O’Neill Public School student, Tyson Hostert, was recognized by Gov. Dave Heineman at a proclamation signing ceremony celebrating National Library Week. Hostert’s letter to Gary Paulsen about the Hatchet series for the Letters about Literature program was selected. This competition encourages young people to read, be inspired, and write back to the author who had an impact on their lives. Tyson's winning letter is below:
Dear
Gary Paulsen,
I’m a thirteen year old kid that just really isn’t
into reading and English. Actually
I kind of hate it with a passion, but your Hatchet series is helping me
to overcome this. Every time I
tell my parents that I don’t like to read, I always get the response that’s somewhat
like “too bad” or “learn to like it because you will be doing it for the rest
of your life.” I am taking that
into consideration, but with your Hatchet series I don’t need to
complain.
In
elementary we used to have to read books and take test on them. We needed a certain amount of points to
get an A. I would just
procrastinate and procrastinate until the last few days and try to read several
books at a time and then take all of the tests at once. I still didn’t enjoy it until one day a
friend of mine recommended one of your books to me. I had the same “all books are terrible” attitude towards it,
but I needed points somehow.
I walked my way down to the school library with the
tall pink walls and asked the librarian, Miss Milne, to help me find the book. We reached the general area of where
the book should be located and she pulled the book off the shelf, checked it
out to me, and off I went.
I’m not sure if I was guilt tripped into starting
the book or what, but once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. I flew through your first book, Hatchet,
and quickly proceeded onto Brian’s Winter, The River, and Brian’s
Hunt. I have also just
recently finished Brian’s Return.
The way you spoke of the outdoors gave me a new outlook on nature and
the things I do in it. One thing
that really sticks out to me about the series is the way that Brian remembered
bits and pieces of useful information.
I am aspiring to also do this in my everyday life. I wish to also acquire the skills of
learning any kind of useful information and have the ability to recall it at
any time, the way Brian does.
Finally, without having it forced upon me, I can
just read a book to read a book.
Hopefully, I can remain this way, and not go back to my old self. With the knowledge from the books I
will hopefully accomplish something.
I mean you never know when you might need to crash land a plane and
survive on your own in the Canadian wilderness.
Sincerely,
Tyson Hostert
