CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A local fourth-grader recently won the state-level portion of a national reading and writing contest.

Amber Parker, who attends Antioch Elementary School, entered the 2008 Letters About Literature contest. Readers must write a personal letter to an author explaining how that person’s work changed the way the reader thinks about the world and him or herself.

Parker’s mother said she wrote to author Lisa Yee, who wrote “Millicent Min, Girl Genius.” At the statewide level, Parker won $75 cash from the North Carolina Center for the Book and a $50 Target gift card. Her letter was then sent to the national contest, which will be judged at the end of April.