Desirée W. Cueto, Ph.D.
Desirée W. Cueto is the Jewell M. Lewis Endowed Professor of Literacy and an associate professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona. She also serves as affiliate faculty with the Worlds of Words Center and the Africana Studies Department. Dr. Cueto’s interdisciplinary scholarship centers Black epistemologies and youth literature from the African diaspora to reimagine critical literacy, educational policy, and teacher preparation.
Her research spans three interrelated strands:
- Black perspectives and epistemologies as frameworks for critical content analysis of children’s and young adult literature.
- Reader responses of youth from historically resilient communities.
- Community-engaged literacy research in out-of-school spaces that promotes critical consciousness and creative expression through literature.
Dr. Cueto’s scholarship has been featured in top-tier journals, including Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, and Education Policy Analysis Archives. She is co-author of Essentials of Children’s Literature (10th ed., Pearson) and contributing editor for the Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers (AERA). Her current book project, Introduction to Black Literature for Youth, is in progress with Routledge.
An active leader in the field, Dr. Cueto served the Newbery Award Committee, and the USBBY Outstanding International Books Committee. She is also a member of the executive board of The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY).
Before entering academia, she was a fourth-grade teacher, school counselor, curriculum coordinator, and Director of Multicultural Curriculum for Tucson Unified School District. Dr. Cueto holds an MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona.
Selected Publications:
Cueto, D., Brooks, W., & Browne, S. (2024). Roots and refuge: A critical exploration of nature in Black visual narratives. Humanities, 13(5), 121.
Cueto, D. W., Ravenell, A., Rios, F., & Sobel, L. (2024). Human resources and induction in public policy: Advancing critical cosmopolitan aims. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 32(2).
Cueto, D., & Strozier, T. (in press). The Living Room: Fostering Ubuntu and Pro-Black Literacies in Middle School. The Reading Teacher.
Cueto, D., & Griffin, A. (in press). Whispered into our DNA: Mermaid stories from the African diaspora. Science Fiction Film and Television.
Gardner, R., Brooks, W., & Cueto, D. (2023). Black children's literature, policy, publishing, and engagement: Where do we go from here? Language Arts, 101(1), 16–25.
Cueto, D.W. & Brooks, W.M. (2022). Tracing terror, imagining otherwise: A critical content analysis of anti-Black violence in middle grades novels. Research in the Teaching of English, 56(4), 411–431. National Council of Teachers of English.
Rios, F., & Cueto, D. (2022). Teachers of Color: Induction and human resource development (section editors). In Conra Gist & Travis Bristol (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers. AERA.
Short, K. & Cueto, D. (2022). Essentials of Children’s Literature (10th Ed.). New York: Pearson.
Cueto, D.W. & Brooks, W.M. (2019). Drawing Humanity: How Picturebook Illustrations Counter Antiblackness. In H. Johnson, J. Mathis, & K.G. Short (Eds.), Critical Content Analysis of Visual Images in Books for Young People: Reading Images (pp. 41–56). New York, NY: Routledge.
Brooks, W. & Cueto, D.W. (2018). Contemplating and extending the scholarship on children’s and young adult literature. Journal of Literacy Research, 50(1), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086296X18754394