1st place:

Dear Janet Evanovich,

For the past month or so, I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so crazy about your Stephanie Plum series. I got the from my grandmother, who got them from my aunt, and then my mother read them, so you can see that we’re a Plum Crazy family. After I read that first chapter I was in love. This was the first time I ever laughed out loud reading a book before. I laughed so hard I fell off my couch!

But your book did more than just make me laugh. It showed me, for the first time, that women could be in law enforcement. Before this, I had never read a book about bounty hunters, let alone a female one. I connected with your main character, Stephanie Plum, because I wanted a strong, powerful job like hers. Besides all she had to deal with (the Breaking and Entering, and the death threats, and the weirdoes) I thought it would be a fun job. Actually, I just wanted to carry the Bounty Hunter paraphernalia; the gun, pepper spray, stun gun, handcuffs, the whole bit. And, despite my better judgment, I still want all of those things.

Mostly I wanted to be Stephanie Plum. I wanted to lead her life, wear her clothes, have her friends, eat her foods, even feed her hamster. I loved that she was smart, sexy, funny, independent, but she still made mistakes. She’s probably the most realistic character I’ve ever read in a book, fiction, or nonfiction. In most books, the characters are not believable; someone that only exists in the mind. That always made books depressing for me. I would read about someone that I admired but it felt impossible to be like them because they were unrealistic.

I guess that’s why I connected with her. You could bump into Stephanie in the mall, or on the streets. She was just a regular woman that did outrageous things.

I also liked her friends. They were, one-of-a-kind friends that were fun to hang out with. After this book, I didn’t long to be the popular, beautiful, thin cheerleader that all the teen movies try to force girls to be. I wanted to be the band geek or the science nerd with three or four unique, funny friends; that seemed more real.

And so, one Sunday while I was reading the Comics section in the Kansas City Star and I figured out why I connected with your books. It was in a Peanut’s comic strip. Sally is working diligently on a piece of paper and Charlie Brown asks her what she’s doing. She holds up a piece of paper with one sentence on it surrounded by flowers and hearts. She says that her English homework was to decorate a sentence and Charlie says, “Don’t you mean diagram a sentence?”

I thought this described your books very well because it seems like all your sentences are decorated. You don’t have the usual strict rules that a lot of books have. You write it as if you were telling it to a close friend or as if we were hearing thoughts in Stephanie’s head. Your books are more laid back than any other book I’ve ever read. It’s like the difference between wearing a bra and wearing a corset.

Thank you, for giving me a new perspective about who I am. I no longer look up to the same unbelievable, nonsense people that I used to. I think outside the box of life. I look for the unique and the unexpected try to be myself.

Thanks again for brilliantly mastering the pen.

Sincerely,
Kathryn Ann Rainey
St. Paul ’s Episcopal Day School, Kansas City, Missouri

2nd place:

Dear David Klass,

The human heart is capable of handling many different emotions; happiness, sadness, joy, depression, confusion, sorrow, loss, love, anger and hate. These are feelings that everyone experiences at some point in their life. These are the emotions that John felt in your book. These feelings can be triggered by many things. John felt them due to the hardships he faced in his life. I felt them when I read about his hardships in You Don’t Know Me .

At first I picked up this book only because the dark cover and the red letter written all over the front cover intrigued me. I thought it was one of the many plain and boring books about a child facing problems that were greatly exaggerated and far from realistic. I thought I would read 300 pages just to find that the book ended in a dopey happy ending in which the problems that the person faced that were actually not there were “solved.” I got this book because I thought that the corniness would be amusing. I was wrong.

Once I started reading, I found it very hard to set the book down. Once I started reading, I realized how your book was so much more than just a story. It was a collage of feelings and emotions and problems that any teenager could face. Problems such as feeling alone and feeling that no one truly understands you, or in this case that no one truly knows you. Sometimes I feel like that too, like no one understands me or knows me. Your book gave me a different outlook on life and the people that are part of it, it showed me how things aren’t always the way that they seem. The way everything in your book is questioned, one may never be sure what it truly means. But I know what your book means to me and how it changed my life. This book helped me to see beyond human nature and to question the real things of value in life.

With every turning page of this book, what I thought I knew about John changed and what I thought I knew about myself changed as well. Every time that I reached my hand out to flip yet another page something totally unpredictable happened; just like life. It let me see that even when things appear to be hopeless and even when things seem like they can never return to their original way or even if it seems that a problem will never will be solved, that there is still hope for the future and you will eventually get used to the changes and happiness will be restored. With every word, every sentence, every paragraph on every page, something new was introduced, a new concept, a new thought, a new idea, and a new chance for self-discovery. A new chance of revealing what I thought about life and who I really was.

Although I was not able to directly relate to John in your book, I still felt an incredibly strong bond with him. The happenings and ideas in your book are just so realistic and the thoughts linked to the feelings that John felt were something that any child like myself could feel any day. The way the book was presented really helped me to be more open-minded. These were events that could happen to anyone at anytime. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? It might be something bad, something good, something fantastic, or something totally unpredictable. But the question is: how would you handle the situation? It just shows how little control we actually have on our own lives, and how much of it depends on the people around it.

Thanks a Bunch!
Emma Wan
West Junior High, Columbia

Honorable Mention:

Dear Ms. Pierce,

Your line of books, such as The Lioness Quartet, The Immortals, and The Protector of the Small, affected me in many ways. For instance, in The Lioness Quartet, Allana really inspired me to do things, even if people don’t think it’s something a woman should do, or just that I should do. Because of those books I have gone out for Student Council, I have started volleyball, and they also helped me realize my love and passion for writing. The style of writing, the era and many other things in the book came from me reading these books. They should be an inspiration to every young writer, or to anyone who wants to realize a dream. This book really shows, “Wake up, people! Miracles can happen!” It helped me see that people can make their dreams come true, if they only try hard enough.

In The Immortals, Daine inspired me to realize that just because you may come from a different kind of family, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person at all. It helped me realize that all people are different. And, that it’s a good thing. She had powers that so many people didn’t understand, and many were frightened of her. Now, I don’t know anyone with “magic powers,” but I do know a lot of people who are different, and might possibly be too scared to reach out to others; these books helped me see that YOU need to reach out to people! YOU have to do at least half of the work! Or others will never see what kind of a person you are, and what kind of a person they are, and that everyone is different in their own special way.

“Girls are fragile, more emotional, easier to frighten.” This is one of the types of taunts given to Kelandry in the Protector of the Small. Kel really inspired me amazingly. People kept making fun of her, and putting her down, and saying she’d never make it, but she stuck to it, and never quit. She has really inspired me to keep writing, even though I know a lot of people think it’s a silly thing to do, and I will never get a book published, and even if I do, it will not be a best seller. But my hopes are high and my dreams are firm, and I am sticking to it, just like she did. Oh, there’s been those few times when I’ve thought, is this worth it? Is this honestly worth pursuing if no one supports me? My eyes usually drift to my bookshelf (or, you know, floor, chair, or wherever it may be at that particular time) and I see one of those books and I think, “Yes, it really is.”

People sometimes have trouble seeing what’s truly inside. People sometimes never listen to what your instinct, or your heart, or your dreams, or YOU! People get so wrapped up in what OTHER PEOPLE think, that they forget that it is not what OTHER PEOPLE think, it is what YOU think of YOUSELF! These books have helped me keep un-wrapped. They have helped me to follow my instinct, my heart, my dreams, and most importantly, myself. Nothing is more important than what you think of you. These books have helped teach me that, and they are something I will read again and again, until the message fully sinks in. I will read them until I remember, always, what the meaning is behind the cover.

Sincerely,
Phoebe Davis
North Kirkwood Middle School, Kirkwood, Missouri

Honorable Mention:

Dear Christopher,

My father died when I was four. This was far too soon for me to know very much about my father or for him to really know me. In your book, Eragon lost Brom and his uncle, Garrow, who were both very much like fathers to him. Eragon’s emotions, thoughts and sorrow were very realistic and captivating. Have you ever lost someone you loved? Reading your book reminded me of my father. I asked my mom many more questions. It helped me to gain a better understanding of him. For this, I thank you.

Sorrow at such a young age taught me to embrace the moment and to help others smile. I like making people laugh. It was funny for you to add your sister as a character in the book as a friendly joke.

Another result of my early experiences with loss is the compassion I have for those who are alone, including animals. I’ve rescued, adopted or raised numerous dogs, cats and various other pets. I understand very well the maternal feelings that develop. It is as though the animal is truly a part of you. This deep caring creates an unbreakable bond that is immeasurable. Eragon and Saphira’s friendship captures this so well. I found myself wishing that my dogs could speak their thoughts to me like Saphira! I also identify with the fear and agony that is felt when a loved one is in danger. There is an immense washing of relief when you see the loved one is alive and safe again.

Without a father, I am closer to my mom and to my gramp. We are good friends. I have never taken the love of family for granted. However, I have always been very, very concerned that my mother or my gramp might also die suddenly. Reading your book helped me to realize that their love will always guide and support me in the decisions and choices I must make—even when they can no longer be with me. There is no stronger bond than love. It is a bond that never ends.

A grateful reader,
Cooper Livingston
Oakland Junior High, Columbia