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The Maltese Falcon is a classic piece of literature of crime and mystery set in 1920's San Francisco.  As detective Sam Spade searches for the missing Maltese Falcon statute, he is drawn into a world of intrigue and murder.  We invite all students to get involved in the mystery by entering the Pioneer Library System’s Maltese Falcon writing contest supported by Brainfuse.

All students in grades up to and including 12th grade with a valid Pioneer Library System library card are eligible to enter and win.  In three easy steps you could be a winner:

1. Choose from the three topics: “Truth & Deception”, “The City” and “The Falcon” explained below

2. Write an essay that is no more than 500 words in length

3. Submit your essay to Brainfuse's Writing Lab with the comment, “for Pioneer essay contest”at the top of the essay by midnight on April 9, 2010. Paper submissions will not be accepted. You can submit an essay from any computer with internet, including the public internet computers in all of the hometown libraries.

To submit the essay online go to http://www.justsoyouknow.us
• Click on “Online Tutoring 2-10 daily” on the right hand side under “Research” This will take you to Brainfuse.
• Click on the yellow “Login Here” button at the top of page. If you don’t already have an account, create a free account.
• Once logged in, click on the yellow “Writing Lab” button.
• Select your grade level, select “writing” as subject, and upload your essay. Be sure that the comment “for Pioneer essay contest” is at the top of your essay.

The essays will be reviewed, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded one FLY Fusion™ Pentop Computer, FLY Fusion™ Music Studio Pro by LeapFrog and have their essay published on the Big Read website.  Winners will be announced April 16, 2010.