Sara Goodlive knows that there's no such thing as "normal."
"I learned that there's no such thing as normal, because we're all different," said Sara, 12.
The false notion of normalcy was a subject Goodlive focused on in a letter to Cynthia Lord, author of the book "Rules."
Sara, a sixth-grader at St. Brigid of Kildare School, earned first place at the state level in the 2018 Letters About Literature writing contest, making her the first student from the school to place first in the state.
A total of 1,020 students from throughout Ohio entered the contest in Goodlive's division, and 189 students were chosen to advance to state level judging.
Sara said she chose Lord's book, about a girl with a brother on the autism spectrum, because she used to be in a similar position as the girl in the book.
The girl in "Rules" thought she couldn't make friends without pretending her brother didn't exist, Goodlive said, but eventually learned that real friends wouldn't care about her having a brother on the spectrum.
Sara said when she was younger she used to feel that way about her own brother, Luke. Now 10, Luke was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum at age 2, Sara said.
Sara wrote to Lord about how she never has had a conversation with her brother, who gradually lost the small amount of vocabulary he had possessed after he was diagnosed, she said. She wrote about how she remembered being nervous at 5 years old when she had a friend over to her house for the first time and being happy when that friend came over again.
After the first few times of having friends over, Sara said, she realized her brother wasn't an issue for her friends.
Although many students wrote excellent letters, Sara's letter had a strong message and the composition of a strong language arts student, said Jill Cecutti, a St. Brigid literacy team member.
The school has had its students participate in the letter-writing contest for about 12 years, Cecutti said.
Although the school has always had students placed as state finalists, Goodlive was the first student to earn first place, she said.
"I think every student needs an opportunity to write from their heart about a book that they care about," Cecutti said.
Sara will be honored May 12 at the Ohio Center for the Book at the Cleveland Public Library, where she will read her letter before other students who placed in the competition, their families and teachers, Cecutti said.
She now has the opportunity to earn an award for her work at the national level.
ssole@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekSarah