1151 Connecticut Students Participate

  Students from schools as disparate as Ashford and Waterbury entered this year’s Letters About Literature contest, the reading and writing promotion program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, presented in partnership with Target Stores.

 The premise of this essay contest is that the student is writing a letter to an author—living or deceased, writing in any genre—to explain how that person’s work somehow changed the student’s view life in some way.  While teachers may promote this contest as a class project, it is not intended that everyone read the same book, nor is the essay to be a book report.  Each student is to respond to a work of his or her choice and address a particular audience: the book’s author.

 This year, 46,500 entries from around the nation were received and initially read by a national coordinator and her staff.  Finalists’ essays were then returned to the originating states for final judging while the very best were also forwarded to the Library of Congress for national prize consideration.  National contest winners’ essays are on the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress web site: www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook

 This year’s judges for Connecticut’s entries were:

 Level I, grades 4-6:

·        Debra Carrier-Perry, Youth Services Manager, Hartford Public Library

·        Kendall Wiggin, Connecticut State Librarian

·        Bina Williams, Children’s Librarian, Bridgeport Public Library

 Level II, grades 7-8:

·        Terese Karmel, editor, The Willimantic Chronicle

·        Colin McEnroe, talk show host, WTIC/AM and columnist, The Hartford Courant

·        Susannah Richards, PhD, educational consultant

 Level III, grades 9-12:

·        Susan Campbell, columnist, The Hartford Courant

·        Stuart Lamson, owner, Bank Square Books in Mystic

·        Kathy Megan, staff writer, The Hartford Courant

 All of Connecticut’s finalists and winners, along with their parents or guardians and teachers, will be invited to an awards program at the State Capitol to be held in June.  The guest author for this program will be Pegi Deitz Shea, winner of the 2004 Connecticut Book Award for Children’s Literature – Author for her book, Tangled Threads.  Winners in each level will receive cash prizes: $100 for first place; $50 for second place; and, $25 for third place.  First Place winners will also receive $50 gift certificates for use at Target Stores.  All finalists will receive a certificate of accomplishment.

 Click on the links to read the winning students' essays.  A list of finalists and their hometowns may be found at ww2.hplct.org/cfb/PDF/2005Finalists.pdf

 Level I, grades 4-6: 

·        First Prize: Anna Alferi (grade 6, King Philip Middle School, West Hartford) has “taken a different point of view on life” because of Andy Lipman’s Alive at 25

·        Second Prize: Raquel Bryant (grade 6, Sedgwick Middle School, West Hartford) told Pam Muňoz Ryan that she “started to have fun” after reading Riding Freedom

·        Third Prize: Jessica Retrum (grade 6, Sedgwick Middle School, West Hartford) thanked Sharon Draper for Tears of a Tiger, which helped her to realize “you only live once”

 Level II, grades 7-8:

·        First Prize: Sophia Harrington (grade 7, Sedgwick Middle School, West Hartford) wrote her sincere thanks to Georges Duplaix for his The Big Brown Bear

·        Second Prize: Katy D’Avella (grade 8, Irving A. Robbins Middle School, Farmington) honestly told Laurie Halse Anderson that Speak left her feeling “cold and empty”

·        Third Prize: Ali Uzpurvis (grade 8, Irving A. Robbins Middle School, Farmington) wrote to Jaye Murray that Bottled Up “opened my heart, bared my soul”

 Level III, grades 9-12:

·        First Prize: Abbe Muller (grade11, Conard High School, West Hartford) learned from Elie Weisel’s Dawn that “the lines of good and evil are frequently blurred”

·        Second Prize: Brett Gasiewski (grade 11, Conard High School, West Hartford) wrote that Mary Frye’s poem “Do Not Stand by My Grave and Weep” “inspired me as a writer”

·        Third Prize: Cassandra Dakin (grade 10, East Hartford High School) learned from Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones that “what you have today might not be here tomorrow”

 Target Stores, along with its parent company, Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), gives

back more that $2 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs.  Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests, and team members to help meet community needs.

 The Connecticut Center for the Book at Hartford Public Library celebrates books, writers, readers, authors, illustrators, printers and publishers and the literary heritage of the state. The Connecticut Center for the Book is an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.  For more information call (860) 695-6320.