Letters About Literature: 2014

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2017  |  2016  |  2015   |  2014   |  2013  |  2012

A National Reading and Writing Promotional Program for Children and Young Adults.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre– fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s way of thinking about the world or themselves.

During the promotional phase for Letters About Literature 2014, over 18,000 educators were contacted in 69 counties throughout the state of Ohio. By the submission deadline, over 1,280 Ohio students had entered a letter.

Download Teachers’ Guides and Common Core documents.

View images of past Letters About Literature Ceremonies: 2012, 2013, 2014

Level 1 Winners

First Place: AASMA COZART (6th Grade: Cleveland, Birchwood School)
Letter to Philip Pullman concerning his book, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter

Second Place: SIHAM MOUSSA (5th Grade: Cleveland, Birchwood School)
Letter to Pearl S. Buck concerning her book,The Big Wave

Third Place: JACK SCHNELZER (6th Grade: Wadsworth, Central Intermediate School)
Letter to Jean Craighead George concerning her book, My Side of the Mountain

Level 1 Semifinalists

CHANNIN McNAUGHTON (6th Grade: Cleveland, Birchwood School)
Letter to Jerry Spinelli concerning his book, Maniac Magee

DANIEL PARASKOS (6th Grade: Dublin, St. Brigid of Kildare)
Letter to Crockett Johnson concerning his book, Harold’s Fairy Tale
TEJAL PENDEKANT (6th Grade: Cleveland, Birchwood School)
Letter to Rick Riordan concerning his book, Battle of the Labyrinth
SHRUTHI RAVICHANDRAN (5th Grade: Cleveland, Birchwood School)
Letter to Hope Solo concerning her book, Hope Solo: My Story

Level 2 Winners

First Place: GABRIELLA SCHNAIDT (8th Grade: Granville, Granville Middle School)
Letter to Patrick Ness concerning his book, A Monster Calls

Second Place: JACKSON DeVAULT (8th Grade: Berlin Heights, Edison Middle School)
Letter to Wilson Rawls concerning his book, Where the Red Fern Grows

Third Place: CHRISTINE ADEYEMI (8th Grade: Worthington, Worthingway Middle School)
Letter to Kathy J. Parenteau concerning her poem, “Remember Me”

Level 2 Semifinalists

GRANT BIBLER (8th Grade: Granville, Granville Middle School)
Letter to Eric Carle concerning his book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

JANE FARRELL (8th Grade: Worthington, Worthingway Middle School)
Letter to Gerald Manley Hopkins and his poem, “The Leaden Echo and The Golden Echo”

DAMERE HERRON (7th Grade: Cleveland, St. Thomas Aquinas School)
Letter to Sharon Flake concerning her book, The Skin I’m In

MARIA TRUSTY (8th Grade: Van Buren, Van Bruen Middle School )
Letter to J.K. Rowling concerning her Harry Potter series

Level 3 Winners

First Place: DAVID SCHERER (12th Grade: Westerville North High School)
Letter to J.D. Salinger concerning his book, The Catcher in the Rye

Second Place: MEGAN BLACKWELL (12th Grade: Conneaut, Conneaut High School)
Letter to Rick Yancey concerning his book, The 5th Wave

Third Place: QUINTON CURRIER (11th Grade: Boardman, Boardman High School)
Letter to Neal Shusterman concerning his book, The Schwa was Here

Level 3 Semifinalists

KARLY BECKWITH (9th Grade: Madison, Madison High School)
Letter to Ryan K. Farmer, concerning his poem “The Cycle”

VICTOR MASSAQUOI (10th Grade: Westerville, Westerville Central High School)
Letter to Pam Munoz Ryan concerning her book, Esperanza Rising

KAYE MOYER (11th Grade: Boardman, Boardman High School)

Letter to Elizabeth Gilbert concerning her book, Eat, Pray, Love

BRANDON SAGLE (10th Grade: Westerville, Westerville Central High School)
Letter to James Agee concerning his book, A Death in the Family