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2001 Letters About Literature National Winners

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Each year, six National and 12 National Honor letters are chosen from the tens of thousands of entries. National winners can name the library of their choice to receive a $10,000 award from Target, and the students receive a $500 Target GiftCard. National Honor winners can name a library to receive a $1,000 award from Target, and the students receive a $50 Target GiftCard.

Level I

Winner Home Town Book Author
 
Hannah Bauchat, grade 7 Columbia, SC “The Green Mile” Steven King

Level II

Winner Home Town Book Author
 
Jennifer Todd, grade 8 Salt Lake City, UT “Pride and Prejudice” Jane Austen

State Winners Letters About Literature 2001

See National Winners »

State Level I Level II
Alaska Alaina Alderson, grade 5, Eagle River, AK, to J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” Robert Kirchner, grade 10, Anchorage, AK, to Mitch Albom, “Tuesdays with Morrie”
Arizona Allissia Romero, grade 5, Tucson, AZ, to Louis Sachar, “Holes ” Carly Parsons, grade 8, Marana, AZ, to Natalie Babbitt, “Tuck Everlasting”
Arkansas Violet Beals, grade 6, Pearcy, AR, to Joseph Campbell, “I Am the Mountainy Singer” Sarita Perez, Little Rock, AR, to J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter book series
California Min Lee, grade 4, La Palma, CA, to E. B. White, “Charlotte's Web” Minh Huynh, grade 11, San Gabriel, CA, to Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451”
Colorado Jackie Kleinsasser, grade 6, Monument, CO, to Roald Dahl, “The BFG” Kerrie Earley, grade 11, Littleton, CO, to Marguerite Henry,“ Misty's Twilight”
Connecticut Pia Crawford-Silva, grade 6, West Hartford, CT, to Jane Yolen, “The Devil's Arithmetic” Cross Woodfield, grade 11, West Hartford, CT, to Margaret Wise Brown, “Goodnight Moon”
District of Columbia Yizhoo Chen, grade 7, Washington, DC, to Piri Thomas, “Down These Mean Streets” Andre Turner, Jr., grade 12, Washington, DC, to Claude Brown, “Manchild in the Promised Land”
Illinois Katherine Black, grade 7, Skokie, IL, to Donald Ladew, “Stradivarius” Jeremy Newtson, grade 10, Pleasant Plains, IL, to Henry Aaron and Lonnie Wheeler, “I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story”
Indiana Jacqueline Klapak, grade 7, Highland, IN, to Helen Kaufmann, “The Story of Beethoven” Catherine E. Dea grade 11, North Manchester, IN, to Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
Kansas Kevin Grunwald, grade 7, Indian Hills Middle School, Shawnee Mission, KS, to Stephen King,“ The Green Mile ” Curtis Shank , grade 8, Indian Hills Middle School, Shawnee Mission, KS, to Daniel Keyes, “Flowers for Algernon”
Maine Amber Casterlin, grade 4, Brunswick, ME, to Barbara Cooney, “Miss Rumphius” Ethan Hyland, grade 9, Poland, ME, to Stephen Ambrose, “Undaunted Courage”
Maryland Brian Warlitner, Huntingtown, MD, to Will Hobbs,“ Far North” Betsy Seeger, grade 10, Severn, MD, to Mitch Albom, “Tuesdays with Morrie”
Massachusetts Alison Perry, grade 7, North Brookfield, MA, to Katherine Paterson, “Bridge to Terabithia” Jane Partensky, grade 11, Waltham, MA, to Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" and
Zoe Paschkis, grade 8, Newton , to James Hurst, "The Scarlet Ibis"
Minnesota Brittany Jaekel, grade 6, Champlin, MN, to Anne Frank, Diary of Anne Frank Claire Shefchik, grade 10, Stillwater, MN, to Kevin Baker, “Dreamland”
Missouri Lindsay Wallace, grade 7, Columbia, MO, to Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" Keely D. White, grade 12, Hopkins, MO, to John Irving, “The Cider House Rules”
Montana No Level I winner selected this year from Montana Chance Schieffert, grade 12, Big Timber, MT, to Wilson Rawls, “Where the Red Fern Grows”
Nebraska Travis Johnson, grade 7, Milford, NE, to Jerry Spinelli, “Maniac Magee” Jonas Azzam, grade 9, Lincoln, NE, to Philip Gourevich, "We Regret To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda"
New Mexico Amanda Orta, grade 6, Las Cruces, NM, to Mildred Taylor, “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” Michelle Grammes, grade 11, Moriarty, NM, to Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"
North Carolina Josey Ellis, grade 5, Boone, NC, to C. S. Adler, “Eddie's Blue-Winged Dragon” Christie Cunningham, grade 9, Jamestown, NC, to Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451”
North Dakota Samantha Offerdahl, grade 7, Bismarck, ND, to Mark Twain,“ The Mysterious Stranger” LeAnna Lesmeister, grade 11, Williston, ND, to George Orwell, “Animal Farm”
Ohio Lauren Burke, grade 7, Pickerington, OH, to Irene Hunt, “Lottery Rose” Carlee Tressel, grade 12, Boardman, OH, to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby”
Oklahoma Shannon Whaley, Edmond, OK, to Cynthia Joye Rowland, “The Monster Within” Blake Stewart, grade 9, Sallisaw, OK, to Harper Lee, “To Kill A Mockingbird”
Oregon Derek Wood, grade 6, Beaverton, OR, to the author of “Since You Went Away” Keely Koda, grade 10, Vale, OR, to Lois Lowry, “Number the Stars”
Pennsylvania Kayla Sargeson, grade 7, Harmony, PA, to Anne Frank, “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl ” Laura K. Smith-Gary, grade 9, Wyalusing, PA, to George Orwell, “1984”
South Carolina Hannah Bauchat, grade 7, Columbia, SC, to Stephen King, “The Green Mile ” Abigail Geese, grade 10, Myrtle Beach, SC, to Terry Goodkind, “Wizard's First Rule”
Tennessee Ara-Isabel Agato, grade 6, Oak Ridge, TN, to Margarette Haddix, “Running Out of Time” Jose Rodriguez, grade 11, Dyersburg, TN, to Robert Jordan, Wheel of Times series
Texas Christian Wallace, grade 6, Andrews TX, to Wesley Eure, “The Red Wings of Christmas” Karen Kaczronski, grade 12, The Woodlands, TX, to Jostein Gaarder, “That Same Flower”
Utah Cutter Bach, grade 5, Park City, UT, to Cynthia Rylant, “Dog Heaven” Jennifer Todd, grade 8, Salt Lake City, UT, to Jane Austin, “Pride and Prejudice”
Vermont James Gram, grade 6, Montpelier, VT, to Roald Dahl, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Eva Wilkens, grade 12, Hyde Park, VT, to Sonya Sones, “Stop Pretending”
Virginia Ben Urbanski, Grade 7, Vienna, VA, to Anne Frank, “The Diary of Anne Frank” Annetta Fotopoulos. Grade 9, Burke, VA , to Steven Pressfield, “Gates of Fire”
Washington Austin Tucker, grade 4, Walla Walla, WA, to Jerry Spinelli, “Wringer” Amy Powell, grade 9, Port Orchard, WA, to Maurice Sendak, “Where the Wild Things Are”
Wisconsin Samantha Bister, grade 7, Menonomee Falls, WI, to Louis Sacher, “Holes ” Ashleigh Leitch, grade 8, Cumberland, WI, to Judith Kerr, “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit”
Wyoming Sterling McCarty, grade 6, Chugwater, WY, to Matt Christopher,“ Fighting Tackle” Audra Hawkins, grade 11, Laramie, WY, to Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew mystery series