Rhode Island students in grades 4 — 12 are invited to take the Letters About 
Literature challenge by writing a personal letter to an admired author – someone who has written a book that has been an inspiration for change in their lives. The deadline is December 10, 2013 for grades 9-12 and January 10, 2014 for grades 4-8.
Rhode Island students have met with great success in this contest over the past eight years, with three National Winners and three National Honorable Mentions since 2003. This year brings another opportunity for teachers, parents and librarians statewide to help their students gain state and national recognition for their writing.
By encouraging personal reader response and reflective writing, Letters About Literature supports meaningful reading and helps to create and celebrate successful writers. Teachers and librarians can download the directions for entering and the guidelines from the website: www.read.gov/letters. Teaching materials including lessons plans, writing samples, and assessment checklists are also available at this site.  Letters About Literature supports national standards for teaching language arts & reading as recommended by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association. Teachers can also successfully adapt Letters About Literature’s contest theme and writing requirements to meet Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for composing argument texts.
Letters About Literature awards prizes on both the state and national levels. Each state center has a panel of judges who select the top essayists in the state. State Winners at each level of competition (Level 1 ~ Grades 4 — 6; Level 2 ~ Grades 7 -8; Level 3 ~ Grades 9 -12) will receive a $50 cash award, and additional prizes, and advance to the National Level Judging.
A panel of national judges for the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress will select three (3) National Winners and 3 Second Place Winners at each Level of Competition. The National Winners will receive a $1,000 cash award; Second Place Winners will receive $150 cash award.
Letters About Literature — 2014 is a project of the Rhode Island Center for the Book at RI Council for the Humanities. Through a variety of programs and events, the Center promotes a passion for books among readers of all ages and backgrounds across Rhode Island. The Library of Congress Center for the Book was established in 1977 as a public-private partnership to use the resources of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books and reading.  For information about its activities and national reading promotion networks, visit http://www.read.gov/cfb.
