From: Faith <fbrautig>
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 14:28:33 -0600

I've been lurking, and perhaps this isn't a good first post. I'll try my best not to say things that will result in flaming, however. I've been waiting to see if anyone would address the documentation in Blizzard. The book included a lot of what I would call personal information, and without specific footnotes I couldn't tell if it was all documented or if some of it was surmise. The easiest example is the story of the young woman from Buffalo who froze to death in a snow bank. We are told quite a few details about her feelings during the trip, including that she was too nervous to read at a certain point. A number of Survivors' Meetings notes of some sort were cited, but she obviously didn't attend those. Did some other train passenger note those things about her at such a meeting? I don't know. That was a very different approach from, say, Marrin's Sitting Bull which had precise footnotes (whether you like the sources he noted or not).

Someone had also asked about whether Newbery members are still reading nonfiction. Having just completed a term on that committee, I can assure you I did my best to read nonfiction, although publishers sent only a fraction of even the best reviewed titles to committee members.

I hope all you subscribers are as civil as you have seemed and that I don't start a war.

Faith Brautigam Head of Children's and Youth Services Gail Borden Public Library Elgin, IL 60120
Received on Thu 08 Mar 2001 02:28:33 PM CST