Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School has a rich tradition of entering students in the Massachusetts "Letters About Literature" Program.  MVMMS usually sends award winning students to Boston each year.  The activity is a national reading and writing program that asks students in Grades 4 through 12 to write letters to authors whose work has made a significant difference in their lives. It is sponsored nationally by the Library of Congress and Target Stores.

The Massachusetts Center for the Book, with primary sponsorship from the Calderwood Writing Initiative at the Boston Athenaeum, administers the Massachusetts state program. Houghton Mifflin Company & Massachusetts Library Association also provide assistance.

In April, an annual awards ceremony is held at the Massachusetts State House in Boston for the top honors, honors and honorable mention Massachusetts letter writers in each of three age-level categories.  Awards include dictionaries, books, totebags, and certficates. The invitation honorees receive to attend the event will explain these awards in detail. The Massachusetts "top honors" letter in each of the three age-level categories is then advanced to the national program.  A description of the national prizes is detailed on the guidelines.

We are looking forward to hearing about the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School students who are entering and the books that matter to them! 

The DEADLINE to enter (postmarked) is:  December 6, 2008.  For more information and to download the guidelines, visit:  www.massbook.org.

Sharon Shaloo, Executive Director, Massachusetts Center for the Book
massbook@simmons.edu
617.521.2719 (ph); 617.521.3035 (fax)                        Posted by Principal Brow - 09/27/08