First and foremost, LAL is a writing contest for young readers in grades 4 - 12. How has an author's work--novel, nonfiction, poetry--changed your view of the world or yourself? That's the LAL writing challenge. Don't write a book report, we tell our young readers. The author already wrote the book and knows what it is about. What the author does not know is how YOU responded to his or her work. Write about that--your personal reader's response!
We challenge young readers to write a personal letter to an author describing how that author's work changed the readers' view of themselves or their world. Last year, 70,000 young readers entered but of those--just under 150 were from Wyoming children! We think it isn't that the program lacks value or even interest. The numbers from other states convince us that this is a good program. But we do think we may be having trouble getting the word out to the teachers and librarians.
Please go to http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/ for more information about this program.
There is thousands in prize money to be awarded at the state and national level.
Deadline is December 10, 2010.
