2009 LITERACY AWARD

Lynette Marten Suckow

Peter White Public Library - Marquette, Michigan

This year’s recipient for the Individual Literacy Award has been described as a rare person who has both creative insight and organizational skills. Lynette Marten Suckow, Library Assistant at Peter White Public Library in Marquette, Michigan, takes her love for literacy into her position and community. She is responsible for Story Time for two and three-year-olds at Peter White, and hosts a reading program at the YMCA. Lynette gives presentations for the Early Childhood Conference at Northern Michigan University, the Children's Fair at the Westwood Mall, the Middle School and the Upper Peninsula Reading Association Conference. She is an active member of the Marquette Area Reading Council having been treasurer, membership chair, and currently President. Lynette is the chair of the Michigan Reading Association Great Lakes Great Books Award. She accomplishes all this with great enthusiasm, a mighty spirit of helpfulness, and a powerful positive, can-do attitude. She is a dynamo!

2008 LITERACY AWARD

Co-Individual Winners

Keri Lynn Bath - 2nd Grade and Sandra Bonsall - 3rd Grade

Lakeview Elementary - Negaunee Public School

"How do you know that students are learning to read?" Sandra Bonsall, one of the recipients of the Literacy Award, says it is the process of trying to answer this question that makes her the teacher she is today. Kerri Bath, the co-recipient of the Literacy Award, remembers when she was a substitute teacher and she would say to herself, "If I were the teacher in that room…." Now she has her own classroom, and even after being under construction for eleven year, it is still is not perfect. She states, "I can only keep editing and revising, editing and revising, and somehow I still don't ever think that I will get to the final copy." These exceptional teachers are talented and dynamic literacy advocates in their community as well as at Lakeview Elementary. Keri is involved in the school's Annual Family Reading Night, and Sandy directs an after-school book club for staff members. Keri and Sandra provide literacy leadership to their local reading council, Marquette-Alger, by serving on its Executive Board. They have co-chaired the Young Authors Conference and the Upper Peninsula Reading Conference. Lakeview Elementary School and the Marquette-Alger communities are fortunate to have two teachers with the passion for teaching, reading, and community involvement.

Would you like to nominate an individual for this award? To download the 2010 - 2011 Literacy Award Application, click HERE.