By Chelsey Pletts
DANVERS — Assuming the special announcement was about Dr. Seuss' birthday on Tuesday, Brooke Elliott's jaw dropped when the voice on the intercom said she was the winner of a state bookmark contest.
The Massachusetts School Library Association's Bookmark Contest invites schools, K-12, to participate in illustrating a bookmark in the spirit of a specific theme. This year's theme was "School Libraries: Learning for Life." The students are split into four divisions according to grade; winners are chosen within each division.
Brooke was one of the 100 Great Oak Elementary School students to submit bookmarks, along with the four other elementary schools in Danvers that also competed. The first-grader won in Division One.
"When I saw the bookmark, I knew it was the winner right away," said Lisa Swaine, library aide at Great Oak for the past four years. "When they called to tell me who won, I knew it was Brooke."
Brooke entered the contest because she loves to read and draw, but she never assumed that she would win; yet, winning the Bookmark Contest runs in her blood. Just two years before, Brooke's older sister, Lindsey, won the same contest.
Brooke grinned as she remembered riding in a limo her family had rented to drive to the ceremony in Boston. It was a lot of fun, Brooke said.
This year, however, is Brooke's year and she is taking the bookmark's theme very seriously.
"It doesn't matter how old you are, you can read at any time," she said. Brooke's bookmark is a colorful picture of a woman who continues to read from her childhood through adulthood. The bookmark says, "Reading lasts a lifetime."
"She can understand how to comprehend a phrase and put it in a picture format," Swaine said. "She has such a reading bug."
The award ceremony is scheduled for April 2 at the Statehouse at 10 a.m. Lunch will be served to family and friends who attend. The winners will be presented with 500 copies of their bookmarks for their schools, a $50 bookstore gift certificate, awards and a tour of the Statehouse after the ceremony.
"Brooke has really done us proud," Swaine said.
