About Our Blog and The Writers

During the summer season, people love to travel, as traveling affords opportunities not only for a change in scene, but also for personal growth.   Books for young readers offer a chance to travel within the depths of our own minds.  As scholars and avid readers, we decided to study children's and YA literature because we are passionate about books that demonstrate and encourage the growth of young people.  The purpose of our blog is to introduce reading enthusiasts to books related to travel and growth and that are conducive to pleasure reading, aesthetics, and critical thinking.  Because we care about exposing educators and readers to quality multicultural and international literature, we are going to focus specifically on USBBY Outstanding International Books published from 2005 and beyond.

We are M.A. and Ph.D. students in the University of Georgia's Language and Literacy Education department in the focus area of Reading, Writing, Children's Literature, and Digital Literacy.  Our research interests vary, but for all of us, children's and YA literature (or books for young readers) is a primary area of study.  We also care about international and multicultural issues.  Our profiles below will tell you more about us specifically.

Chelsey Bahlmann
I am a born Midwesterner enjoying every minute of living in the South.  I taught elementary school in North and South Carolina for six combined years.  Currently I am in a doctoral program studying reading, writing, children's literature, and digital literacies.  While I miss teaching young energetic minds, I am now learning the ropes of teaching future teachers about literacy.  I am a children's literature enthusiast and have a passion for learning about all of the intricacies that illustrations and text contain.   My current focus of study is supporting elementary preservice teachers in learning how to incorporate digital literacies into their future classrooms.   

Ying Cui
I was born and raised in Xi'an, China, a place you can still hear 700-year-old morning bell and evening drum everyday. Before I came to Athens, I stayed at Washington State University (Pullman campus) for a semester. The looong winter and snowstorm there make me love the bright sunshine and warm winter in Georgia. As an only child, listening to stories and reading books are the best therapy to defeat loneness while I grew up. Besides the exquisite interconnectedness between texts and illustration, I believe children’s literature, particular multicultural children's literature help to mirror and even validate linguistic and cultural minority children’s life and their cultural heritage. Currently, I’m pursuing my PhD degree in reading, writing, children’s literature and digital literacies at the UGA. My specific research interests include international picturebook, Asian children’s literature, and bilingual children’s books. 

Xiaoli Hong
I am a Chinese student studying in a U.S university for Ph.D.degree. Never have I expected that I would fall in love in children's picturebooks after I came to U.S for study, which also made me reflect on my complicated feelings toward books because I always believe I grow up loving TV and film stuff more than books. So I am now thinking perhaps I was given good books to read when I was young and children should be given good books to read when they are young. Therefore, participating in this "traveling world" book club is one of the steps toward my journey of exploring excellent children's literature in hopes of helping more children and parents to find books to read and share.

Alexandra Lampp
My whole life I have lived solely in Georgia. However, that fact has not stopped me from traveling all over the world. As a child and older adolescent, everyday, I would soar above the clouds and plant my feet on foreign soil by means of a untraditional form of transportation--books! Recently, I was finally able to see, with my own eyes, those fantastical landscapes and wonders for myself, but this development did not and will never change the strong bond I have with the written word. I wish to share this love for literature and the many benefits it has with children and educators alike. This desire led me to purse a Masters of Reading Education, which I am now completing. My research interests currently include disability studies, particularly within the realm of picture books, YA literature, and, most recently, pop culture.

Oksana Lushchevska
I worked with children from many countries here in the US and in Ukraine, my home country. I also write children's books in the Ukrainian language as well as translating Ukrainian children's literature into English. In addition, I am a co-founder of a website about children's literature, Kazkarka, and I am currently working on a project of publishing two bilingual (Ukrainian-English) children's books: A Step Ahead: Becoming Global with Bilingual Ukrainian-English Picturebooks. I feel as if my hobby and interests tightly coincide with my academic interests, which lie in international children's literature, cosmopolitanism, and aesthetics of children's books. My long term goal is to teach children's literature in academia and to continue translating and writing children's books.  ​

Margaret Robbins
I taught high school and middle school English for ten years and, along the way, became very passionate about middle grades and YA literature.  I was raised by two liberal progressive southerners who instilled in me a love of travel, the written word, and social justice.  All three of these passions have carried over into my adult life, which is why I want to study multicultural children's literature.  I also have an interest in pop culture and multi-modal writing, which brought about my love for graphica literature and comics.  My long-term goals are to continue to study pop culture and children's literature, to teach these subjects to pre-service teachers, and to keep writing.

Marianne Snow
When I was teaching Pre-K and Kindergarten, one of my favorite parts of my job was selecting the books I would read to my students.  Reading was a huge part of my life when I was little (and it still is), so I loved seeing the kids’ reactions as they evaluated, appreciated, and learned from various types of books.  So it’s no surprise that I’m currently studying children’s literature as a doctoral student.  My specific research interests include Latin@, Latin American (particularly Mexican), and nonfiction children’s literature, and I explore these and other related topics at my blog, Getting Critical with Children’s Literature.