Reed’s Nutmeg Readers Meet Authors

By Eliza Hallabeck

Both Reed Intermediate School fifth and sixth grade students who completed reading five or more Nutmeg Awarded books were recognized for their reading achievement during a lunch, book signing, and presentation by a Nutmeg author on Thursday, May 26.

Ann Haywood Leal, author of Also Known As Harper, returned to the school to speak to fifth graders about her most recent Nutmeg awarded book, A Finders-Keepers Place, a story that follows two sisters as they cope with family struggles.

Author Jame Richards spoke to sixth graders about her Nutmeg Awarded book, Three Rivers Rising, a historical fiction centered around the Johnstown Flood of 1889.

Students attended the event with books in hand, ready for both authors to sign copies of their published work.

The event was hosted to recognize students for the achievement in reading Nutmeg Awarded books. The Nutmeg Awards are jointly sponsored by the Connecticut Library Association and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians.

When the 20 Nutmeg Award nominees, ten in both the intermediate reading level list and the teen reading level list, were named earlier this year, Reed students were challenged to read five or more books, and all students who met the challenge attended the Monday luncheon.

During the event, Reed Library/Media Specialist Virginia Snowden also recognized students who went above and beyond reading five of the 20 Nutmeg Award nominees. Fifth grade students who read ten or more Nutmeg books during this school year are Nicholas Stowell, Julia Shuman, Smayan Kapur, Lauren Carrino, Thomas Coppinger, Kenneth Malin, Tara Franklin, Greata Staubly, Catharina Hyeon, Ravi Ahuja, Melissa Nowak, Janyce Toth, Jula Doylem, and Michael Greenspan. Sixth grade students who read ten or more Nutmeg books are Isabel Pryor, Alexander Hes, Simran Chand, Emma Johnson, Evan Lee, Madilyn Cole, Kathryn Blanco, Matthew Krasnickas, Aysha Hafiz, and Alexander Kimble.

Three sixth grade students, Sarah MacMullan, Melissa Shohet, and Ashley Jacob were recognized for reading all 20 of the Nutmeg nominees from this year.

For further information about the Connecticut Nutmeg awards go to www.nutmegaward.org.