Congratulations to mother-daughter writing team, Lydia and Heather Munn, on receiving the bronze award for their young adult novel, How Huge the Night, in the 2011 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards. The award was announced Saturday, June 23, 2012 at a ceremony during the American Library Association's annual conference in Anaheim, California. According to the ForeWord press release, the "winners were selected by dozens of librarians and booksellers who are experts in the subject matter of the books they judged, and who make purchasing decisions daily for their collections or bookstores." Victoria Sutherland, ForeWord's founder and publisher who spoke at the award ceremony, said, "after fifteen years of recognizing great books with this award process, I still have an enormous sense of admiration for the title assortment and I'm so thankful for the help of our readership, booksellers and librarians who help us sort out the top choices based on their experiences."

 

Fifteen-year-old Julien Losier is a normal teen suddenly faced with life and death challenges when his family moves to a small village in central France to outrun the Nazis. There he meets Nina Krenkel, a young Jew who is dangerously ill and running for her life. As France falls to the Nazis, Julien struggles with doing what is right, even if it is not enough--and wonders whether or not he really can save Nina from almost certain death.

 

Based on the true story of the town of Le Chambon--the only French town honored by Israel for rescuing Jews from the Holocaust--How Huge the Night is a compelling, coming-of-age drama that will keep teens turning the pages as it teaches them about a fascinating period of history and inspires them to think more deeply about their everyday choices.