Owatin Creek was pleased to announce that fourth grader Nolan Fayewicz and kindergartener Willow Jones were named their inaugural "Authors of the Month" for penning their own original books. Out of more than 100 entries, Nolan was selected for his three-part series on vacations, while Willow was selected for her book about zebras.

Alisse Auchenbach, a reading specialist at OC, said that the team dreamed up the idea of having kids create their own books so that students could see the power of their thoughts on the page. "We also wanted them to be proud of making and achieving goals as writers," she said. The reading team was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response from OC students, and wound up selecting two students instead of one as Author of the Month. A selection of reading specialists and teachers judged the entries, choosing Willow's book because she focused on one specific topic and used proper capitalization and periods. Nolan's was selected for his use of punctuation and descriptive words and because he organized his writing well with transitions.

Both students received a golden quill as a prize, as well as poster recognition on the "Hall of Writers" at OC. Honorable mentions included:

• Kindergarten - Averi Reeser
• First Grade - Grace Clark
• Second Grade - Abel Myer
• Third Grade - Christopher Woram
• Fourth Grade - Avery Manndel

Congratulations to all students!