State Library of Kansas
150 Years of Outstanding Service
Kathleen Sebelius, Governor
Christie P. Brandau, State Librarian
For more information, contact:
Kansas Center for the Book
800.432.3919, kcfb@kslib.info
Stilwell Sixth Grader Wins Kansas Center For The Book
Writing Award
Jamie Yearout, a sixth grade student at Pleasant Ridge Middle School, has taken the top honor in this year’s Kansas Letters About Literature reading and writing initiative. Judges recommended Yearout’s letter to Ann Martin, author of A Corner of the Universe, as the first place winner in Level I competition for children in grades 4 through 6. Yearout’s winning letter advances for national competition.
Yearout’s letter noted: “…if everyone in the world had a friend, then some terrible and tragic things wouldn’t have happened, like shootings at schools, fights, burglaries, terrorists’ attacks, or murders. If people had friends the world would be a better place.
Letters About Literature is a reading and writing promotion program of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, presented in partnership with Target Stores. Staetwide, it is administered in Kansas by the Kansas Center for the Book at the State Library of Kansas. Judges are all Fellows or representatives of Affiliates of the Kansas Center for the Book.
To enter, young readers write a personal letter to an author explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves. Ann Martin’s book deals with a young boy whose family mistreated him, but a friend unintentionally helped him confront his problems. A Corner of the Universe conveyed a message to Yearout, who wrote in her letter: “Even though Hattie didn’t know it, she was making Adam’s life easier, by doing something that no one did. Hattie was a friend.”
Readers can select authors from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. The program has three competition levels: upper elementary, middle school, and secondary. The contest theme encourages young readers to explore his or her personal response to a book, then express that response in a creative, original way. In Kansas, almost 1,300 children in grades 4-12 competed. Thirty-six were selected as semi-finalists in Level I, the level Yearout won.
The state finalist for competition Level II (grades 7-8) was Corinne Andresen, Overland Park, for her letter to Madeline L’Engle for A Swiftly Tilting Planet. The state finalist for Level III (grades 9-12) was Ammarah Usmani, Wichita, who wrote to Firooseh Dumas about Funny in Farsi.
State winners each receive a cash award, a $50 Target gift card, and special recognition by the Kansas Center for the Book at their school. Their letters are forwarded to the national competition to compete with state winners from across the U.S.
The Kansas Center for the Book promotes reading and libraries, fosters statewide literary activities, and seeks to stimulate public interest in the educational and cultural role of the book, authorship and writing. As a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Kansas Center for the Book is a nonprofit, tax-exempt program of the State Library of Kansas.
Target Stores, along with its parent company Target Corporation, gives back more than $2 million a week to its local communities through grants and special programs. Since opening its first store in 1962, Target has partnered with nonprofit organizations, guests and team members to help meet community needs.