Library announces "Create-A-Book" winners
Press Release June 20, 2001

 As part of its "National Library Week" celebration in April, The Newark Public Library invited children to create a book and enter it in the library's annual contest. Children responded by submitting more than 200 "books." Graphic artist Carol Jenkins-Cooper judged the entries according to grade-level categories.

Each of the first-, second- and third-place winners of both grade levels along with the high-school honorees will receive a Barnes and Noble gift certificate. Those who were awarded an honorable mention will receive a library pencil and paperback book. All participants received a colorful "Kids’ Place" theme bookmark, which features the website’s mascot Corky.

Winning entries--with branch library designation in parentheses--in the pre-K to grade 3 category were:
1st Place--My Birthday Is in August by Renata Ribeiro (Van Buren)
2nd Place--The Birds That Sing by Kimberly Reyes (Van Buren)
3rd Place--A Whale Became My Friend by Alexis Jumbo (Van Buren)
Honorable mentions--Poems of Nature by Alexandra Santana (Van Buren), The Dog That Ate The Cats by Caitlin Rivas (Van Buren), The Nicest Flowers In The Garden by Barbara Dos Santos (Van Buren), and The Potato Heads by Timothy Williams (Clinton)

The winners in grades 4 through 8 were:
1st Place--Cocoa’s Adventure by Clarissa Andries (Weequahic)
2nd Place--Mambina’s Earrings by Janice Delaney (Van Buren)
3rd Place--Super Steve by Stephen Freitas (Van Buren)
Honorable mentions--The Mysterious Tree by Amanda Rendeiro-Pires (Van Buren), Best Friends by Diana Facundo (Van Buren), Emily and The Giant Pandas by Diana Ortiz (Van Buren), and First Big Race by Jimmy Kelley (Springfield)

A special recognition went to the top two entries in grades 9 through 12:
Golden Heart by Janine Delaney (Van Buren), The Mysterious Jewel by Latasha Delaney (Van Buren).