Contest Aimed at Getting Kids Excited about Reading
December 14, 2016 (Helena, MT)—For the 6th year in a row, Your Lewis & Clark Library is hosting a “Dear Author” contest for students in grades 4th and 5th. “Dear Author” encourages students to read YRCA nominated books, past YRCA winners, or a Newberry Medal Winner and write a letter to the author of the book they chose.
“The letters are not to be a book report,” explains Children’s Services Librarian Marissa Bazan. “Rather, they should focus on what the book showed the reader about the world; or what did you realize about yourself as a result of reading the book; why was the book meaningful to you; or how did the author’s work influence you.”
Letters must be typed on 8 ½ by 11 paper and include student’s name, phone number, name of school or home school, and age at the top of the page. Letters will not be returned. Submissions can be sent to Marissa Bazan between January 9-13, 2017 and the winners will be notified by February 3, 2017. The five finalists will be honored at an awards ceremony held at the Library on February 7th at 7PM.
“Not only are the top five finalists honored, but thanks to a generous donation from the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation, each of the finalists’ school libraries will receive prize money to buy books,” explained Bazan.
Joe Furshong, chair of the Lewis & Clark Library Foundation, explains the Foundation’s sponsorship of the “Dear Author” contest, “the Foundation is thrilled to once again support this important contest. As a Foundation Board, we are committed to enhancing library services by helping the Library accomplish its mission of providing solid childhood educational opportunities that engage young readers in recreational reading.”
The “Dear Author” contest replaced the annual Battle of the Books that also engaged 4th and 5th graders with YRCA winning novels. The Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada. The award was established in 1940 by a Seattle bookseller, the late Harry Hartman, who believed every student should have an opportunity to select a book that gives him or her pleasure.
Nominations are taken only from children, teachers, parents and librarians in the Pacific Northwest ~ Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana and Washington. Nominations may include fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, animae and manga.
For more information and complete contest guidelines, log onto www.lclibrary.org.
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