Letters About Literature Winners

State Winners Letters About Literature 2003

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.

2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000

National Winners are marked with a ** (double asterisk). Honorable Mention are marked with a * (single asterisk).

State	Level I	Level II	Level III
Alabama	Katherine Williams, Auburn, to Leo Lesieg, “I Wish I Had Duck Feet”	Cindy Jia, Tuscaloosa, to William Shakespeare, “Twelth Night”	None selected
Alaska	Kendall Angeline Masneri, Anchorage, to Louis Sachar, “There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom”	Diana Lower, Girdwood, to Ms. Kaysen, “Girl Interrupted”	Robin Lawrence, Seward, to Mr. Card, “Enders Shadow”
Arizona	Paulina Avalos, Tucson, to Louis Sachar, “Sideways School Series”	Illyssa Mauldin, Gilbert, to Scott O'Dell, “Island of the Blue Dolphin”	Kim Hoster, Cottonwood, to Alice, “Go Ask Alice”
Arkansas	** Harry Maddox, Searcy, to Natalie Babbitt, “Tuck Everlasting”	Elizabeth Dare, Searcy, to Wilson Rawls, “Where the Red Fern Grows”	Josh Abbuhl, Clarksville, to George Orwell, “1984”
California	* Andrew Kreitzman, Corte Madera, to Andrea Warren,“ Surviving Hitler”	Julia Havard, Saratoga, to Pablo Nerudo, “Odes to Common Things”	Wenny Hsieh, Pleasanton, to Amy Tan,“ The Joy Luck Club”
Colorado	Jenny Nill, to Jane Yolen,“ The Devil's Arithmetic” and Ethan Robertson, Littleton, to Katherine Paterson, “Bridge to Terabithia”	Sara Hayden, Ft. Collins, to Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist”	Kelly Bastron, Littleton, to Munro Leaf,“ The Story of Ferdinand” and John Christiansen, Littleton, to George Orwell, “1984”
Connecticut	Larry Spada, Rocky Hill, to Pam Conrad, “A Ghost Story”	Arielle Jaffe, West Hartford, to Robert Lipsyte,“ One Fat Summer”	Asdis Thordardottir, West Hartford, to George Orwell, “1984”
District of Columbia	** Gideon Bender to Lois Lowry, “The Giver”	Masha L. Casey to Jerry Spinelli, “Stargirl”	Khanh Nguyen to Kaye Gibbons, “Ellen Foster”
Florida	Reagan Johnson, Palm City, to Margaret Rey, “Pretzel”	Stephen Hill, Lakeland, to Ernest Dimnet, “The Art of Thinking”	Amanda Smolinsky, Port Saint Lucie, to Chris Van Allsburg,“ The Polar Express”
Georgia	Elisabeth O'Quinn, Fitzgerald, to Margaret Donaldson,“ Journey into War ”	** Frances Choi, Decatur, to Norton Juster, “The Phantom Tollbooth”	Ming Lin, Jr., Valdosta, to Amy Tan, “The Joy Luck Club”
Illinois	Jena'e Dearing, Deer Creek, to Beverly Cleary, “Dear Mr. Henshaw”	Iliana Miranda, Chicago, to Anke De Vries, “Bruises ”	Kristin Ginger, Glen Ellyn, to Janet Fitch, “White Oleander”
Maine	Cory Boissonneault, Biddeford, to Beverly Cleary, “Runaway Ralph”	* Robert Langton, Edgecomb, to Edward Bloor, “Tangerine”	Nate Farnsworty, Lewiston, to Olaf Stapledon,“ Last and First Men”
Maryland	* Brittany Akers, Williamsport, to June Rae Wood,“ The Man who Loved Clowns”	Tiffani Scott, Highland, to Ernest Hemingway, “The Old Man and the Sea”	Andrea Shaw, Laurel, to Leon Uris, “Exodus”
Massachusetts	Taylor Sarousi, Framingham, to Emily Bronte,“ Jane Eyre”	Andrea Nordberg, Melrose, to John Hersey, “Hiroshima”	* Kate Peter, East Harwich, to Cynthia Voigt, “Dicey's Song”
Minnesota	* Sarah Lepley, Eagan, to Sharon Creech, “Walk Two Moons ”	Madeline McCarty, Plymouth, to Todd Strasser, “Give a Boy a Gun”	Caitlin Shaw, St. Louis Park, to Nevil Shute, “On the Beach”
Missouri	Michael Leahy, Camdenton, to J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and The Scorcerer's Stone ”	Caitlin Wanta, Columbia, to Lloyd Alexander, “Time Cat”	Anna Compton, Harrisonville, to Eudora Welty, “One Writer's Beginnings”
Montana	Indica Larragoite, Lincoln, to Eve Bunting, “Summer of Riley ”	* Morielle Stroethoff, Missoula, to Zlata Filipovic, “Zlata's Diary”	** Jazlyn Langford, Molt, to Roald Dahl, “Matilda ”
Nebraska	Hannah Potter, Lincoln, to Bess Streeter Aldrich, “A Lantern in her Hand”	Erin Metzler, Arlington, to Harry Mazer,“ A Boy at War”	Eliott Scheffler, Blair, to Sharon Kay Penman, “Falls the Shadow”
New Jersey	* Kyoo-Eun Jang, Princeton, to Ms. Namioka,“ Ties that Break, Ties that Bind”	Dana Eiselen, Ocean City, to Aidan Chambers, “Postcards from No Man's Land”	Ashanti Hubbs, Columbus, to Dr. Maya Angelou, “Phenomenal Woman”
New York	Amanda Tashjian, Albany, to Ann Norris Baldwin, “A Little Time”	Semantha Shankman, Elwood, to Jerry Spinelli, “Stargirl ”	Lindsey Campana, Freedom, to Dr. Seuss, “The Lorax”
North Carolina	Daniel Vann, Hendersonville, to Kate DiCamillo, “Because of Winn-Dixie”	Sam Louis Taylor, Washington, to Harper Lee,“ To Kill a Mockingbird”	Virginia Alldredge, Asheville, to John Irving, “The Cider House Rules”
North Dakota	Shelby Deckert, Rubgy, to Virginia Euwer Wolff, “Probably Still Nick Swansen ”	Breana Schlosser, St. Anthony, to Robert Newton Peck, “Little Heart School”	** Abby Swegarden, Fargo, to Sylvia Plath for her collected poems
Ohio	Casey Munn, Dayton, to Johanna Reiss,“ The Upstairs Room ”	Lisa Xie, West Chester, to Pearl S. Buck, “The Good Earth”	Ryan Horn, Lancaster, to Samuel L. Clemens, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ”
Oregon	Michael Moyer, Salem, to Lemony Snicket, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”	Marie Murphy, Salem, to J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Lord of the Rings”	* Jeffrey Hunt, Hermiston, to Steven King, “The Running Men”
Pennsylvania	Pauline Holdsworth, State College, to Tamora Pierce, Alanna, “The First Adventure”	* Kaylyn Koberna, Doylestown, to Pearl Buck,“ Imperial Woman”	Alison Wall, New Britain, to Pearl Buck, “The Good Earth ”
South Carolina	Cassie Harris, Salem, to Will Hobbs, “The Condor Project ”	* Krupa Sandhinti, Columbia, to Elie Wiesel, “Night ”	Maranda Robinson, Duncan, to Sharon Draper, “Forged by Fire”
Tennessee	Meredith Marcum, Oak Ridge, to Jack Gantos, “Joey Pigza Loses Control”	Lydia White, Germantown, to C. S. Lewis, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”	Elizabeth A. Fidler, Maryville, to Lady Margaret Cavendish, “The Life of the Thrice Noble . . .Prince William Cavendish”
Texas	Katie Adams, Dripping Springs, to Sharon Creech, “Walk Two Moons ”	Vicky Ren, Houston, to Shel Silverstein, “The Giving Tree”	Isela Cervantes, Willis, to Lars Eigner, “Travels with Lizbeth”
Utah	Anna Drysdale, Salt Lake City, to Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “The Little Prince ”	Gracey Brimhall, South Jordan, to Lois Lowry, “Gathering Blue”	Liz Philips, Salt Lake City, to Avi, “What do Fish Have to Do with Anything? ”
Virginia	Matt Rowe, Richmond, to Avi, “The Fighting Ground”	Jennifer Ohaski, Winchester, to Lauren Lee,“ Stella: On the Edge of Popularity”	Brittany Dick, Charlottesville, to Susanna Kaysen, “Girl Interrupted”
West Virginia	Jenna Wood, Fairmont, to Susan Pfeffer, “An Unlikely Heroine”	Natalie Campbell, Nitro, to J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone”	Amber Nixon, Bunker Hill, to Sonya Sones, “Stop Pretending”
Wisconsin	Emily Wisniewski, Waupaca, to Sharon Creech, “Love That Dog ”	Emily Langhorst, Plover, to Tom Jordan, “Pre”	Rae Hockers, Sister Bay, to John Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath”
Wyoming	Meghan Kolf, Douglas, to Kimberly Wills Holt, “My Louisiana Sky”	Sagel Weichman, Jackson, to J.R.R. Tolkien,“ The Lord of the Rings”	* Jennifer Shafer, Big Piney, to Louisa Mae Alcott, “An Old- Fashioned Girl”

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Letters About Literature Winners

State Winners Letters About Literature 2003

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