Each year the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress in partnership with Target Stores and in cooperation with affiliate state centers for the book, invites readers in grades 4 through 12 to enter Letters About Literature, a national reading-writing contest.

To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. There are three competition levels: Level I for children in grades 4 through 6; Level II for grades 7 and 8, and Level III, grades 9 - 12.

In 2004, 38,000 young readers across the country wrote letters for the contest. Over 1,200 letters were submitted from South Carolina. National winners as well as state level winners receive cash prizes.

To find out more about the program and how your school or individual child can get involved, please visit the contest website at http://www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/letters.html.