Volume XI, Issue 3 (Spring, 2019): Open Theme
Hope is a frequent theme in children’s and adolescent literature. As we looked at the titles that reviewers thought and wrote about, the diversity of topics or genres is wide, ranging from Korean New Year dresses to West African fantasy. Each title is complex with layers of themes, but a unifying element across these books is hope in its different forms.
In Return to Sender/Devolver al Remitente, Mari and Tyler hope for safety and a bright future for their migrant and farming families. Two novels set in Africa portray the hope teens hold onto as they face corrupt rulers in Children of Blood and Bone or the tension between traditional and modern healing with the AIDS epidemic in This Thing Called the Future. Two other novels, A Story Like the Wind and The Night Diary, portray the slim threads of hope when homes are abandoned, and families are forced to move countries.
The picturebooks in this issue also engage with hope in different ways. The Stuff of Stars and New Clothes for New Year’s Day examine hopeful ‘beginnings’ while The Fox on the Swing considers the hope for an unlikely friendship. Finally, Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans and the graphic novel Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans provide accounts of the commitments of people in New Orleans to each other in the face of natural disaster and their hope of restoring their homes.
We invite readers to submit reviews for our upcoming issues of WOW Review. The Summer, 2019 issue will focus on Global Nonfiction/Biographies. We welcome reviews of recent nonfiction books and biographies. Rich informational nonfiction books and biographies are continually being published and we look forward to having a strong issue that examines a range of topics. Submission deadline: May 15, 2019.
Fall, 2019: Open Theme. We welcome reviews of recent children’s and young adult books that highlight intercultural and global perspectives. Submission deadline: August 15, 2019.
Susan Corapi & Prisca Martens, Co-Editors