The Blossom and the Firefly

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR: Sherri L. Smith's Flygirl won the California Book Awards Gold Medal and was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Here she returns to her favorite subject: WWII pilots.UNIQUE HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW NOT YET EXPLORED IN YA LITERATURE: WWII stories are perennially popular, and like Ruta Sepetys's Ashes in the Snow and Salt to the Sea, Smith's latest explores a lesser-known subject from the time period.FASCINATING HISTORY BEHIND THE STORY: Hana is part of the Nadeshiko Tai, a unit of schoolgirls charged with tending to the suicide pilots before their missions: mending and washing their clothes, serving their meals, making their beds-and, every few days, lining the runway, cherry blossoms in their arms, to wave goodbye.GENDER-NEUTRAL STORYTELLING: The story unfolds between dual points of view-a boy and a girl-and will appeal to a wide audience.EXCITING ACTION: Readers will follow Taro through the military academy and flight school and on the thrilling journey of learning to fly.SWOON-WORTHY-YET CHASTE-ROMANCE: Readers will root for-and cry for-Taro and Hana, whose tragic story is made all the more dramatic by almost certain death.BACK MATTER: Includes an author's note about the real history behind the story and Smith's extensive research, a selected bibliography, and a glossary.INCLUDES A TEASER FOR FLYGIRL BY SHERRI L. SMITH