Whiz Kid: Super Reader and DGN Senior Mandy Winslow

patch whiz kid of the week

Name: Mandy Winslow

Age: 18 

School:

Accomplishment: From 40 applicants state-wide, Winslow was selected as one of six official readers to help select the 2012 Abraham Lincoln Book Award nominee list.

The program is like Rebecca Caudill, but for high school students. The Abraham Lincoln Book Award challenges students to read as many books as possible from a list of 22 titles. If students read at least four books, they can vote for their favorite to receive the Abe Lincoln Book Award. 

Students who read all 22 of the books are recognized as Abe's Double Deuces. Winslow was named to that list in 2010 and 2011. For the 2010 list, she read all 22 books in two months and blogged about the experience.

She applied to be chosen as one of the official readers. One selected, she was asked to read at least 10 of the 75 proposed titles for the 2012 list. She read 30.

Key to Awesomeness:

Winslow said she's always been a big reader, but she didn't get involved with the program until her junior year. Being able to have so much say in which books would be chosen for the list was a cool experience, she said. "Having power over what Illinois would be reading and directly choosing books for the list was awesome," she said.

Winslow said she credited her accomplishment to her dedication.

"You have to be really into the award to be crazy enough to read all 22 books," she said. "It was an honor to have my name on the website and to recognized for that."

She said it also took hard work and a critical, open mind to decide which books to put on the list.

Not surprisingly, Winslow wants to major in English in college and eventually become a publisher.