Dear Albert Whitman & Company,

This letter is for Diane Burton Robb. I was unable to locate her address and contact information. I am a college student at Penn State and did a project with The Alphabet War. You were the publisher of this fine piece of literature and I assume that you will have Diane Robb's address. I would greatly appreciate it if you would pass this letter along to her and let her be aware that her book The Alphabet War has won an award in our classroom.

I developed an award called Anthony Baney's Award For Excelling In The Demonstration of Children Overcoming Retention. I was retained as a student in elementary school because I was unable to read. I received a tutor and was able to learn how to read and over come my struggles of being retained. I am currently attending Penn State where I am earning a degree in Elementary Education. My class developed a project that was designed for each person in the class to develop their own award and everyone else in the class would nominate books for that award. I had several nominations to chose from regarding children overcoming retention. I saw myself in your book that you wrote and felt it was a wonderful piece of literature. I loved the way the book was put together and it shows to other students that with a little determination that anyone can overcome their struggles with reading.

Sincerely,



Anthony Baney
Student of Penn State

It's Prefectly Normal was written by Rob Harris. Like so many other authors his personal experiences influenced him to write the book. This is a really well detailed information book. It would be an excellent resource for the older children. It has very detailed pictures and information about the changing body. It can be found at your local Altoona Library

When Sophie Gets Angry-- Really, Really Angry.. is written by Molly bang. The book demonstrates a young girl becoming very upset and being able to control her temper. The words are simple to read for the younger school age children and the illustrations are very bright and colorful. The book has a wonderful dynamic character named Sophie who will allow the students to see an example of how young children with a temper can be able to control their temper. This book does not lack anything. I would greatly encourage teachers to use this book in their classroom. This book can be found at your local Altoona Library.

Pat-A-Cake is a wonderful piece of poetry that everyone can come to love. The book is put together very well and has excellent illustrations in and throughout the book. The book would be a great piece to add to anyone's collection of poetry books for the elementary children. This book can be found at your local Altoona Library.

Trucks Roll! is by far my most favorite book I read during this project. The illustrations are flat out awesome. Boys and even men that are boys at heart can really enjoy this book. I absolutely loved this book. I can't say enough about this. It is written by George Lyon and talks about all types of trucks. The pictures are very well drawn and the colors are bright and colorful. This book would be a wonderful book for young boys. I would not recommend this book for young girls because I feel it would not be of any interest to them.

Cultures of Italian Americans was published in 1995. It was written by Carolyn Kott Washburne. It is a nicely written piece of literature that has a lot of positive imformation in it about Italian Americans. The pictures in it are well thought out and the text supports the pictures that help the reader to better understand the culture. The book was well thought out and executed perfectly. This book talks about many of the traditions that Italian Americans still do and carry out. This book can be found at your Altoona Library.

No Time Like Show Time is a really well written book. The book lacks in the illustration department. I was sadden by the lack of illustrations. The book is very lengthy and with lots of suspense. The book includes, twisted plots, mystery, humor, and some romance. Michael Hoeye created a wonderful piece of literature with this book and is an amazing sequel to his other books. This book can be found at the Altoona Library.

Top 10 Physically Challenged Athletes was written by Jeff Savage. The book is a wonderful piece of literature that would be great in any classroom. The book goes behind the scenes and looks into the lives of 10 athletes that are at the top of their game. The book is a great piece to show students that anything is possible and disabilities can be over come.

Sampson The Horse is a wonderful easy reader. The easy to read book only has twenty words. The book is very comical. The book talks about a horse who does everything opposite of what he really is supposed to do. Wendy Kanno did a terrific job with this book and would be wonderful for young children.

My Mom's The Best Mom is the book I'm nominating for your award. This book is for children K-3 you can find it at your Altoona or Tyrone Library. The text of the book speaks about daughters and mothers having close ties. The children are in single parent families and write what they enjoy most about their mothers. The book lacks in illustrations, but they are very short little writings that would be good for the little children to read because they are quick and to the point.

The Anthony Baney Award for excelling in the demonstration of children overcoming retention and/or struggling to learn to read and write. Wolf says that "a child will lean on the language of an author without really acknowledging a direct connect." Students that struggle with reading and writing will find a way to bridge their issues with knowledge of others to overcome their struggles with reading and writing. The Anthony Baney Award will be awarded to the book that best demonstrates a child over coming retention and/or struggling to read and write. The piece may be for all ages k-12 because, a student who struggles with reading and writing will carry that with them the rest of their academic career. The book may be about a boy or a girl who struggles with reading and writing skills. The book is not to be limited to an ethnic group, anyone can struggle with reading and writing. Nominations for this award will be due by February 19, 2008. Good Luck!