Endeavour 5th grader earns state literature and writing award

Endeavour’s Lee Xie won an Honorable Mention at the state’s first Letters about Literature awards ceremony, hosted by Secretary of State Sam Reed and State Librarian Jan Walsh in April in the Capitol Rotunda in Olympia. The competition challenges students to write to their favorite author and describe how his or her book affected them. Xie’s letter was among the top 36 out of more than 1,500 entries.

Lee wrote to author Cynthia Kadohata about her book Kira Kira, a Newbury Medal-winner about a Japanese-American family that exhibits overwhelming love in the midst of horrendous work conditions, racism, and illness in the 1950s. “I have learned to cherish everything I have, from my family and friends to a simple warm bowl of tomato soup,” Lee wrote in her letter, adding: “I am glad that my family and I live in an era where every human being gets treated equally and kindly.”

MERLIN teacher Kimberly Ralph alerted Lee and the rest of her class to the contest, and Lee, an avid reader, eagerly took up her pen to answer the challenge.