent how people imagine the world to be, how we perceive it and order it and how we orient ourselves in it. Maps have long played an important role in literature for young people. “Maps help readers visualize and track the plot of the story world in a book. Maps also support readers in going beyond the borders of the page in that story world to inspire new stories and worlds,” says Kathy Short, director of WOW. This exhibit was on display Fall 2021.

“Many people connect response and revision to the writing process. This exhibit provides a demonstration of how response and revision occur within the illustration process and of the ways in which illustrators can work together in a generative partnership. The visual conversation in this exhibition is engaging and insightful,” says Kathy Short, Professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies and Director of WOW. This exhibit was on display 2020-2021.

WOW shared “Visual Narratives: Connecting Across Languages and Cultures, an exhibit of global picturebooks that tell stories primarily through visual images. The exhibit is inspired by the “Silent Books, from the World to Lampedusa and Back,” a traveling exhibit of global books from the International Board on Books for Young People. This exhibit was on display Fall 2019.

The art of award-winning picturebook illustrator Ronald Himler captures how the resilience of children creates hope for the future. Worlds of Words’ exhibit, “Creating Hope through Resilience: The Picturebook Art of Ronald Himler” displays original illustrations from his books that lay bare the struggles children face when they grow up near conflict zones. Himler’s artistry features striking watercolors depicting children in global contexts coping with challenging experiences in their lives. This exhibit was on display Spring 2019.

“This exhibit is a lighthearted exploration into the meaning Create. Play. Learn. has within children’s literature,” says Kathy Short, Professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies and Director of WOW. “It encapsulates the experience of childhood, how children are always creating, playing and learning to bring meaning and significance into their lives.” This exhibit was on display Fall 2018.

This exhibit featured traditional Hmong storycloths from WOW’s Mary J. Wong collection along with children’s books and hands-on activities for all ages. “Stitching Stories: Hmong Customs and Symbols as Told through Storycloths” highlighted the oral and textile storytelling traditions of the Hmong people. Examples of storytelling through textiles from Vietnam, Panama, Peru and Turkey were also on display Spring 2018 and Summer 2022.

The news is bleak. Even in homes where comfort and security are the rule, the media confronts children and adults with images of war, animosity and displacement. Some are directly affected while others have many questions, and all seek answers. The traveling exhibit, Hello, Dear Enemy!, does not provide answers, but it does provide a path to conversation. Worlds of Words was the first stop for this powerful collection from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. This exhibit was on display Fall 2017.

This exhibit featured the publishing journey of Coyote School News by Joan Sandin, an award-winning author, illustrator and translator. Sandin’s original artwork for Coyote School News hangs in the WOW Studio, and the Mary J. Wong Collection showcases her journey of publishing the book. Newspaper covers from two publications that feature the voices of young reporters, the Little Cowpuncher and Bear Essential News, also hang in the exhibit in the WOW Hall Gallery. This exhibit was on display Spring 2017.

With the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, The University of Arizona community reflected upon and honors the tragic loss of sailors and marines killed aboard the USS Arizona. In keeping with this remembrance, Worlds of Words created a must-see WWII exhibit, Code Making and Perspective Taking, that focused on the Arizona experience with the war. This exhibit included art from students at Van Buskirk Elementary and Tucson High Magnet School inspired by the books and art on display. This exhibit was on display Fall 2016.