2017-2018 Letters About Literature Winners

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The Library of Congress Center for the Book and the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library invite students in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, the annual national reading-writing contest. Students living in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands are encouraged to enter the annual competition, where they read a book from any genre and then write a personal letter to the author (living or dead) explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s way of thinking about the world or themselves.  Students compete according to grade levels in three groups.  The Ohio Center for the Book is pleased to announce the winners of the Ohio Letters About Literature competition for the 2017-2018 school year: 

LEVEL I (Grades 4-6)
First Place Winner: Sara Goodlive
Grade 6: Saint Brigid of Kildare, Dublin, Ohio
Letter to author Cynthia Lord concerning her book Rule
s

Second Place Winner: Anna Mancino
Grade 5: Dover Intermediate School, Westlake, Ohio
Letter to author Audrey Penn concerning her book The Kissing Hand

Third Place Winner: Charlotte Musselman
Grade 5: Kensington Intermediate School, Rocky River, Ohio
Letter to author Catherine Ryan Hyde concerning her book Pay It Forward

LEVEL II (Grades 7 & 8)
First Place Winner: Lauren Kelly
Grade 7: Saint Michael School, Canton, Ohio
Letter to author Natalie D. Richards concerning her book We All Fall Down

Second Place Winner: Sophia Hudson
Grade 8: Hastings Middle School, Upper Arlington
Letter to author Sharon Draper concerning her book Out of My Mind

Third Place Winner: Lillie Forbes
Grade 7: Lee Burneson Middle School, Westlake, Ohio
Letter to author Shelley Pearsall concerning her book Crooked River

LEVEL III (Grades 9-12)
First Place Winner: Sandy Shen
Grade 11: Solon, Ohio
Letter to author Celeste Ng concerning her novel Little Fires Everywhere

Second Place Winner: Thalia Soto
Grade 11: Dublin Scioto High School, Dublin, Ohio
Letter to author Ashley Rhodes-Courter concerning her novel Three Little Words

Third Place Winner: Grace Watkins
Grade 11: Maplewood High School, Cortland, Ohio
Letter to author Holly Goldberg Sloan concerning her novel Counting By 7s

Each year the Ohio Letters About Literature contest is coordinated and planned by Subject Department Librarian Timothy Phillips and Amy Dawson, Manager, Literature Department and the Ohio Center for the Book. 

On Saturday, May 12, 2018, the winners and honorable finalists, their family, and guests will gather in the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium at Cleveland Public Library for the Letters About Literature 2018 awards ceremony. Click here to download the Letters About Literature Commemorative Booklet 2017-2018.

Click below to see images, on the OCFB Facebook page, of past winners and ceremonies: 201220132014201520162017