The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, as the home of the Minnesota Center for the Book, is pleased to announce the state-level winners of the 2016 annual national Letters About Literature Essay Contest, co-sponsored by the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English and Common Good Books, and supported by Education Minnesota’s Foundation for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
This year, 52,000 adolescent and young adult readers nationwide in grades 4 through 12 participated in Letters About Literature, a program which encourages young people to read, be inspired, and write back to the author who has somehow changed their view of the world or themselves. The number of entries from Minnesota’s students was 1,248, and 130 student letters made it through to the state round level of judging in the three levels of competition. For more information about the contest, national winners, and free teaching resources to guide students through the reader response and writing process, visit www.read.gov/letters/.
The winners of the Letters About Literature essay competition were selected on three levels: Level I – for grades four through six, Level II – for grades seven and eight, and Level III – for grades nine through twelve.
The winners are:
Level I
First Place: Alexander Jadoo (McGuire Middle School, Lakeville)
Letter to Brian Falkner, Brain Jack
Second Place: Marie Schumacher (Lake Country School, Minneapolis)
Letter to Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Third Place (tie): Ani Heikkila (Parkview School, Roseville)
Letter to J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series; and
Grace Ritzenthaler (Grade 5: Visitation School, Mendota Heights)
Letter to Thanhha Lai, Inside Out and Back Again
Level II
First Place: Natalie Anderson (The Blake School, Hopkins)
Letter to George Orwell, Animal Farm
Second Place: Andrea Hansen (Wayzata East Middle School, Plymouth)
Letter to J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series
Third Place: Aaryan Gulati (The Blake School, Hopkins)
Letter to Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
Level III
First Place: Dani Dahlseid (Robbinsdale Cooper High School, New Hope)
Letter to Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why
Second Place: Julia Eilers (White Bear Lake High School, White Bear Lake)
Letter to Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat
Third Place: Claire Hank (White Bear Lake High School, White Bear Lake)
Letter to Anonymous, author of “In the Silence”
The student winners were recognized at the 28th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony on Saturday, April 16, 2016 at the St. Paul Union Depot. Winning essays are available online by clicking on the links above.