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The Wednesday Word: News from the Indiana State Library

In This Issue

  1. Literature Contest Honors 90 Students
     

  2. Help Celebrate National Preservation Month this May
     
  3. State Offers Informative Resources About H1N1 Flu

More Library News:

Carroll County Comet
Flora-Monroe Twp. kicks off summer reading program
Crawfordsville Journal Review

Sign of history
Crawfordsville Journal Review

C’ville’s Hudson wins statewide teaching award
Greencastle Banner Graphic

May is National Historic Preservation Month
Indianapolis Business Journal

A&E: Booking art on the library's pedestals
Kokomo Tribune

Resources available to help autistic children
Kokomo Tribune

Library Request Denied
Richmond Palladium-Item

Mobile museum will share history of WWII
Richmond Palladium-Item

Wayne Co. 'did her whole duty' for mourning Lincoln
The Paper of Montgomery County

CHS students, teacher honored at awards ceremony

State Offers Informative Resources about H1N1 Flu

The State of Indiana recently activated a toll-free hotline for Hoosiers who have questions on the North American Human Influenza A (H1N1). This number is 1-877-826-0011. Please note, this hotline is NOT intended for people to use to ask medical advice on symptoms. People experiencing flu-like symptoms should call their health care provider.

Additionally, a new website www.IN.gov/flu/ has several resources that explain the sources, symptoms, and precautionary and safety measures in regards to H1N1.

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Literature Contest Honors 90 Hoosier Students

Indiana Center for the Book

Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest for students in grades 4-12, named 90 Indiana students as national contest semifinalists. Of the 90 students, state judges selected 12 to receive top state honors for the 2009 competition.

Letters About Literature is sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, in partnership with Target Stores, and is administered statewide by the Indiana Center for the Book. Students in grades 4-12 entered the contest by writing a personal letter to an author, explaining how his or her work changed their view of the world or themselves.

"These young people should be proud to be included in the top 9% of nearly 54,000 Letters About Literature entrants nationwide," said Roberta Brooker, Indiana State Librarian. "After reading the essays and meeting many of the entrants, it's easy to see why these young Hoosiers are among Indiana's best and brightest."

The Indiana Center for the Book, a program of the Indiana State Library, recognized 78 semifinalists and 12 finalists in an awards ceremony held at the Indiana State Library on Saturday. Over 200 students, teachers, and their guests attended the ceremony which was headlined by Margaret McMullan - an award-winning young adult author and University of Evansville English Professor.

The 12 finalists, including the author to which they wrote, are as follows:

Level I (grades 4-6)
1st place - Jack Horn, Zionsville (Deborah Wiles, Each Little Bird that Sings)
2nd place - Eric Wasson, Columbus (Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken")
3rd place - Lauren Cross, Zionsville (Karen Cushman, The Ballad of Lucy Whipple)

Level II (grades 7-8)
1st place - Emily Beckman, Jasper (Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper)
2nd place - Kendra Lechleidner, Auburn (Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows)
3rd place - Chelsea Risser, Ligonier (Darrell Scott, Rachel Smiles)
Hon. Mention - Alyssa Cheng, West Lafayette (Ray Bradbury, The Drummer Boy of Shiloh)
Hon. Mention - Tonya Summerlin, Avon (Jordan Sonnenblick, Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie)

Level III (grades 9-12)
1st place - Lacy Bush, Salem (Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting)
2nd place - Ariel Demoret, Crawfordsville (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried)
3rd place - Ava McBride, Jasper (Jeanette Walls, The Glass Castle)

First place winners received $100 and a $50 Target GiftCard. Second place winners received $75, and third place winners received $50. Honorable Mention winners received a $20 Target GiftCard. All finalist and semifinalists received an award certificate, a frameable copy of their letter, and a copy of Margaret McMullan's award-winning young adult book, When I Crossed No-bob. In addition, students in attendance on Saturday had an opportunity meet Professor McMullan during a book signing following the awards ceremony at the Indiana State Library.

The Indiana Center for the Book also honored Crawfordsville High School English Teacher, Dr. Helen Hudson, with its inaugural Letters About Literature Instructor of the Year Award. Dr. Hudson had a state record 12 students chosen as state semifinalists in 2009. One of her students, Ariel Demoret, took second place overall in the high school level of the competition.

"The State Library is very grateful to Margaret McMullan, Dr. Hudson, and the hundreds of students and proud parents who joined us on Saturday," said Brooker. "Letters About Literature is an exciting and educational program for everyone involved and that sentiment was reflected during the awards ceremony."

For more information about Letters about Literature, including photographs and winning entries from the 2009 awards ceremony, visit the Indiana Center for the Book's website.

Help Celebrate National Preservation Month this May

National Preservation Month

This May help celebrate National Preservation Month and raise awareness about the power historic preservation has to protect and enhance our homes, neighborhoods and communities. The theme for 2009's National Preservation Month is This Place Matters! Preservation Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our country's cities and towns, and enables us to become involved in the growing preservation movement.

National Preservation Month boasts a new interactive website that gives examples of ways you can get involved. Check out the "In the Classroom" Blackboard forum to learn and talk about great ways to celebrate Preservation Month in and out of the library or classroom.