>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. >> Good afternoon, good afternoon. I'm John Cole. On behalf of the Library of Congress I'd like to welcome you to the Sunday version of the 2013 National Book Festival. We know you will have a wonderful day celebrating the joy of reading here on the National Mall. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress which I head promotes books, reading, literacy and libraries. Today we are together standing up for literacy by presenting three well thought out, well deserved sets of awards. First we're going to announce the winners of the first ever Library of Congress Literacy Awards underwritten by our distinguished benefactor David M. Rubenstein who is with us on the stage. Next Fred Bowen, also on the stage, KidsPost writer for the Washington Post will read the names of the runners up and winners of the A Book That Shaped Me contest for fifth and sixth graders in six Mid-Atlantic States. Fred will assist along with Lola Pyne of the Library of Congress, also on the stage, who oversaw the contest. Then the grand prize winners will receive their awards from Mr. Rubenstein and read their essays from the podium. To conclude we will hear the winning essay from the District of Columbia winner of the National Letters About Literature contest which has been administered by The Center for the Book for more than 20 years. It's a contest in which students write a letter to an author they feel has shaped their lives. Fifty thousand students entered that contest this past year. And now please welcome the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington. [Applause] >> Thank you very much and good morning to all of you. It's great to see a gathering so early in the morning in the name of literacy. You brought the sun out, we had a little rain yesterday but it's all sunshine today. And it's my great pleasure, well great pleasure first of all to point out that life long learning is now the overarching theme of the Library of Congresses service to the American people for the next couple of years. And then and beyond that. This process has to begin with reading. When the time when we were able to let an author tell us something about a time and place other than those from which we are brought up and can call our own. This happens through the magic of the printed page and learning to read in turn helps us to reach out to others through writing. And we'll all enjoy listening today to young winners of the prize essay that they have written about books that they have in fact read. Reading and writing go together and it's my great pleasure to salute and introduce the co-chairman and principal benefactor of the National Book Festival David M. Rubenstein. He has made it possible, his great generosity for us to reach out all over America and the world this year to identify excellent programs promoting literacy. We thank him for this one and three quarter million dollar over five years that will support awarding prizes and gathering best practices in overcoming illiteracy and opening the magic road to learning. Mr. Rubenstein's also pledged as you have may have heard another five million over five years to support the National Book Festival. That makes 10.3 million dollars since the [applause] we are deeply grateful for one whose generosity is matched by his own personal passion for books and reading. Ladies and gentlemen, David M. Rubenstein. [ audience applause ] >> So, thank you very much Dr. Billington and thank you very much to John for what you've done for the books. We're all, the literacy awards really have this genesis. Dr. Billington and I were talking about what it is that the Library of Congress has done in recent years to further promote the reading of books and literacy. Obviously the National Book Festival, now in its 13th year has done a great job toward promoting the reading of books and so many other programs that the Library of Congress promote literacy. But there really was no national award sponsored by the Library of Congress which would really promote and reward people and recognize achievements in the world of literacy. So what we decided to do was to start a literacy set of awards that we would grant annually. And it's my pleasure to announce the three winners this year. The first winner is the winner of for better or worse the prize is named the David Rubenstein Prize but despite that it's actually a very good prize. This is a prize for lifetime achievement in the world of literacy. And we're very pleased to award this to Reach Out and Read of Boston Massachusetts and to have the Executive Director Anne-Marie Fitzgerald. Would she come up? [ audience applause ] So congratulations. Okay, thank you, thank you, all right, thank you. [Inaudible] In case you're wondering the actual prize will be granted and at a ceremony we'll have at the Library of Congress in November. We'll have a two day seminar on literacy and the award winners will actually get their prize then. So let me announce the second winner. That is the American Prize. And that is for someone or a group that has done something in the last decade to promote literacy either dealing with illiteracy or a literacy. And the winner is 826 National which is represented by its CEO Gerald Richards. [ audience applause ] Congratulations. And because literacy is not just an American issue we have an international prize as well. And we're very pleased that the international award winner is Planet Read of Pondicherry India and it's represented by Dr. Robert Lynch who's a professor of economics at the Washington College at Chestertown Maryland. [ audience applause ] So, it's my pleasure now to introduce Fred Bowen of the Washington Post's KidsPost who's going to talk about the essay contest. Fred? >> Hello, my name's Fred Bowen and I write kids sports books that combines sports fiction and sports history. But as I look out on the crowd, I was also one of the judges in the contest and I see that I have a lot of competition out there. There are a lot of wonderful young writers and I guess I'd better get a little bit better because I can hear you guys coming. But the whole idea, well this is the second year of the contest and it's been overseen by Lola Pyne of Library of Congress. Lola will you please stand and be recognized. [audience applause] And we asked rising fifth and sixth graders from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to write a one page essay about a book that they felt had shaped their lives. They had to write the essay themselves. They had to bring it to the public library and enter the contest. And the contest was judged by a panel of five judges. And let's see, I'm not sure if they're all here but if they could stand when I call their name. Maria Salvadore, Rachel Walker, Karen Jaffe and Rebecca Newland. Now we got more than 300 entries and today we bring you the 30 finalists and state winners and our three grand prize winners who will read their winning essays from the stage. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the names of the finalists by state and Lola Pyne will hand them their certificates as they come onto the stage. Now I apologize beforehand if I mispronounce anyone's name. I have been introduced as Fred Bowen, Fred Bower, Fred Brown but it didn't keep me from writing things. So, I hope I don't make any mistakes here. First, the District of Columbia through its DC Public Library branches, Anu Hansa Desai of Palisades Library [ audience applause ] Grace Dodd, of Southeast Library [applause] Dr. Billing would like to say something. >> Just let me say a word that that Grace is the first person ever to be a finalist in two of our contests. So she is the daughter of many of you know Senator Chris Dodd and Jackie Dodd so I wonder if they might also stand up and be recognized for such a remarkable bit of parenthood. [ audience applause ] >> Very good. Eleanor Holt of Southwest Library [applause] TaKayla Keys of Capitol View Library [applause] who appears to have brought a fan club. All right, next we will have Maryland. What, what oh pictures. Next we will have lots of pictures. [ background talking ] Oh, the State winners, oh I am sorry. The District winner was Jessica Holloway of Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Library. My mistake. [Inaudible] okay. All right, now we move on to Maryland. [ background talking ] I think out this way. You want them out this way? >> Here we go. We're going to go this way. >> We have to go this way. >> Somebody will give you a hand, help you down the stairs. >> There you go, congratulations. Hey, good job. [applause] All right, now we'll go on to Maryland. Naomi Barnett of Prince George's County Library in Upper Marlboro [applause], Madison Mohan, Enoch Pratt Free Library [applause], Isaiah Olujide, Prince George's County Library, Upper Marlboro [applause], Catherine Jing Troaino of Prince George's County Library, Hyattsville [applause] and the Maryland winner Gavriel Eagle of Enoch Pratt Free Library [ applause ] Couple of shots, very good, congratulations. Good job. Now for the State of Virginia. Gabriella Handford, Fauquier County Public Library [applause], George Layton, Prince William Public Library Nokesville Neighborhood Library [ applause ] Elizabeth Sullivan, Prince William Public Library Bull Run Regional Library [applause] and Abigail Spigarelli of Arlington Public Library was not present but the Virginia winner is Sofie Dalton of Arlington Public Library [ applause ] We got the pictures? I think we can go now, all right, oops, we can [inaudible] all right, just out that way. Next is the State of Delaware. Sarah Gessner, Brandywine Hundred Library [applause], Rebekkah Kehoe, Brandywine Hundred Library, [applause] Ryan McCrea, Dover Public Library, [applause] Nicole Ng, Brandywine Hundred Library [applause] And the Delaware winner Julian Jackson, II, Brandywine Hundred Library [ applause ] All right, good job. Now the finalists from Pennsylvania. Jaime Elizabeth Daniels, York County Libraries, [applause] Mallika D. Pal, Bethlehem Area Public Library [applause] Two finalists from Pennsylvania were not able to make it. Clara Allem of Chester County Library System and Tom Broadhurst of Parkland Community Library [applause] The Pennsylvania winner is Victoria Sullivan, Abington Free Library. [ applause ] All right, there we go. And last but not least West Virginia. The Mountaineers, all right. Cheyene Hitchcock, Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library [applause], Finnian Mungovan, Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library [applause]. Now two finalists were not able to be here. Addie Hughes and Justin Roberts. And also the West Virginia winner Shelby Rayne Freeman of South Charleston Public Library was not able to be present. So let's give all the finalists and state winners a big hand of applause. [ audience applause ] And I hope everyone will keep reading and keep writing. Now Mr. David Rubenstein will present the awards for the Grand Prize Winners. Mr. Rubenstein. >> I'd like to present the Bronze Medal as the third place Grand Prize Winner and that goes to Julian Jackson II. [ audience applause ] All right, right there, read your essay. >> Stronger than a linebacker. A book that shaped me by Julian Jackson. 2013 marks the fourth season that I played football for the Wilmington Titans as a running back. For the past three years the team has been made up of boys who play football and the girls who are the team cheerleaders. However, this year was different because it was the first time a girl played on our football team. Most of us boys did not think it was fair to have a girl on our team. We felt like she wasn't tough enough, she wasn't strong enough and we felt like she should be a cheerleader or play a girls sport instead. Football must be her favorite sport because she did work very hard at the practices and she did put forth a lot of effort during the scrimmages. She was also not afraid to get tackled by the teams linebackers. The new girl on our football team was very courageous just like the character Parvana in the book The Breadwinner. Parvana is an 11 year old girl who lives under the Taliban rule in Kabul with her family. She becomes the family's breadwinner after her father's taken to jail. Under the Taliban girls have no rights. They cannot go to school or even go outside without a man. Reading about Parvana's story helped me understand a difficult inner strength that is different than the kind of strength you need on the football field. In the book The Breadwinner, the Taliban enforces really harsh rules on the people of Afghanistan. They encourage neighbors to spy on each other and they also ban all books because they do not want any of the Western world's influence on the Afghan people. The Taliban don't allow any of the Afghan people to make their own choices about what they wear, what they read or even what they eat. I imagine it's really difficult for families living in a country like Afghanistan. I feel thankful that I live in America and have the freedom to read any book I want to. And I am not enforced to spy on my neighbors and I can make my own choices about things I want to wear, read and eat. In the story, Parvana's father gets arrested and Paravana had to dress up like a boy and earn money in the family to support her family. I feel like that took a lot of courage and also a lot of responsibility for an 11 year old girl. She had to worry about getting found out by the Taliban every time she leaves her house to earn money. Parvana also does not do normal activities like play video games, go to school or even play football like the girl on my football team. Instead she has to be strong and in the family and become the family's breadwinner. After reading the book The Breadwinner I realized how people live in other parts of the world and how different they live from me. I know I would not want to live in a country that wouldn't allow me to make my own choices. I only have a younger brother but if I had a sister I would want my sisters to be able to go to school and play sports and maybe even play on the football team if she wanted to. What I did learn was that being strong isn't necessarily about having big muscles or great physical strength. I learned that being strong also can mean being brave. It took bravery and courage for Parvana to dress up like a boy so that she could make money for her family. It also took courage and bravery for the girl on my football team to play with all boys. And to me the kind of courage and bravery will always be more important than great physical strength. Thank you. [ audience applause ] >> Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you one or two questions. How long did it take you to write that essay? >> About one to two months. >> And when you write it do you write it in long hand, do you write it on a typewriter or computer, how do you do that? >> Well first I wrote in on a piece of paper, I got all my ideas out. And then as soon as I finished that I started typing it. >> And last question is, if you were playing football which you do and a girl was coming and you were running, she was running at you and your job was to tackle her in a football game, what would you do? >> I would try to tackle her but... >> But not as hard. Okay, thank you very much. [ background sounds ] Okay. The Silver Medal for second place Grand Prize Winner is Jessica Holloway who is from the Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Library in the District. [ audience applause ] Okay. >> Secret Sons, a book that shaped me. The book, Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is about the life of Beverly, Harriet, Maddie and Eston Hemmings. They are the children of a slave named Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson. The book follows the life of slaves that live on Thomas Jefferson's plantation called Monticello. Beverly and Maddie narrate most of the book. They tell stories of what life was like on the plantation. They share stories about lives of the slaves, guests of the plantation, things that happened in the Great House, in the blacksmith's shop and the lessons that their mother teaches them. Many of the slaves living at Monticello know that Beverly, Harriet, Maddie and Easton were Thomas Jefferson's children. Some of the slaves thought they were fortunate because they got better clothes, easier chores, violin lessons and overseers never bothered them. [Inaudible] learned that there was no good life as a slave no matter who your father was. Jefferson's children had to keep their identity a secret. Although Jefferson was sometimes kind to them he never treated them as his children. His children watched him embrace and play with his white grandchildren while he treated them as slaves. They worked at servants and lived with the other slaves. Although they were never beaten or sold they watched people get beaten and their friends get sold away and they knew that their father was the cause of it. In the book a slave named James Helbert [assumed spelling] runs away. James was a strong hardworking slave who worked on the plantation as a nail boy. He tried to run away with a fake pass. When he met a overseer he gave him the pass but the overseer knew it was fake. James was put in jail, taken back to Monticello whipped in front of everyone. After watching the whipping Beverly couldn't believe that his father who gave him the violin and was proud of him for learning to play it with the same man who ordered James Helbert to be whipped. Life for Jefferson's Sons was very confusing and very hard for them to understand how their father could be so kind to them and cool to their friends. This book shaped me because I learned that people are complicated and nobody is all good or all bad. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, help create the United States and stated that all men were created equal yet he denied hundreds of people their freedom and made them work as his slaves. History is complicated and there might be ugly parts of history you don't learn about in school. I learned that the, I never learned about the Hemmings family until I read this book. I now know that it's important to do your own research and go beyond what you read in the school books. This also taught me how important skin color was in the 1800s and how it defined your life. Both Harriet and Beverly left the plantation, pretended to be white and married white people and never talked about their past. Even though they left the plantation I think it was still difficult. They had to learn that everyone they talked to about where they came from and everything they've been through. Maddie left the plantation after his mother died but his skin was too dark to live as a white person. I am [inaudible] when my future's not controlled by my skin color, I'm free to become whoever I want. [ audience applause ] >> How long did it, how long did it take you to write that essay? >> About a day. >> A day? Wow. You're a quick writer. Okay and after reading that book do you admire Thomas Jefferson more or less than before you read the book? >> A little bit less because he had these children that were his and he didn't really accept them as his children. And he kind of accepted them as his slaves. When if he were going to have these children, if he really loved them he would have accepted them as his real children. [ audience applause ] >> Okay. Okay, so now we're going to announce the Gold Medal Winner, the first place prize winner of the contest. And that award goes to Sophie Dalton. She entered the contest through the Arlington Virginia Public Library. Okay. >> Out of the hundreds of books I've read there have been books that kept me glued to my seat, books that I take out to dinner and books that lull me to sleep. However, one book that I've read at least ten times brought me more joy and laughter than any other book. This book showed me that characters can come to life and become like our friend. This is book is The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall and it inspired me to become a writer. The first time my eyes made contact with the words of this book is when I was six years old. Together my mother and I took turns gobbling up the words. I laughed and laughed until I could laugh no more. This book had such great characters especially Jane Penderwick, the third of four sisters who loved to read and write and thought imagination was one of the world's greatest treasures. In the book Jane is in the process of writing her own novel and gets inspiration from previous books she has read just like me. It seems like she would be a great friend in real life. I realized that characters in books could become people that we really get to know and care about. After reading the book together my mom read me a bit about the author. Jeanne Birdsall knew that she wanted to become a writer when she was eight years old. Then it hit me. That was what I wanted to do when I grew up. I was going to make people laugh and become friends with the characters in my books. The Penderwicks really made an impact on my life. It taught me that imagination and adventure didn't have to involve dragons or wizards. An adventure book just needs a story with twists and turns and little bit of humor. This book has tons of humor like when the Penderwick girls and Jeffrey the boy next door chase their dog and a rabbit through Jeffries snooty mother's garden ending up in a trampled mess. I really want to bring the comedy of the Penderwicks into my own writing. I honestly think this book made me a better writer as well as reader. It gave me a brand new perspective on how to make people enjoy a story. I wonder how Jeanne Birdsall figured out she wanted to become a writer? Maybe it was from another book just like the Penderwicks. I hope she knows someday that she inspired a little girl from Arlington Virginia to start writing. The Penderwicks changed my life because it was the first thing that gave me my passion. I will never stop writing and I owe most of it one phenomenal book and its equally phenomenal author Jeanne Birdsall. [ audience applause ] >> So how long did it take you to write that? >> About two days. >> Two days, okay. And you want to be a writer? >> Yes. >> And you want to write nonfiction or fiction? >> Mostly fiction. >> Okay. And do you want to write because you think you can make a lot of money writing or because you just enjoy writing? >> Because I just enjoy writing. >> Okay, that's the right answer, okay. [ audience applause ] Okay, all three are going to come up? Can all, is that right? Okay. [ background sounds ] All right so, how many people enjoyed this? Okay, okay, all right great. So, I want to, I want to thank everybody for coming. I want to thank all the people participated, all the winners and now I'm going to turn it over to John Cole. John? >> Thank you David. The last program we're featuring today is as I mentioned earlier, letters about literature. This long running program of The Center for the Book asked students in grades 4 thru 12 to write a book, to read a book and then to write a letter to the author again talking about how this letter shaped their lives. This is a national contest and I mentioned we had over 50,000 entries this last year. We have a winner, a national winner for the first time from the District of Columbia. But before I introduce her I do want to ask if Kathy Gurley who is our National Director happens to be in the audience? She's not but I want publically to recognize Kathy for the wonderful work she's done. Our winner today is Alessandra Selassie. She's going to tell you the story but I'd also like to have her parents stand up and be recognized. They're here in the front row, please give them a hand, please. [ audience applause ] Alessandra is the winner in the category covering grades 4 thru 6. And one of the reasons I introduced her parents is you will find that the letter that she is going to read to us is written to Laura Ingalls Wilder author of The Little House Series and I urge you to listen for the connection, the wonderful connection that Alessandra made between a book of the past and her present situation and her present wonderful family. Alessandra, please go ahead. >> Dear Laura Ingalls Wilder, my life cannot be more different than your life and the lives of the pioneers that you describe in your series of books. I live in the American capitol, Washington, D.C. and enjoy all the things modern life has to offer. I have a Safeway around the corner. I don't have to worry about growing my own food. When I want to go somewhere I go by car or it's far, I go by plane which gets me there quickly and safely. When I want water I turn on the tap. When it's dark, I turn on the light. While my life is so different than yours I was still so touched by your books because they helped to finally understand the life of someone I love, my father. My dad grew up in Atria [phonetic] which is a country in Africa. It was a new country and he and his family were a part of building the nation just like your family was a part of building America. My dad often jokes that his mom made sure they weren't picky eaters by not giving them much to eat. It's hard for me to imagine not having enough to eat. If we run out of food we go to the store. But your book, The Long Winter, really made me understand what it felt like to worry about not having enough. I saw in the way Pa and Ma worried about feeding their children, how hard it must have been for my grandma and grandpa with their six children. My father also talks about meeting his friends at night to study under the light of one of the few street lamps in the town. You studied with the light of an oil lamp and Pa and Ma worried about having enough money to buy oil for the lamp. When I read about your dolls made out of scraps of fabric it made me think about my dad's stories of making a ball out of a sock filled with olden clothing and scraps of fabric. We feel sad today to hear of kids having so little. But when you describe your childhood and to hear my dad's stories, I realize what a good, what good childhoods you both had. You didn't have many toys but you made up games and created your own fun. Even though my dad grew up in a different place and time than pioneer America when I was reading your books I realized how similar your lives were in terms of the way people interacted. Children had to respect their elders. They didn't talk back like characters on TV do today. Children were expected to do a lot of chores and help take care of the family house. I have a couple of chores to do but nothing like what my father had to do. He was the eldest so he had to take care of his younger siblings. His mom didn't have a babysitter like you would today. The way he played with his siblings and friends was never Wii or playing computer games or talking through Instagram or Facebook or anything with technology. They got together face to face and played with each other, ran around outside and exploring nature or told each other stories and jokes. I can see how this would make a strong relationship than wanting to kill each other on a Wii game. As much as I love technology it sounds like fun going back to these kinds of relationships. Today we think people are important because they have money or are famous. In Atria or in pioneer times it didn't matter how much you had. It wasn't cool to be rude or have a snappy comeback. You didn't lie because your word was very important. What mattered was being honorable. In my dad's family just like in your family, two things were really important, being self-reliant and getting an education. Knowing that you could grow your own food and support your family was important. People didn't have much but they didn't want handouts. They wanted to work and work hard just like your Pa always did. I thought of my father when I read how Ma help prepare you, Mary and Carrie for school. How excited Ma and Pa were when you moved to a place that had a school. When my dad was five years old his grandfather took him to register at a school. His family had made sure he learned the alphabet before he went so the school had to accept him even though he was younger than the normal age for starting school. I love reading about how you all worked hard to make enough money to send Mary to the special school for the blind that was far away. My dad's parents have worked hard to get him into a good high school, that was also far away. This led him to finishing high school in America and then college and graduate school. Today lots of kids complain about going to school but you, Mary and my dad always felt lucky to go. Before reading your books my dad would tell me stories about his childhood but I didn't really understand them. My life growing up in America is so different than his life in Atria. Also, he lived in the United States so long that his life today is almost like any other American. Reading your books and having such a vivid image through such a young girl's perspective made me appreciate my dad's childhood and feel closer to him. It also showed me reasons behind many of his rules and he's always emphasizing being honorable. This gave me a new way of looking at him and a new type of relationship with him. I know you wrote these books to help children understand lives of the American pioneers but for me it helped me see my father's African childhood as being less foreign. Thank you so much for writing this series. Sincerely, Alessandra Selassie. [ Audience applause ] >> Thank you Alessandra. Thank you so much. Now as we close our program today I'd like to ask a few folks to stand and be recognized in our audience. First of all, all of our winners and finalists and any students who entered the contest this year, any of our contests. Please stand. [ Audience applause ] Stay standing, stay standing. Next our judges and the librarians from the public libraries who participated in the contest. Please stand. The teachers and the school officials. Now finally, finally anyone present, everyone present who believes in the power of books to shape lives. Please stand. Thank you all for standing up for literacy and reading. Thanks very much for joining us. Thanks to everybody especially our winners. Have a great festival. >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.