Teachers put much effort into selecting books and planning literature activities that will engage their students. On reflection, the author recognized a need to give students more freedom to choose what to read. Research shows that "when students were provided opportunities to select which text(s) they would read for a given topic or unit, their level of engagement in academic work was high and sustained. Giving students such choices is a powerful factor in motivating engagement and fostering achievement." To incorporate more student choice in reading, the author decided to conduct a contest to select an Author Laureate for Green Acres Middle School (Rockville, Maryland): Seventh graders would read books by their favorite authors and deliver persuasive speeches to convince classmates that the author they selected deserved to become Author Laureate. More than just incorporating choice in student writing, the author turned student choice into a schoolwide literacy project.