Read, Be Inspired, Write Back

Students in grades 4 through 12 are invited to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading and writing promotion program for young readers, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in partnership with Target and coordinated in New Hampshire by the Center for the Book at the NH State Library. To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves. Young readers can select authors from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic.

Granite State judges will select the top essayists in the state on three competition levels: Level I for young readers in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grade 7 and 8 readers, and Level III, for readers in grades 9 through 12. State winners will receive a $50 Target GiftCard and $100 from the NH Center for the Book. Each state winner will then advance to the national competition.

A panel of judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will then select six national winners (two per competition level) and 12 national runners-up (four per competition level). Each national winner will receive a $500 Target GiftCard. In addition, they will win a Reading Promotion Grant of $10,000 for their school or community library. National winners will be instrumental in deciding how the library funds will be spent. The 12 national runners-up will win a $100 Target GiftCard, plus they will win a Reading Promotion Grant of $1,000 for their school or community library.

“To be able to give such a generous gift to his or her hometown or school library is an empowering experience for a young person,” said Catherine Gourley, Letters About Literature’s national project director. “The goal of these grants is not only to recognize our young readers but also to bring personal reading experiences to other young people across the country.”

Deadline for entries is December 14, 2007.

Book of the Week # 39

Evangeline Mudd and the Great Mink Escapade by David Elliott (Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2006)

Returned from her adventures in the Ikkinasti Jungle, Evangeline Mudd is ready to keep the promise she made to Pals United for Furry Friends and keep Melvin Mudd's Marvelous Minks from becoming costumes. In the process she will make a new friend and learn to ride a unicycle (it's kind of like brachiating).

This delightful book was selected by the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library to be included on the 2007 Pavilion of the States map produced as part of the National Book Festival.

Happy Birthday, Donald Hall

Today is the birthday of Donald Hall and the Writer's Almanac -- an easy way to get your daily dose of poetry -- has chosen "The judge was decent, but..." by Donald Hall for today's selection.

Book of the Week #38

Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union by Peter A. Wallner. (Concord, NH: Plaidswede Publishing, 2007)

This is the second volume of Wallner's biography of Franklin Pierce and covers his Presidency and the role he played in the fight over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Historian Peter Wallner is the Library Director for the New Hampshire Historical Society.

Wallner is among the authors who are scheduled to be at the New Hampshire Antiquarian Book Fair in Concord on Sunday, September 23, 2007.

Celebrating the Joy of Reading

What do U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, film-maker Ken Burns, best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult, and the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library have in common?
We will all be at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. at the end of September. (We are also all residents of the Granite State).

For the fifth year, the NH Center for the Book will host a table in the Pavillion of the States. This year we will be distributing information about the NH Center for the Book, tourism information on NH, and -- thanks to Candlewick Press -- an excerpt from Evangeline Mudd and the Great Mink Escapade by David Elliott.

Judy Schachner, winner of the 2005 Ladybug Picture Book Award, will also be at the Festival.

Book of the Week #37

Kerouac's Nashua Connection by Stephen Edington. (Nashua, NH: Transition Publishing, 1999.)

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road, one of Time Magazine's 100 All Time Best Novels. The original manuscript -- a 120 foot scroll -- is on exhibit in Lowell through mid-October and there was an interesting discussion on The Exchange this morning about the significance of On the Road. It was also featured as part of Present at the Creation from NPR's Morning Edition a few years ago.

Kerouac (1922-1969), was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, into a Franco-American family which had come to Lowell by way of Nashua, New Hampshire. Kerouac's Nashua Connection traces the Kerouac ancestry and provides an interesting guide to the New Hampshire landmarks to be found in Kerouac's work. The author, Stephen Edington is a member of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee which puts on an annual Jack Kerouac festival.

Book of the Week #36

Sugar Baron: Manuel Rionda and the Fortunes of Pre-Castro Cuba by Muriel McAvoy-Weissman (Contoocook, NH: YBP Library Services, 2003.)

Sugar Baron takes us on a journey through the rise of Manuel Rionda and the establishment of the Cuba Sugar Cane Corporation as well as the history and economics surrounding the relations between the Cuban and United States sugar trade.

The author, Muriel McAvoy-Weissman, a resident of Concord, and a patron of the NH State Library, passed away last Tuesday.

International Literacy Day - September 8, 2007

From the UNESCO web site:

September 8 is an occasion to give hope to the millions of women, men and children who cannot read or write even their own names. International Literacy Day is a timely reminder to the world about the importance of literacy for individuals, families, communities and whole societies. This year’s theme, “Literacy sustains development”, emphasizes that literacy is not only a positive outcome of development processes but also a lever of change and an instrument for achieving further social progress. “Literacy is not merely a cognitive skill of reading, writing and arithmetic, for literacy helps in the acquisition of learning and life skills that, when strengthened by usage and application throughout people’s lives, lead to forms of individual, community and societal development that are sustainable,” says Koïchiro Matsuura, UNESCO Director-General in his message on the occasion of International Literacy Day 2006. Events are organized worldwide to raise public awareness and support for literacy.

The Alphabet of Hope: Writers for Literacy, a book bringing together internationally renowned authors advocating Literacy for All, will be published by UNESCO as part of the African Regional Conference in Support of Global Literacy, 10 to 12 September 2007, in Bamako (Mali).
Authors in the English version include: Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Paulo Coelho, Nadine Gordimer, Amitav Gosh, Francisco Sionil Jose, N. Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, Amy Tan, Miklós Vámos, and Banana Yoshimoto.

According to UNESCO, an estimated 774 million adults, two-thirds of them women, live without basic literacy skills. Many organizations in the Granite State working to help people in our community to improve their lives by improving their reading. International Literacy Day is an opportunity for you to decide how you can help.

Book of the Week #35

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1997. )

Anita Shreve is a part-time resident of New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire seacoast provides the setting for this story of a photographer who immerses herself in the lives of two women who were brutally murdered by an unknown assailant in 1873 and a third woman who survived the attack by hiding in a sea cave. The modern tale of the photographer's troubled marriage is interwoven with the historic tale of the women who lived and died on Smuttynose.