McKinley Third Grade Students Become Published Authors

At a surprise school assembly on Thursday, May 10, a group of third-grade students at William McKinley Elementary School

learned they won the grand prize for fiction in Scholastic Book Fairs’ Kids Are Authors competition, a national book-writing contest that encourages teams of student writers to use their reading, writing, and artistic skills to create their own books.

The students’ winning entry, Two Dollars, One Wallet, will be published and sold at Scholastic Book Fairs in schools nationwide this fall. This year’s panel of distinguished judges included renowned children’s book authors and illustrators Henry Winkler, Lin Oliver, Francis O’Roark Dowell, Audrey Wood, Wendy Mass, and Derek Anderson.

To recognize their accomplishment, each young author will receive a medal and a framed commemorative certificate during an official award ceremony to be held at their school this fall. The school will receive a $5,000 Scholastic Book Fairs shopping voucher and 100 copies of the published book.

In Two Dollars, One Wallet, money takes on a personality of its own. From the printing press to your wallet, discover the amazing adventure a dollar must take to end up in your hands.

The McKinley Elementary School third grade students of teacher Mrs. Angie D’Mello were John Alajijian, Sara Cohen, Julia Guglielmo, Marion Hunter, Henry Keeney, Noel Pennington and Russell Uvas and were also guided by parent volunteer, Mrs. Shari Wendt