2009 New Hampshire Winners

Peyton Plante, a sixth grader at Three Rivers School, wrote a letter to Lois Lowry about her book Number the Stars, which was selected as the Granite State's first place winner in the level I competition.

Merisa Dion, an eighth grader at West Running Brook Middle School in Derry, wrote to Allen Say about Allison. This letter was the Granite State's first place winner in the level II competition for students in grades 7 and 8.

Heather Coen, a ninth grader at Hopkinton High School, wrote her letter, which was selected as the Granite State's first place winner at level III, to Martha Tod Dudman about Augusta Gone.

Congratulations to all the 2009 Letters About Literature New Hampshire semi-finalists!

Thanks to generous donors, the Center for the Book at the NH State Library was able to award $50 to the libraries of the New Hampshire schools with the highest level of participation* at each competition level in Letters About Literature 2009.

Level 1 - Marlborough School (96.67% participation)

Level 2 - Marlborough School (85.71% participation)

Level 3 - Stratford Public School (29.79% participation)

* Participation was calculated as the percentage of students at the school who entered letters (with the name of
the school clearly written on the entry coupon) in the 2009 Letters About Literature competition. We used the
2007-2008 School Enrollments by Grade from the NH Department of Education website in our calculations.

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Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target Stores. Students are asked to write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. A wide variety of books have inspired students whose letters were selected as New Hampshire semi-finalists in recent years.

Competition levels

Level I for students in grades 4 - 6
Level II for grades 7 and 8
Level III for grades 9 - 12

2009 Prizes

STATE LEVEL The top essayist in New Hampshire on each competition level will be selected by a panel of New Hampshire judges and will receive a cash award of $100 from the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library and a $50 Target GiftCard. These letters will then advance for national judging.

NATIONAL LEVEL Judges for The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select six (6) National Winners (2 per Level of Competition) and twelve (12) National Honorable Mention Winners (4 per Level of Competition). The National Winners will receive a $500 Target GiftCard, plus each will win a $10,000 LAL Reading Promotion Grant for their community or school library so that others can experience personal relationships with authors and the stories they tell. Additionally, the National Honorable Mention Winners will each receive a $100 Target GiftCard and a $1,000 LAL Reading Promotion Grant for the community or school library of their choice. Community or school library selected for the National Winners and National Honorable Mention Winners is at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.
Refer to the National Level Judging in the Official Rules for more details.

Dates

State winners will be notified by the end of March 2009 and the National Winners will be announced by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress by the end of April 2009.

Information for Teachers

Thousands of teachers have found Letters About Literature a valuable classroom project. An educational supplement   providing classroom activities and black line masters to assist teachers in guiding their students through the book discussion and writing process has been developed to help you integrate this competition into your classroom. The unit has four lessons that take readers from prewriting discussions through writing and finally assessment.

Research has shown that children gain greater understanding of what they have read when they are given frequent opportunities to respond to what they've read, especially through writing. The writing response, in turn, helps to develop the students' critical reading and thinking skills. And so the cycle goes--children who read, write better; children who write, read more. This reading-writing link is the very heart of the Letters about Literature program.

Past New Hampshire LAL Winners

A letter to Beverly Cleary from Angela Wang of Nashua, was chosen as the 2008 Level I NH winner.

A letter to Carolyn Mackler from Sydnie Spencer, a student at Oyster River Middle School, was the Level II 2008 New Hampshire winner.

A letter to Jodi Picoult from Livie Lane of Dover was the Level III New Hampshire winner for 2008.

Letter to Frances Hodgson Burnett from Marissa McCoo of Pembrook, was chosen as the 2007 Level I NH winner.

Letter to Davida Wills Hurwin from Livie Lane of Dover was the Level II New Hampshire winner for 2007.

Letter to Anne Rice from Rachel Arnold, a student at Milford High School, was the Level III 2007 New Hampshire winner.

Letter to Natalie Babbitt from Izzy Starr of Hollis, was chosen as the 2006 Level I NH winner.

Letter to Jenni Schaefer from Kylee Drugan-Eppich of Madbury was chosen as the 2006 NH Level II winner and as a runner-up in the national competition.

Letter to Rowland Sill from Steve Therrien of Exeter was the 2006 Level III NH winner.

Letter to Patricia Polacco from Shauna Casey, a homeschooled student from Salem, was chosen as the 2005 Level I NH winner.

Letter to Thornton Wilder from Evelyn Bulkeley, a student at the Runnemede School in Plainfield, was chosen as the 2005 Level II NH winner.

Letter to Candace Goldapper from Samantha Lo, a student at Thorntons Ferry School in Merrimack, was chosen as the 2004 Level I NH winner.

Letter to Tamora Pierce from Helen H. Aki, a homeschooled student from Weare, was chosen as the 2004 Level II NH winner.

Letter to Stephanie S. Tolan from Zoe Cannon, a homeschooled student from Nottingham was chosen as the 2004 Level III NH winner.

Questions?

If you have questions about Letters About Literature in New Hampshire please contact Mary Russell at 603-271-2866.

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