I received this gorgeous package and posted the unwrap on Twitter.  

In the winter of 1946 four individuals are brought together by forces beyond their control. Each carries his/her own secrets and pain. Each struggles to escape both a harrowing past and a fear filled future.

Joana  "Guilt is a hunter."

• "War had rearranged my priorities. I now clung to memories more than goals or material things."
• "The hole in the ice spread farther, sending a deep crack running directly toward me."
• ​"Four years rose to the surface. And I started to cry."

Florian ​"Fate is a hunter."

• ​"There was something else I couldn't deny. Time was running out."
• "The Gustloff was my only hope, as well."
• "The fear never disappeared, but with each year it retreated slightly, a tide of memory sliding back out to sea."

Emilia "Shame is a hunter."

• "'Per aspera ad astra, Papa, ' I whispered. Through hardships to the stars."
• "Two warring nations gripped Poland like girls fighting over a doll. One held the leg, the other the arm. They pulled so hard that one day, the head popped off."
• "The Wilhelm Gustloff was pregnant with lost souls conceived of war. They would crowd her belly and she would give birth to their freedom."

Alfred "​Fear is a hunter."

• "I will finally be at sea, traversing the waterways into the ocean..."
• "I imagined myself home in Heidelberg when the war was over. Crowds of women and children would flock around me while I doled out oranges from burlap sacks."
• "I pity the man who cannot overcome his cowardice, who cannot step on the neck of his own weakness...Death, it seems, has a mind of its own."

I am continually amazed at the fascinating intersection of events which on first glance appear to be unrelated.  Connections between fiction and nonfiction can happen in ways that I never would have predicted.

​This past year I served on the 2016 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award Committee. One of the Honor Books selected by the Committee is This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon by Nancy Plain.
This outstanding example of nonfiction draws heavily on primary source documents, particularly  the journals of Audubon.  Plain seamlessly weaves in quotations from his journals into her narration to paint a compelling portrait of this American naturalist. Color plates of his work are reproduced in stunning detail. See the captivating image on the title facing page pictured below. The entire book is liberally sprinkled with full color examples of Audubon's work.  

Four years ago I served on the 2012 Odyssey Award committee.  This annual award is given to "the producer of the best audiobook produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States" and is jointly administered by ALSC and YALSA.

After sharing and discussing the book with young students, I invited them to select a quote from Dr. King.  Students enjoyed revisiting the book and selecting a quote that was particularly meaningful to them.  Using a selection of markers, students copied some of Martin's Big Words onto cardboard circles. We hung the circles of Big Words around the library and near the display of books about the life and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King. We all loved filling our library space with Martin's Big Words.
"Sooner or later, all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together."

2015.  What a year.  It seemed that almost daily a YA nonfiction book was delivered to my home. It was always exciting to open each book, filled with fresh possibilities of things to learn, worlds to explore. The deep dive into a year of informational text was exhilarating. I know firsthand that nonfiction is absorbing reading that can elicit strong emotional responses from readers.

And the winners are...

 It's sticker time.  
Time for the National Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Scott O'Dell Award and the John Newbery Medal. Bright and shiny embossed circlets will be popping up on books in the children's departments of  libraries and bookstores. Oh so shiny. Oh so pretty. Certainly well-deserved. 
It is a thrill to see children's books receiving the attention which they merit.
​
But today I found myself looking over my bookshelves and seeing  many treasures in my personal collection with no affixed sticker. I lovingly took each book off my shelves and marveled at the stories within the covers. Each has stretched my mind, filled me with wonder, enlarged my understanding, filled my heart.
To each of those books and to the authors, editors, and publishers who have and will continue to publish such books, my gratitude.
Thank you for writing and publishing these books. Thank you for making my world and the worlds of children everywhere a better, richer place.
Please keep writing and publishing. 
​I will keep reading and sharing.

Just a few of my well-loved, well-read books.  The pages are worn. The covers are in tatters. While they display no sticker, they have been shared with children, grandchildren, students, teachers, librarians, and friends. They are for always. They are priceless.

How I love Lois Sepahban's Paper Wishes, a  tender portrait of ten-year-old Manami, forced to leave her home on Bainbridge Island and move with her family to the Manzanar prison camp. 
The poignant and wistful cover perfectly captures her pain and longing as she leaves behind the life she knew  and for reasons that are never quite clear to her, is confined to a hostile world of fences, barbed wire, tiny baracks, and dry red desert dust. 
Her loss of  is profound. Losing all that is familiar, especially her beloved family dog Yujiin affects her deeply and causes her to lose her voice.

It is challenging to find books for younger readers which thoughtfully explore the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.  This sad chapter of American history has been graphically detailed in adult literature.  But finding treatment that is accurate while appropriate for young audiences can be difficult.
Fish for Jimmy: Inspired By One Family's Experience in a Japanese American Internment Camp is a picture book adaptation of Katie Yamasaki's family  experience.