Each year that Wyoming participates in the Letters About Literature student reading and writing contest, the State Library relies on volunteer judges to donate their time and attention to the difficult task of choosing the state’s winning student letters. First-place state-level winners were advanced to national competition, but Wyoming had no national winners this year.
Our thanks go out to our three judges for the 2017-18 competition:
Level I: Grades 4-6
Max Maxfield served two terms each as Wyoming State Auditor and Secretary of State. He has spent many of Dr. Seuss’s birthdays as The Cat in The Hat, reading at grade schools and even at several High School graduations.
Level II: Grades 7-8
Professor Barbara Chatton taught courses in children’s and young adult literature in the College of Education at the University of Wyoming for nearly thirty years before retiring in 2011. Prior to that she was a public librarian in California. She continues to read and review books for young people.
Level III: Grades 9-12
Nathan E. Bender is a librarian living in Laramie, Wyoming, and working at Albany County Public Library. A book reviewer for Library Journal, he has over thirty years professional experience in libraries and archives, writing widely on topics of western history and culture.