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“A center at the University of Arizona College of Education is offering an opportunity for high school students to get involved in college. Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures builds bridges across global cultures through children’s and adolescent literature. … Worlds of Words offers a Teen Reading Ambassador program for students to get a college experience within UArizona that focuses on books for teens. Ambassadors learn about young adult literature under the direction of faculty and staff with expertise in children’s literature, education, library science and marketing.”

This weekend, a library at the University of Arizona is selling discounted children’s books. Worlds of Words: Center for Global Literacies and Literatures is the largest global collection of children’s and young adult books in the United States. So that means you can expect some good stuff at this sale.

We survived our first live tour! Big thanks to the COE's Danielle Hargett for inviting us to the party. If you didn't catch the Facebook live feed, you can catch up on it here. Watch our live tour!

Just because everyone is headed back to school, doesn't mean all learning has to happen there. Tucson has a treasure trove of opportunities for extracurricular education, whether you want to expose your kids to other cultures or teach them about the world. Bonus: A lot of this stuff is fun for everybody. Win win. Here are three Tucson places to expand your child's horizons.

On the fourth floor of the University of Arizona’s College of Education, 40,000 books tell the stories of children and teens from around the world. Sunlight streams through windows showcasing views of the Catalina Mountains, and window benches beckon, welcoming students studying or children curling up with a picture book. The Worlds of Words: Center for Global Literacies and Literatures is the largest global collection of children’s and young adult books in the United States.

“[Rebecca Ballenger] not only inspires the children who visit Worlds of Words, she also finds ways to bring together College of Education staff and faculty members for fun workshops,” Hargett said. … “She inspires the same level of creativity and provides opportunities for them to learn, grow and gain confidence in preparation for their professional careers.”

Nestled on the campus of the University of Arizona (UofA) in the Sonoran Desert, Worlds of Words (WOW) holds the largest collection of global children’s books in the United States. WOW serves the university as well as the greater Tucson community. “Worlds of Words builds bridges across global cultures through children’s and adolescent literature” (wowlit.org).

The gray plastic crate in front of me just arrived in Tucson from Basel, Switzerland. Inside there are dozens of picture books from around the world. Kathy G. Short pulls out one with an orange and yellow cover. It’s from Egypt and there’s an image of a sun tucked into the Arabic title.

Join us to learn about exciting developments in children’s and young adult literature in Mexico as award-winning authors and illustrators create books in Spanish and Indigenous languages.

In January, Jerry and Kathy Short were vacationing in Hawaii when their cellphones displayed this message: Emergency Alert: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. “We followed the masses into a hotel cafeteria, which was like a bunker. People really panicked. They were crying and calling their loved ones to say goodbye,” says Jerry Short. A second message came through 38 minutes later identifying the alert as a false alarm. The Shorts decided that day to make some decisions about their charitable giving.

A $1 million gift from Kathy G. Short and her husband Jerry to endow the director’s position of the University of Arizona’s (UA) World of Words (WOW), the largest collection of global literature for children and young adults in the nation, suggests that successful fundraising campaigns can live on in spirit well after the official end date.

The nation’s largest collection of children’s and teen global literature has received a $1 million endowment to support future teaching and scholarship.