First Place:

Dear Mr. Bradbury,

The year I was twelve—so luckily the same age as Douglas Spaulding—my eighth grade language arts teacher assigned a novel of yours that shook me to the very core. Of course, I am talking about Dandelion Wine. Though this is a fan letter, I don’t really need to tell you how great the book is; even if you are a self-critic, I hope that you can appreciate its worth and poignancy. One-third of my life later, I still consider this book to be among my top six. The anecdotes, familiar but with your signature science-fiction twists, are both heartbreaking and hilarious, and the beautiful characters have stuck to my ribs (like I once imagined oatmeal literally did on snowy mornings) for the past five years.

I own two copies of the Grand Master Edition of your novel. Now, before you write me off as a delusional and obsessive Bradbury-enthusiast, please consider the practical nature of my collection: one is for keeps, dog-eared and drooled on and forever, and one is to share. After all, a faraway friend’s birthday package is simply not complete without the carefully torn out chapter about the Happiness Machine. Similarly, when four friends pulled up my driveway on a buzzing summer evening and insisted on catching fireflies, I wholeheartedly knew my obligation to humankind, pocketing pages 185 to 187 and reciting them, goose-bumply, when the jar was luminescent and full.

In addition to a year-round swim team, annual vacations to Pentwater, and the general public’s incessant confusion of my sister and me, Dandelion Wine has been one of my life’s constants. When a scholarly summer program (read: nerd camp) requested that all participants bring a literary “special friend”, the novel was my companion of choice. Since day one, page one, I have even felt mildly protective of the characters I hold do dearly. For example, while working with a neighbor kid on a middle school project to illustrate John Huff (perhaps, secretly, my first love), I was shocked and horrified when my partner dropped the posterboard off on my porch, a traced-pie-pan head and stubby legs with a menacing, crowded grin. And thus I attempted to bring justice to “the only god living in Greentown, Illinois, during the twentieth century that Douglas Spaulding knew of.”

It seems that perhaps only you, Ray Bradbury, can write about twenty people at once and make your reader love them all. Miss Helen Loomis, ninety-five, and Bill Forrester, thirty, who find an indescribable connection over tea one afternoon and wonder when the gears of time will reincarnate them, lined them up at acceptable ages. The Lonely One, who haunts the women of the town and comes out only at night. Colonel Freeleigh, the boys’ very own vehicle to incredible stories from long ago, and Old Mrs. Bentley, a pack-rat who weeps when she is unable to convince the neighborhood children that she was once a little girl. You breathed life into you subjects, making them real and inspiring my imagination with each page.

Daring and offensive though it must be, I must tell you that nearly everyone else in my middle school class hated the novel way-back-when for its dreadful lack of adventure. I suppose statements like “If your boy is a poet, horse manure can only mean flowers to him; which is, of course, what horse manure has always been about” didn’t thrill them the way they did me. I have since convinced a select few to reconsider, and these born-agains agree that this is a book to get lost in, a novel to treasure. So thank you, Mr. Bradbury, oh hero of childhood heroes, for your long lasting messages about love, death, fear, and the trials of growing up. Because of you book, I learned early that artistic license is perfectly acceptable when it portrays those human truths which sloppy real life cannot always provide.

Respectfully yours,

Kelsey Ray
Rockwood High School
Fenton

Second Place:

Dear Phillip Pullman,

In your amazing trilogy, His Dark Materials, I discovered a deeper side of myself and a more optimistic outlook on life. Will’s attitude on his overwhelming responsibilities and your portrayal of the unique alternate universes have expanded my mind from its once selfish and ignorant mentality to one that is outgoing and fervent. I can truly say that, though these books were words of fiction and fantasy, the essence has changed my life forever.

Like Will, I was given many responsibilities at a very young age, and never have I received guidance or wisdom from my parents. My father left me just the same and my mother was disabled and unable to help me achieve my goals. After my mother divorced her second husband, money became very scarce, so I was given the burden of working to pay rent. I felt the need for someone to show me the way but eventually I knew I would need to find it on my own. It was around this time I read these books, and it turned out to be the time I needed them the most.

After I read the last word of the final book, I knew it wasn’t over. I could not let someone some strong and noble be contained in the bindings of a book. I needed to let his spirit live on through me, and I could never live with myself knowing I let him down. From then on, every time I felt crushed and defeated, I would remember his name and his triumphs; I would know that nothing is impossible and, with nothing to lose, there is everything to gain.

Before reading this trilogy, I saw a world of limits and boundaries. I viewed life as a waste of time and I felt that I could never make anything of myself without a helping hand. This trilogy reversed my conception of everything I had doubted and made me open my eyes to many new things.

The key to my heart was the Subtle Knife. Of all three tools of endless power, the knife appealed to me the most not only because it was Will’s mysterious apparatus, but also because it opened my mind to all of the things the world could be. The knife was of course magic; it could cut through the fabric of the universe and create a window into another. I was amazed by the aspect of simply walking out of one world into the next, having no reason to go back and an infinite number of paths ahead.

The Subtle Knife did not remain fiction to me for long. As I lay awake at night puzzling over its unfathomable power, I started to realize that the knife was only a metaphor. This knife represented Will’s splitting through the boundaries of life and finding a completely different world on the other side. With this in mind, I stopped believing that my life could ever be controlled by anyone but myself.

Ever since reading the trilogy, my life has never been the same; it is now full of prosperity and fortuity. Everything I truly desired has been achieved through hard work, an open mind, and knowing that I cannot let down the spirit that has driven me out of my rut and thrown me into a world of success. Though sometimes overwhelmed, I find strength in knowing that the hardships Will endured were far worse and that in the end, he came out victorious.

Forever grateful,

Bennett Holden
St. Charles High School
St. Charles

Honorable Mention:

Dear Alex Kotlowitz,

Living in a city that has been labeled the most dangerous city in America, I am often faced with the harsh realities of urban living. Surrounded by unpredictable violence and growing up as a product of a poor educational system, I was quickly forced to mature. Residing where death and drug deals are typical, your book showed me that education is the primary determinate for me to escape the clutches of this lifestyle.

As in, There Are no Children Here, many times the relentless, city-wide violence results in a hopeless, careless, and a defeated disposition. I often find myself adapting to Darwin’s “Survival of the fittest” concept, and I feel as though I am in a competition for life, a competition to break the shackles that have bound my family’s past generations. After all, living in a broken-household with adults having less-than-adequate educational preparations leaves me to believe I have nothing to look forward to, right? Wrong, it is because of this book and the influences of others, I have begun to train myself to “Never say never,” and look for the positive in every situation.

Struggling to resist the archetypal and detrimental effects of not only my community, but the city as well, I have found that the pressure and threat of violence can and does affect the academic progress of not only myself but also others who face these threats daily. Fortunately, I have been sheltered from the horrendous acts of violence that many have experienced. Even though I see many different types of affairs in poverty everyday, now I realize I don’t have to be a product of my environment. With an education, I and others like me who are typically tormented can overcome the victimizations that we face. Therefore, when I go to school, I am not there just to be in attendance, but there with a goal in mind. I am there because an education is one of the biggest investments that I can make into my future.

I have been afforded an education opportunity that I will take full advantage. With that I will travel far and near to not only help myself, but to understand others in similar situations as I. My goal is to promote change in my community. With the information that I have learned from resources outside of school and the information I will continue to learn as I pursue further education, I will strive to meet the needs of others.

I’ve learned that my mind is the most powerful resource; one person can change a community. I will be that one person. With that in mind, my goal is not only to teach the value of education to those in my community, but to network with friends to make a change on the national level too. That is why Mr. Kotlowitz, I am on a mission; a mission that is far from complete. This mission may not even be completed in my lifetime, but I will do my part to bring this mission to fruition.

This is why I would like to thank you Mr. Kotlowitz. Thank you for the extensive research, time, and effort you put into creating such a wonderful literary work. And Mr. Kotlowitz, as of now, Mission “Incomplete.”

Sincerely,

DeAndre Gates
Jennings Senior High School
St. Louis

Honorable Mention:

Dear Julie Anne Peters,

My feelings have been altered, my perceptions have widened and I have felt a strong conviction after finishing Luna. Before reading this book I was very judgmental and thought of transgender humans as “abnormal” or a lower part of society. In my mind I just thought they were trying to be different and demanding attention from the public. Little did I know the pain they deal with day-by-day, hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute. After being able to read into Liam’s thoughts and feelings I realized that transgender humans don’t try to stand out. As a matter of fact, they try to blend in as much as possible. They don’t want to be noticed or have thousands of heads turning toward them as they walk by; all they desire is to fit in with society.

I’m from a small town, too small for a stoplight, in fact. I could name every student in my school and list a couple of things about each of them, that’s how small it is. I am often sheltered from the changes that are occurring in the rest of the world. When I travel to a large city only 60 miles away from my hometown, I am almost in complete culture shock. I do not see men dressing like women or the same gender walking down the sidewalk holding hands in my small town society. I also do not encounter a man in a mini skirt applying bright red lipstick while at dinner in a local restaurant, but I do when I’m in the city. When I am put into these societies being judgmental automatically happens, many times without my ever recognizing it, until now. I now realize the problems and challenges these people have faced for many years and are still facing mainly because of people like me. I was too selfish to stop myself from being extremely critical and never once considered their struggles. During the times I encountered transgender people I never thought how hard their lives were, I just thought about how hard they were making mine and many others by changing society. One thought that struck me most was how I have been raised in church and always taught to be accepting of others. I was taught to always treat others the way I wanted to be treated, in every circumstance. If I were such a good person and always making sure to obey the “golden rule” than why was I okay with not accepting transgender humans? How did I let myself perceive them in such a way that I felt I could criticize them and have horrible feelings toward them? I am in no way better when these people I was once thought. I was the one doing the judging, not them.

My eyes have been opened and I can see that I have been one of the “enemies” to the transgender humans. I’ve been one of the onlookers who turn my head as they walk by in their dress and high heels. Who am I to judge and make their lives more miserable than it already is? I’m sure that Liam would love to have been born feeling like a male. Instead he felt he was a female trapped inside of a male’s body. From a young age, Liam knew he didn’t want to be a boy; he wanted to dress and act like a girl. I feel as if transgender humans do not ask for such problems, they are simply born that way. I know everyday Liam wished he could express himself and show people who he felt he really was on the inside. I know that if Liam could change his insecurities and problems that he would in a heartbeat. As part of society, I feel that it is my responsibility to make sure that I love unconditionally- no matter how different someone may seem- and treat others with my utmost respect.

This book not only made me think of how I treat people with the same problems as Liam, but how I act toward anyone who is different than what I accustomed to. My views have been completely altered, but definitely towards the good. As a Christian I should not be judgmental, nor should I be making anyone feel like a lower part of society. I believe it is my job as teenager, as an American and as a Christian to make sure I do not judge or condemn transgender humans.

Katie Shellhorn
Stockton R-1 High School
Stockton