Letters about Literature

Letters about Literature asks students in Grades 4 through 12 to write letters to authors about books that have changed the way they look at themselves or at the world around them. This is personal and reflective writing that encourages readers to make connections between the books they read and the lives they live.

Each year, Massachusetts Center for the Book sponsors a Massachusetts awards ceremony on the morning of Library Legislative Day at the State House. The Great Hall is filled to standing room only with students, parents, teachers, librarians, and legislators (last year over 30 legislators greeted their constituents or prepared citations to recognize their achievement). The Lt. Governor has joined the ceremony for the past two years as well.

Please visit www.massbook.org where you can download this year's guidelines. Submission deadline for all levels is December 1, 2005. All state winners will be notified in March 2006. National winners will be contacted in April.

You can also find lesson plans and reading activities at the Library of Congress site -- www.loc.gov/letters.

The Judges for this year's Massachusetts Letters About Literature are:

Katie Baxter, President, Massachusetts Library Association, & Library Director, Nobles & Greenough School

John Brereton, Director, Calderwood Writing Iniative at the Boston Athenaeum

Karen Casey, Senior Editor, Reading and Language Arts, Houghton Mifflin Co.

Andrew Clements, Massachusetts author

Irene Smalls, Massachusetts author

Moderator, Sharon Shaloo, Massachusetts Center for the Book

You can read more about LAL 2006 at www.massbook.org. Join us on April 5th at the State House to celebrate with the award winners of this year's program!

Letters About Literature is a program of the Massachusetts Center for the Book, sponsored by the Calderwood Writing Initiative at the Boston Athenaeum with additional support from Houghton Mifflin Company and the Massachusetts Library Association. It is sponsored nationally by the Library of Congress and Target Stores. Read more about it at www.massbook.org.

Sharon Shaloo
Executive Director
Massachusetts Center for the Book