Book Notes New Hampshire

NH Letters About Literature 2019

2019-08-27T07:59:00.000-04:00

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, which has provided support and all the funding for Letters About Literature to the NH Center since 2004 notified all the state Centers for the Book in mid-June that they are ending the program:

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress is proud of the 27 years it has sponsored the Letters About Literature program with affiliated Centers for the Book. This national reading and writing competition, which has touched more than one million students, has been a source of much joy and inspiration at the nation’s library. We are grateful for your unflagging support of this initiative.
I write to let you know that, after much analysis and reflection, the Library has decided that Letters About Literature will conclude with the 2018-2019 program. The Library has developed a new Strategic Plan, and must focus its resources in direct support of that Plan.

After receiving this notice the NH Center for the Book Advisory Board discussed the issue and determined that without the financial support of the Library of Congress we are unable to offer this program to New Hampshire students for the 2019-2020 school year.

Letters About Literature is a program that supports reading and the thoughtful consideration of how literature relates to our lives and we would like to see it continue in our state. There are several state Centers planning to fund and manage the program within their own states in the coming school year. The NH Center will be looking at whether we can find the resources to resume the program, following the model being created now by other state centers, for the fall of 2020. If this proves possible we will make announcements about our plans by early May 2020.

National LAL Winners

2019-07-02T10:58:00.000-04:00

The Library of Congress has announced the 2019 winners of the National Letters About Literature competition.
More than 29,000 students from across the country participated in this year’s initiative. The contest is promoted by the Library’s Center for the Book through its affiliated state centers, state libraries, state humanities councils and other organizations.

Congratulations to the 2019 NH LAL Winners!

2019-04-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

Sofia Bergskaug, a student at Captain Samuel Douglass Academy, wrote the letter that was selected as the 2019 Level I NH winning letter to Sharon M. Draper.
Madelyn Bergen, a student at Milford Middle School, wrote the 2019 Level II NH winning letter to Laurie Halse Anderson.
Nilaani Pazhaniappan, a student at Nashua High School South, wrote the 2019 Level III NH winning letter to Jennifer Niven.

The 2019 NH winning letters are linked from the LAL webpage. Prizes will be sent to each of the NH winners at the end of the week and their letters have advanced to the National Letters About Literature competition.

Info about the 2020 Letters About Literature competition will be available this summer.

Congratulations to the 2019 NH LAL Semi-Finalists!

2019-04-11T12:10:00.002-04:00

Level 1 (grades 4-6)

Teagan Arborgast
Sofia Bergskaug
Giada Bourassa
Sophia Brickner
Jacob Brien
Taylor Christle
Kiren Cook
Angelina Costa
Julian Crespo
Emma DiGennaro
Mercedes Gavin
Colby Hallett
James Kelly
Avery Labatte
Grace Lebiedz
Brady Paris
Madeline Sullivan
Molly Topliff
Abigail Wallis
Jonah Winsor

Level 2 (grades 7-8)

Daniella Allanach
Marcus Anderson
James Barrett
Madelyn Bergen
Aden Cremonini
Owen Johnson
Lucas Kachadorian
Colby Lajoie
Eden Leak
Jacob Lydon
Jaidyn Malette
Mackenzie O´Connor
Auburn Rafferty
Aarika Roy
Hannah Stec
Grace Webb

Level 3 (grades 9-12)

Victoria Arrigo
Ava Blair
Abigail Foley
Raizel Hernandez
Emily Jastrem
Nilaani Pazhaniappan
Rease St. Gelais
Megan Swedberg
Bryna Wilson
Paige Witherbee

Please note that there were 2 additional students whose letters were selected as semi-finalists. As of 4/12/19 we had not received permission to announce their names.

New Hampshire's winning letters will be selected from these semi-finalist letters and announced at the end of April. The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library will award $100 to each first place winner. State winners will advance to the national Letters About Literature competition. If you want to get the latest LAL news, you can subscribe to LAL news email feed at the NH Letters About Literature page.

NOTE: This post was updated (4/12/19) to add the names of additional students once their release forms were received.

LAL: Online Entries

2018-11-02T10:03:00.003-04:00

Beginning this year there is an online submission platform for Letters About Literature entries set up by the Library of Congress. The online Submittable form went live yesterday. To see what the process looks like before you begin submitting, check out this video from the Library of Congress.

We encourage everyone to use this method of entering Letters About Literature if they can, but the New Hampshire competition will accept paper entries this year. Details are on the NH LAL page.

Letters About Literature Update

2018-10-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

Entry information for this year is now available at Letters About Literature. New Hampshire students in grades 4-12 are invited to enter and we encourage everyone to use the Library of Congress's new online submission form which will open at the end of this week.

Students who will not yet be 13 years old on November 1, 2018 will need to have a permission form signed by their parent or guardian to enter (even if they enter by mailing us their letter). We encourage teachers to get these sent home and signed ahead of time.

Online entry is a new process for Letters About Literature and the Library of Congress has compiled some teacher's resources which you may find useful in planning for this year's entries. There is an option for New Hampshire students to enter via snail mail which requires a new national entry coupon (and a permission slip for students under 13). The NH Center put together some notes on completing the new coupon. If you are using the online entry you system you don't need a coupon at all as the information will put entered directly.

We hope that the online process will go smoothly, but it is new and there may be some bumps along the way. Please get in touch if you have problems entering. All NH entries must be completed online or postmarked by midnight on December 14, 2018.

Letters About Literature 2019

2018-10-01T15:08:00.001-04:00

Letters About Literature will be happening here in New Hampshire this year and the Center for the Book at the NH State Library is very pleased to be partnering with Franklin Pierce University to coordinate the New Hampshire Letters About Literature competition.

The Library of Congress, which coordinates the national competition, has moved the competition online beginning this year, which has necessitated a lot of changes behind the scenes and resulted in delays in getting things out to students and teachers. The forms and links are almost ready and will be posted on our website as soon as they are complete and correct.

Here are the basics for 2019:

The deadline for entries from NH will be December 14, 2018
There will be 3 competition levels, the same as in previous years
You can enter using an online submission form which will be available starting November 1, 2018
Students who are not yet 13 as of 11/1/18 will have to have a permission form signed by a parent or guardian submitted with their entry. The necessary form will be available on our website shortly.
New Hampshire students who cannot use the online submission form, for whatever reason, can mail their entries (including an entry coupon--which will be available on our website shortly--and the signed permission form if they are under 13) to
Letters About Literature
Center for the Book at NHSL
20 Park Street
Concord, NH 03301

We appreciate your patience with the changes to the competition this year and look forward to hearing from New Hampshire students about the books that affected them.

Congratulations to the 2018 NH LAL Winners!

2018-05-01T15:32:00.003-04:00

Julianna Kajka, a fifth grader at Hampstead Middle School, wrote the letter that was selected as the 2018 Level I NH winning letter to Sara Pennypacker.
Brianna Leo, a student at Milford Middle School, wrote the 2018 Level II NH winning letter to Ben Mikaelsen.
Stephanie Chambers, an eleventh grader at Prospect Mountain High School (Alton), wrote the 2018 Level III NH winning letter to Stephen Chbosky.

Info about the 2019 Letters About Literature competition will be available later this summer.

Congratulations to the 2018 NH LAL Semi-Finalists!

2018-04-09T16:31:00.002-04:00

Joshua Army, Milford
Anya Bakin, Durham
Rylie Blanchard, Pembroke
Jensen Casassa, Exeter
Ruth Cassidy, Nashua
Ryan Cavanaugh, Milford
Rosalyn Caza, Pembroke
Jake Demers, Pembroke
Colin Gregg, Milford
Matthew Harry, Somersworth
Johnathan Holler, Pembroke
Emily Johnston, Londonderry
Julianna Kajka, Hampstead
Andrew Kelly, Durham
Brianna Leo, Milford
Joshua Ma, Nashua
Samantha MacAvoy, Atkinson
Carson Morgan, Somersworth
Paeton Moul, Milford
Nancy Poore, Exeter
Caroline Raiano, Milford
Jaden Russell, Pembroke
Alexander Shutt, Hollis
Elisabeth Stapelfeld, Hollis
Greta Stevens, Exeter
Michaela Thibault, Exeter
Olivia Wood, Exeter
Mehli Yoder, Somersworth
Alyssa Zimont, Pembroke

Please note that there were 2 other students whose letters were selected as semi-finalists. As of this afternoon we had not received permission to announce their names.

New Hampshire's winning letters will be selected from these semi-finalist letters and announced in early May. The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library will award $100 to each first place winner. State winners will advance to the national Letters About Literature competition. If you want to get the latest LAL news, you can subscribe to LAL news email feed at the NH Letters About Literature page.

LC Hosting an LAL Webinar for Educators

2017-10-18T14:09:00.001-04:00

Join the Library of Congress Letters About Literature team on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time for a one-hour webinar exploring 25 years of best practices of the Letters About Literature program. Certificates for CEUs will be available upon completion of the live program. Register here.

Letters About Literature - The Video

2017-09-26T14:56:00.001-04:00

In NH Letters About Literature is coordinated by the NH Center for the Book.
The NH deadline is December 9, 2017.

This awesome video was created by the Texas State Library which is working with the Texas Library Association to help Texans recover from recent hurricanes.

Letters About Literature 2018

2017-09-22T15:22:00.001-04:00

The Library of Congress has just launched the 25th annual Letters About Literature competition and the Center for the Book at the NH State Library invites Granite State students in grades 4-12 to enter.

Funding for this national reflective writing competition is provided by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Students are asked to write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic.

Visit the NH Center for the Book website for details on entering, including the required entry coupon. The deadline for entries is December 9, 2017.

Congratulations to the New Hampshire 2017 LAL Winners!

2017-05-12T13:37:00.004-04:00

Isabella Reichard, a sixth grade student at Captain Samuel Douglass Academy (Brookline), the letter that was selected as the 2017 Level I NH winning letter to Esther Earl.

Megan McLaughlin, an eighth grader at Hollis Brookline Middle School, wrote the 2017 Level II NH winning letter to Jerry Spinelli.

Kaiden Gilbert, an eleventh grader at Prospect Mountain High School (Alton), wrote the 2017 Level III NH winning letter to Gary Paulsen.

Info about the 2018 Letters About Literature competition will be available later this summer.

Congratulations to the 2017 NH LAL Semi-finalists!

2017-04-21T15:01:00.001-04:00

Alexis Noelle Darner, Milford
Aliyah Dodier, Durham
Amity Wilson, Alton
BettyJane Weir, Alton
Cassie Shaw, Milford
Elena Yu, Brookline
Emy Li, Exeter
Emma O'Brien, Exeter
Grace McGrath, Milford
Hunter Crea, Brookline
Isabella Reichard, Brookline
Ishanvi Bachwal, Nashua
Kaiden Gilbert, Alton
Kellie Mahoney, Alton
Liam Moriarty, Exeter
Marissa Duragano, Londonderry
Marlise Hyde, Durham
Megan McLaughlin, Hollis
Megan Williams, Milford
Paige Burt, Durham
Samantha MacAvoy, Atkinson
Skye Shen, Durham
Thomas Mason, Milford
Wyleigh Chase, Alton
Zachary Cassidy, Nashua

Letters About Literature NH Semi-finalists

2017-04-04T11:23:00.003-04:00

The 2017 New Hampshire Letters About Literature semi-finalist letters have been selected! There were 599 New Hampshire letters this year, received from 11 different schools, and 25 of those letters were selected as semi-finalists. Packets were mailed out today to the semi-finalist students, care of their teachers. Those students are from:

Atkinson Academy
Captain Samuel Douglas Academy
Exeter High School
Hollis Brookline Middle School
Infant Jesus School
Londonderry High School
Milford Middle School
Oyster River Middle School
Prospect Mountain High School
One semi-finalist letter was entered individually rather than through a school

Once we receive release forms from the semi-finalists we will announce their names. The New Hampshire winners for each of the 3 competition levels will advance to the national competition and will be announced in late April.

Letters About Literature Update

2017-03-14T06:47:00.000-04:00

The New Hampshire Letters About Literature entries have been reviewed by the national judging panel and are now here in Concord to be collated and sent on to our Granite State judges this week. There were 599 New Hampshire letters this year, received from 11 different schools.

Students whose letters are selected as NH semi-finalists will be notified by mail (through their school if they entered that way) by early April. If you want to get the latest LAL news, you can subscribe to LAL news email feed at the NH Letters About Literature page.

Letters About Literature 2017

2016-09-30T12:40:00.002-04:00

The Center for the Book at the NH State Library invites New Hampshire students to enter Letters About Literature, a national writing competition sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

Students in grades 4 to 12 are asked to write as if to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. A wide variety of books have inspired students whose letters were selected as New Hampshire semi-finalists in recent years.

Letters must be submitted using the required entry coupon and be postmarked by the deadline.

Deadline for Level III (grades 9-12) is December 2, 2016

Deadline for Level II (grades 7-8) and Level I (grades 4-6) is January 9, 2017

Entries will be judged at each of the three competition levels and a state winner chosen at each level. New Hampshire's winning letters will each be awarded a $100. cash prize and will be sent on to the national competition. State winners will be notified in April 2017.

Congratulations to the 2016 NH LAL Winners!

2016-05-10T13:30:00.001-04:00

Liliana Pistor, a sixth grader at Captain Samuel Douglass Academy (Brookline), wrote the 2016 Level I NH winning letter to R. J. Palacio.

Anthony Perriello, an eighth grade student at Plainfield Elementary School (Meriden), wrote the letter that was selected as the 2016 Level II NH winning letter to Paul Volponi.

Kaitlyn Grant , a senior at Somersworth High School and Career Technical Center, wrote the 2016 Level III NH winning letter to Neil Hilborn.

A complete list of the 2016 NH semi-finalists is available on the Letters About Literature website.

Congratulations to the 2016 NH LAL Semi-finalists!

2016-04-27T16:33:00.000-04:00

Molly Beaupré, Meriden
Sarah Savannah Carberry, Somersworth
Jordan Cassily, Brookline
Kaitlyn Grant, Somersworth
Jade Gregg, Milford
Lily Krause, North Haverhill
Samuel Lappin, Meriden
Ashly N. Lavery, Somersworth
Belle Leonard, South Hampton
Stephanie Lo, Somersworth
Andrew Mahoney, South Hampton
Jack McGarrahan, Hampstead
Ella Murray, Atkinson
Julia Noel, Milford
Jahnavi Palarapu, Nashua
Anthony Perriello, Meriden
Liliana Pistor, Brookline
Britney Sayegh, Nashua
Susanna Serrano, Durham
Darby Simmons, Atkinson
Emily Sullivan, Milford
Elizabeth Woidyla, Hampstead
Leah Zamansky, Durham

Please note that in addition to the students listed here, there were 2 more students honored as semi-finalists who had not given us permission to announce their names as of today. New Hampshire's winning letters will be selected from these semi-finalist letters and announced the first week of May. The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library will award $100 to each first place winner. State winners will advance to the national Letters About Literature competition. If you want to get the latest LAL news, you can subscribe to LAL news email feed at the NH Letters About Literature page.

LAL Semi-finalists by School

2016-04-07T09:28:00.002-04:00

The semi-finalists for 2016's New Hampshire Letters About Literature have been selected and notification packets are going out to them (care of their schools) in tomorrow's mail.

This year's semi-finalists are from:

Atkinson Academy
Captain Samuel Douglass Academy, Brookline
Hampstead Middle School
Haverhill Cooperative Middle School
Infant Jesus School, Nashua
Milford Middle School
Oyster River Middle School, Durham
Plainfield Elementary School, Meriden
Somersworth High School

Within the next 2 weeks, once we have received release forms from each student, we will announce the names of the students whose letters were selected as semi-finalists. A state winner at each competition level will be announced by May 1.

LAL Update

2016-03-15T13:06:00.002-04:00

The New Hampshire Letters About Literature entries have arrived here in Concord from the national judging panel and are being collated and sent on to our Granite State judges this week. There were 737 New Hampshire letters this year, received from 14 schools.

Students whose letters are selected as NH semi-finalists will be notified by mail (through their school if they entered that way) by early April. If you want to get the latest LAL news, you can subscribe to LAL news email feed at the NH Letters About Literature page.

Letters About Literature 2016

2015-10-22T06:11:00.000-04:00

Letters About Literature is a national reading-writing contest sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Students are asked to write to a favorite author—past or present—describing how that author’s work changed the reader’s view of the world. Readers respond to the book they’ve read by exploring the personal relationship between themselves, the author and the book’s characters or themes. Readers may select authors, living or dead, from any genre—fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic. The competition is coordinated in New Hampshire by the Center for the Book at the NH State Library.

Competition Timeline

Entries will be accepted beginning November 2, 2015.
All entries MUST be accompanied by a complete and legible entry coupon, which is on the 2015-2016 Guidelines.
Letters entered at Level 3 (grades 9-12) must be postmarked by December 4, 2015.
Letters entered at Level 1 (grades 4-6) and Level 2 (grades 7-8) must be postmarked by January 11, 2016.
New Hampshire semi-finalists will be notified by mail in early April 2016.
A panel of New Hampshire judges will select one letterat each competiion level for the state prize (of $100).
New Hampshire's winning letters will be announced by May 1, 2016.
National winners will be announced in May 2016.

Letters About Literature 2015-2016

2015-09-17T16:19:00.002-04:00

Letters About Literature will be coordinated in New Hampshire this year by the Center for the Book (as usual). New materials and information is being put together for this year's competition and those materials will be available shortly.

There are a few new things this year:

A new sponsor (Thanks Dollar General Literacy Foundation!)
A new mailing address
A new coupon that must accompany all entries
New deadlines: Level 3 entries will need to be postmarked by December 4, 2015; the other levels will have a January 11, 2016 postmark deadline

We hope to have all the materials posted next week, so start thinking about a book that changed your view of the world or of yourself and please stay tuned for details.

Congratulations to the 2015 NH LAL Winners!

2015-05-18T09:39:00.000-04:00

Zachary Cassidy, a fourth grader at Infant Jesus School (Nashua), wrote the 2015 Level I NH winning letter to Robert Lawson.

Emmy Goyette, a student in the eighth grade at Oyster River Middle School (Durham), wrote the letter that was selected as the 2015 Level II NH winning letter to Laurie Halse Anderson.

Joonho Jo, a tenth grader at Philips Exeter Academy, wrote the 2015 Level III NH winning letter to Chinua Achebe.

A complete list of the 2015 NH semi-finalists is available on the Letters About Literature website.

NOTE: This post was updated 5/18/2015 to include working links to all 3 winning letters.

Congratulations to the 2015 NH LAL Semi-finalists!

2015-04-13T09:33:00.001-04:00

Abigail Magnuszewski, Brookline

Abigail Davis, Brookline

Adam Razzaboni, Brookline

Alyssa Rogers, Somersworth

Anna Sourdif, Lee

Anna Wolke, Plainfield

Caitlin MacVarish, Hollis

Christopher Hopp, North Haverhill

Christina Rogers, Moultonborough

Dana Ulrich, Hollis

Darby Simmons, Atkinson

Delia Carstens, Whitefield

Eliza Rae Thayer, Haverhill

Emily A. Simons, Dover

Emmy Goyette, Durham

Hannah Falcone, Plainfield

Helene Kenney, Exeter

Isaah Gray, Somersworth

Isabel Povey, Hampstead

Jack Cameron, Hampstead

Jahnavi Palarapu, Nashua

Jarod Denis, Pembroke

Joonho Jo, Exeter

Jordan Lavery, East Hampstead

Joseph Solari, Milford

Kaitlyn Ferdinand, Brookline

Katherine Lavoie, East Hampstead

Kaycee Travis, Plainfield

Kayla Sickler, Milford

Keelin Cripps, Pembroke

Kerstin Nielsen, Lee

Laura Gamelin, Pembroke

Lily Nowe, Pembroke

Lily Roberge, Milford

Lucy Barlow, Hampstead

Luke Anderson, Rollinsford

Madison Opalinski, Franconia

Marian Zens, Lyme

Meagan Stagner, Pembroke

Meghan Dirksmeier, Madbury

Meghan Wood, Milford

Molly Hyde, Durham

Molly Nero, Milford

Montgomery LeBlanc, East Hampstead

Natalie VanderNoot, Lebanon

Reagan Berry, Hollis

Riley McGrath, Atkinson

Rohit Kantipudi, Madbury

Ryan McMahon, East Hampstead

Samuel Koch, Hollis

Sasha Beran-Hughes, Milford

Shira Hoffer, Hanover

Shriya Mareedu, Nashua

Sydney Buffett, Bedford

Sydney Malachi, Suncook

Sydney Speir, Brookline

Tylor Pappalardo, East Hampstead

William Shea, Hampstead

Zachary Cassidy, Greenville

Zachary Girouard, Milford

Please note that in addition to the students listed here, there were 7 more students honored as semi-finalists who had not given us permission to announce their names as of today. This year sixty-seven semi-finalist letters were selected out of 776 letters received from New Hampshire students.

Book Notes New Hampshire

NH Letters About Literature 2019

National LAL Winners

Congratulations to the 2019 NH LAL Winners!

Congratulations to the 2019 NH LAL Semi-Finalists!

LAL: Online Entries

Letters About Literature Update

Students who will not yet be 13 years old on November 1, 2018 will need to have a permission form signed by their parent or guardian to enter (even if they enter by mailing us their letter). We encourage teachers to get these sent home and signed ahead of time.

We hope that the online process will go smoothly, but it is new and there may be some bumps along the way. Please get in touch if you have problems entering. All NH entries must be completed online or postmarked by midnight on December 14, 2018.

Letters About Literature 2019

Letters About Literature will be happening here in New Hampshire this year and the Center for the Book at the NH State Library is very pleased to be partnering with Franklin Pierce University to coordinate the New Hampshire Letters About Literature competition.

Here are the basics for 2019:

The deadline for entries from NH will be December 14, 2018

There will be 3 competition levels, the same as in previous years

You can enter using an online submission form which will be available starting November 1, 2018

Students who are not yet 13 as of 11/1/18 will have to have a permission form signed by a parent or guardian submitted with their entry. The necessary form will be available on our website shortly.

We appreciate your patience with the changes to the competition this year and look forward to hearing from New Hampshire students about the books that affected them.

Congratulations to the 2018 NH LAL Winners!

Congratulations to the 2018 NH LAL Semi-Finalists!

LC Hosting an LAL Webinar for Educators

Letters About Literature - The Video

Letters About Literature 2018

Congratulations to the New Hampshire 2017 LAL Winners!

Congratulations to the 2017 NH LAL Semi-finalists!

Letters About Literature NH Semi-finalists

Letters About Literature Update

Letters About Literature 2017

Congratulations to the 2016 NH LAL Winners!

Congratulations to the 2016 NH LAL Semi-finalists!

LAL Semi-finalists by School

LAL Update

Letters About Literature 2016

Letters About Literature 2015-2016

Congratulations to the 2015 NH LAL Winners!

Congratulations to the 2015 NH LAL Semi-finalists!