Ms. Nancy's Library & Technology Blog

All entries must be postmarked January 6, 2012

Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing contest. Students write letters to an author explaining how that author’s book changed their way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for 4th-6th graders, Level II for 7th-8th graders, and Level III for 9th-12th graders. Oregon’s three winners (one from each competition level) will go on to compete nationally. Entry forms and guidelines are now available online:

* If you are submitting several letters for the students you work with, please use the class set entry form and guidelines.
* If you are distributing entry forms and guidelines to students directly, please distribute the individual entry form and guidelines.

Librarians and teachers can download and print posters, bookmarks, and stickers to distribute to your students and patrons. Lesson plans and an outline connecting Letters About Literature to national language arts and reading standards are available online.

In 2011 over 900 students in Oregon entered the contest, and 1 in 11 of them received cash prizes or gift certificates to a bookstore. These prizes are made possible through support from the Oregon Reading Association, Oregon Association of School Libraries, and the Oregon Library Association’s Children Services Division and Young Adult network.

At the national level 6 winners and 12 honorable mentions will be selected. National winners receive a $500 Target gift certificate and a $10,000 grant to donate to the public or school library of the winner’s choice. Honorable mentions receive a $100 Target gift certificate and a $1,000 grant to donate to the public or school library of their choice.

Please visit the website for more information or contact Katie Anderson, coordinator of the Letters About Literature activities in Oregon.

Katie Anderson, Library Development Services

* Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator *

Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301

katie.anderson@state.or.us, 503-378-2528

URLs if you need them:

* Entry forms and Guidelines
* Bookmarks, stickers, and lesson plans
* Oregon Letters About Literature
* National Letters About Literature

Our retired custodian at Peninsula K-8, Mr. Frank Morgan, passed away over the weekend. We will miss him greatly, his former students, co-workers, neighbors and I. He loved the library and his dog Peabody did, too. He used to come in and chase the mice away for me.

Frank was a gentleman and a cool person. His wife is in my thoughts, and Peabody is, too.

Frank, thank you for everything you did for our library. You always kept it looking very nice.

Best,

Ms. Nancy

ps Frank sent me this clip awhile back — I would like to include it here.

http://youtu.be/F_tD9BuA1ic

Nice article in the Portland Tribune today, with quotes by Portland Public School’s Susan Stone, and a profile of librarian Nancy Sullivan, from Northeast Portland’s Madison High School (my alma mater!).

Please support your local librarian!

Thank you.

— Ms. Nancy

Apparently, film director Martin Scorsese is also a fan of the Brian Selznick novel, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.” (Award winner: The Iowa Children’s Choice Award for 2009-2010 and winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal; was also a 2007 National Book Award Finalist, Young People’s Literature, and a Junior Library Guide Selection.)

#msnancysezilovethisbooksomuch

Great op-ed piece by James Patterson on how to get ’em to love reading.

TODAY

(Word carved on a stone on John Ruskin’s desk)

Love this website. (And this one — Neil Gaiman’s Journal).

“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify.” — Thoreau