Jackson Center Names Essay Winners
By The Post-Journal Staff
Three area eighth-graders are among the winners of a book review contest sponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center.
Jackson Center officials recently announced the contest winners of the county and statewide contests among eighth graders on a review of Milkweed, a novel for young readers about the Holocaust written by Jerry Spinelli.
The Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation assisted with awards for the local book review contest while the statewide contest was co-sponsored by the Jackson Center and the New York Bar Law, Youth and Citizenship Committee.
Maggie Mason of Sherman Central School and Michael Rockey of Holy Family Catholic School will be recognized for their winning entries during upcoming programs at the Jackson Center featuring speaker Dr. Helen Fagin, a Holocaust survivor, and Spinelli, a Newbery Award-winning young people’s author.
Meghann Nielsen of Brocton Central School participated in the statewide contest and will represent one of six New York state regions. Other regional winners include: Marguerite Vichier-Guerre of Horseheads; Daniel Claridge of Schenectady; Ryan Zimmerman of Chester; Jensen Reckhow of New York City; and Rebecca Plock of Southold.
Coco Price, a Jamestown High School freshman, will play host to the book review winners as contest coordinator. Ms. Price is a regular volunteer at the Jackson Center.
Contest participants were asked to explain how Milkweed affected their opinions about the incarceration of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto of occupied Poland during World War II. The book, written from the perspective of a 12-year-old orphan on the streets of the ghetto, won the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults Award and Carolyn W. Field Award in 2004. Spinelli is the author of more than a dozen books for young readers, including Maniac McGee and Wringer.
‘‘It was through the efforts of Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson that much of the history of the Holocaust was revealed and became the evidence that convicted many of the Nazi defendants during the international war tribunal in Nuremberg,’’ said Rolland Kidder, Jackson Center executive director. ‘‘Since 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the beginning of the Nuremberg Trial, the Jackson Center felt a book review contest using this book presented a significant opportunity for youth to better understand the events prior to and during the war.’’
Sponsors of the book review contest and other events at the Jackson Center focused on the Spinelli appearance include: Acu-Rite Incorporated, Brigiotta’s Farmland Stores, the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Comfort Inn, National Fuel Gas, the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, Jamestown Savings Bank, Ronald McDonald House Charities of W.N.Y., the New York Bar Foundation and the New York Bar Law, Youth and Citizenship Committee.