By Sammy Park
Staff Writer
In Mid-April, seven South Pasadena High School freshmen advanced to state level consideration for the national Letters About Literature competition. Freshmen Kayla Zhang, Kimberly Brown, David Nam, Brooke Held, Kim Brown, Uma Hornish, and Alyssa Bonk were all finalists in the Letters About Literature Competition in California.
After discovering Letters to Literature from a former SPHS librarian, Ms. Diane Shires’ freshmen English Language Arts class participated in the contest this year.
“It was rewarding to get that far in a huge competition,” freshman Kayla Zhang said.
The finalists were also invited to be a part of a UCLA banquet where Yuyi Morales, whose illustration achievements include Sherman Alexie’s new book, Thunder Boy Jr.
Letters About Literature is a contest for elementary, middle, and high school students. Students read a piece of literature and write to the author about how the book changed them. The contest is partly provided for by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
