Meet 2016 “It’s All Write!” Guest Speaker: Patrick Flores-Scott!

Patrick Flores-Scott is the guest speaker at this year's "It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest Final Celebration and the author of the award winning novel, Jumped In. In Mr Flores-Scott's debut novel, the protagonist, Sam, is intent on slacking his way through high school until a love of music and poetry spark an unlikely friendship with Luis - the undisputed scariest kid in school. Jumped In was named to the 2014 YALSA best fiction for young adults list and was a finalist in the Michigan Great Lakes - Great Books competition for 2016.

For more about Patrick Flores-Scott, check out his blog, watch for his new novel American Road Trip coming in January, 2017, and celebrate all the “It’s All Write!” contestants while the top nine finalists are announced on Sunday June 12, 2016 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room!

Stay tuned to find out the winners of the 2016 “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest!

2016 "It's All Write!" Contest Finalists!

The finalists of the 2016 “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest are officially published! Check out the list of finalists to see who will move on to the next round. A panel of published Young Adult authors will read the finalist stories over the next several weeks to choose the contest winners.

If you wrote a story for the contest this year, give yourself a pat on the back! Everyone worked very hard, as evidenced by the high-quality writing that was entered. The judges have loved reading your stories so far and noted how difficult it was to choose just a few finalists. If you have been chosen to move on, congratulations! All writers, friends, family, and supporters are welcome to join us at the Final Celebration on June 12!

Meet 2016 “It’s All Write!” Judge #7: Kashmira Sheth!

Kashmira Sheth is the author of two award winning teen novels Keeping Corner and Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet.

Before she began writing, Kashmira Sheth had many jobs, including working in a bakery, catching corn flea beetles, using microbiology to test food for bacterial counts and pathogens, choreographing and performing Indian dances and running a dance school. When asked what she would tell someone that wishes to become a writer, Ms. Sheth gave three pieces of advice:

  • Read, read and read some more.
  • Learn another language or two.
  • Write something every day - even if it's just your thoughts.

For more about Kashmira Sheth, visit her webpage, and stay tuned for updates about the “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest Judges!

"Write On!" Short Story Contest for Grades 3-5: All Submissions 2016

Thank you to all of the writers who sent their stories to the 2016 "Write On!" Short Story Contest! All of the submitted stories are linked below. Please contact Kayla at youngwrite@aadl.org with contest questions.

Third Grade

Althea Decker, "The Football Game"
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Lila Foster, "The TV Problem"
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Maddie Gaines, "Building an Adventure"
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Nicole Hartman, "How Annie Got Home"
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Jordan Igoe, "I Want a Dinosaur, Please!"
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Sawyer Johnson, "Up North"
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Lila Jomaa, "The Stowaway"
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Raymond T. Kangas, Jr., "Benjamin Franklin 'In the Future!'"
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Ashley Kim, "My New Best Friend"
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Arathi Kolangarth, "Three Mermaid Friends"
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Ayelet Lasser, "The Move"
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Ava Legier, "The Day She Really Wanted to Play Soccer and Get Electronics"
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Xzavion Martin, "The Ultimate Taco"
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Jessica Millina, "Making Friends"
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Emma Morad, "Help Me Nikki"
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McKenzie Pepper, "Ava's Famous"
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Zack Straub, "If You Can Dream It You Can Do It"
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Melody Watkins, "Aundrea & Carrisa"
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Liana Zhou, "The Cotton Candy Land"
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Fourth Grade

Dyuthi Aryasomayajula, "The Haunted Tree"
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Jaya Boggess, "The Glass Fairy"
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Ocean Brabbs, "Madden or Not"
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Sofia Castilla, "The Wishing Tree"
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Srinithya Chiravuri, "What Have I Brought Home"
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Yotam Chopra, "Through Time (A Time Travelling Story)
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Maya Comer, "A Free Hero"
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Cassie Couch, "Swish! Swish! Try to Catch Me!"
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Selene Freudenberg, "The Moon Greater Than Every Other"
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Anita Gaenko, "Bells"
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Zachary Hamill, "The Adventures of the Gods"
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Isabella Jacob, "Evil Academy"
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Gemma Kennedy, "Green Crayon"
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Neha Khanna, "One Magical Recipe"
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Evelyn Kidle, "Bye, Bye, Sunshine"
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Vanya Krishna, "Mixed Up"
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Minseo Lee, "To Be a Liar!"
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Anna Lucking, "The Campbell Family"
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Melinda Mei, "One Special Birthday"
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Gabriel Moore, "A Ninja Story"
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Stella Niemi, "Whimsical"
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Sarah Osterholzer, "Willow and the Golden Dew Drop"
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Rachel E. Perlman, "Elca Padme John"
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Avni Rao, "The Chronicles of Artichoke"
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Sydney Saenz, "The Trash Can"
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Kevin Mingxuan Song, "The Journey to the Sun"
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Madeline Tai, "Dear Diary"
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Q. Jamie Tang, "The Friends of Careless Mistakes"
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Teddy Tolbert, "The Quables"
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Svea von der Lieth, "Annabell and the Mission"
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Madison Winters, "Birthday Disaster"
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Fifth Grade

Anna Alexandra Alexandrov, "A Blurr"
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Jacob E. Andreski, "A Thousand Days of Light"
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Allison Ball, "The Tiger Warrior's Shadow"
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Leyna Bennett, "Trouble"
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Melanie Brooks, "The Story of Abby"
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Laney Burns, "Music in the Corner of the Earth"
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Sebastián Casillas-López, "The Golden Goal"
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Carolann Colbeck, "Clone Duck 0.1"
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Sydney Curtis, "Our Laughable Life"
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Zoe Scarlett Davies, "See-Through"
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Hannah Deng, "Out of the Blue"
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Andrew Dimcheff, "Earth Escaped"
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Eliot Dimcheff, "Marceline's Story"
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Alvin Dumas, "School News"
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Zaria Dumas, "The Special Book"
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Aspen Fields, "The Last Sunwealder"
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Elizabeth Ford, "Aware of Where I Am"
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Caroline Guenther, "Where Did John Holmes Go?"
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Gabriel Hill, "Habañeros that look like Jalapeños"
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Rita Ionides, "The Magical Kingdom of Mathematica"
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Saran Kaba, "Black"
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Jason Seungmin Kang, "The Tale of Bob the Dog"
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Brigit Keiter, "Egyptian Wolf"
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Jersey Kierczak, "The Last Journey"
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Sarah Kim, "Animal Fairy"
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Alex Kim, "Tally Ho!"
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Yetta Krummel-Adkins, "The Blizzard"
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Nicolas Langdon, "Sleuthed"
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Carmen Lauchu, "Fall Down, Stand Up"
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Catherine Li, "Lice"
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Fiona Lin, "Lemonade of Life"
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Ria McGuire Lowenschuss, "Finding Hope"
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Haruka Nabeshima, "Moonlight"
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Juliana Ramirez, "The Clara Puppet"
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Kira Shaffer, "Harry's Prank"
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Madeline Shaw, "Just Like You"
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Bella Simonte, "Going for Gold"
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Royce Smith, "The Ghost of Marci Elementary"
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Stella Son, "Black Cloud Wing"
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Meena Suresh, "The Life Changer"
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Haley Switzer, "The Locked Waterfall"
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Tim Teymurov, "The Lift"
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Ella Thorne, "The Settlers' Sickness"
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Ava Tunison, "Fifth Door on the Left"
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Alexa Webber, "The Forgotten"
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Samika Whitelocke, "The Book"
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Ella Woodruff, "Oliver's Art"
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Crystal Wu, "Tale of a Dragon"
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Jing Xie, "My Miserable Life"
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Jerry Yang, "Mars Mission"
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Dayeong Yoon, "The Mysterious Dream"
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Kendal Young, "Secrets"
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Alexander Zhang, "The Golden Pendant"
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Gabby Zywicki, "The Fal"
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Meet 2016 “It’s All Write!” Judge #6: Tracy Bilen!

Tracy Bilen is the YA author of What She Left Behind, the story of sixteen-year-old Sara, whose mother goes missing before they can move to a new town to escape Sara's physically abusive father. Ms. Bilen is a high school French and Spanish teacher in Michigan, where she lives with her husband and children. Tracy studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and taught Spanish at a high school ski academy. She loves biking, traveling, and red velvet cake. When asked about her favorite word, Tracy declared, “Plethora. Because it’s the first fancy word I ever learned. I don’t ever say it out loud, but I THINK it a lot.”

Want to learn more about Tracy Bilen's favorite things and get some advice on starting out as a writer? Check out her blog and stay tuned for more information about the “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest Judges!

2016 "Write On!" 3rd-5th Grade Short Story Contest Winners!

Congratulations to the 2016 “Write On!” 3rd-5th Grade Short Story Contest Winners!

After an astounding 104 entries, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place stories were chosen from each grade, and the 2016 winners were announced at the Awards Celebration held on April 17th!

Come back soon to read this year’s short story submissions on the contest website!

Meet “It’s All Write!” 2016 Judge #5: Kevin Emerson!

Kevin Emerson is the author of twelve novels, including the Exile series books: Exile, Encore to an Empty Room and the series conclusion, coming in August 2016, Finding Abby Road.

School Library Journal declared that Emerson's Atlanteans series, "...reads like a combination of Star Trek, Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, and Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games... The plot twists around like a vine, blending mythology, technology, pandemics, violence, and excitement."

Kevin Emerson is a singer, drummer, and guitarist and has played in bands since high school. He has toured across the country and in Europe and the UK and now lives in Seattle, one of the best music cities in the world. Learn more about Kevin on his blog and stay tuned for more information about the 2016 “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest Judges!

Check Out These Writing Books You Can Download!

We have many books on how to write that you can download from home. Language Arts Explorer Junior: Writing Series offers fun lessons and activities to help improve your writing. You can learn to write a memoir, a comic book, a play or even a mystery! Your choice on what topic to learn about is the only challenge; there are over 20 titles to choose from!

To start downloading just log into your account and click the link 'Download a PDF of this item' on the book's online catalog page.

And if you submitted a story this year for the "Write On!" Short Story Contest the awards celebration for grades 3-5 is this Sunday, April 17 from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm. Check the contest website for more info!

Meet “It’s All Write!” 2016 Judge #4: Todd Strasser!

Todd Strasser is the author of more than 140 books for teens and middle graders including the best-selling Help! I’m Trapped In series, and numerous award-winning YA novels including The Wave, Give A Boy A Gun, Wish You Were Dead, Blood on my Hands, Kill You Last, No Place, , Boot Camp, If I Grow Up and Fallout .

Several of Todd's books have been adapted for television, and his novels The Wave and How I Created My Perfect Prom Date became feature films. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he has also written for television, newspapers such as The New York Times, and magazines such as The New Yorker and Esquire .

Learn more about Todd Strasser by reading his blog and don't forget to stay tuned for more information about the 2016 “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest Judges!

Meet “It’s All Write!” 2016 Judge #3: Caroline Bock!

The third judge for this year’s “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest is Caroline Bock! Prior to focusing on writing, Caroline led the marketing and public relations departments at Bravo, IFC cable networks and IFC Films. In 2011, she received an MFA in Fiction with honors from The City College of New York and she has recently moved to Maryland after living her entire life in the State of New York.

Caroline’s work includes the YA novels Lie and Before My Eyes , as well as her award winning short story Gargoyles and Stars .

Recently, Caroline Bock was nominated for a 2016 Pushcart literary award in poetry! To learn more about Caroline and her writing, visit her webpage or follow her on Twitter @cabockwrites.

Stay tuned for more information about the “It’s All Write!” Teen Short Story Contest of 2016 Judges