Unsurprisingly, stories featuring the circumstances of child or teenage protagonists during World War II tend to appear prominently in the category of young adult literature, with classics like Lois Lowry's Number the Stars existing as staples of historical fiction in schools and libraries all over. But as is the case with Jennifer Rosner's Once We Were Home, which follows grown-up characters reckoning with how they were displaced away from their Jewish families during the Holocaust, some books written for adults also center the specific viewpoints of those who experienced the war as children. Below are just a few.

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What activities does your book club enjoy, aside from reading and discussing books? While many groups stick to these basics, some who have the time and inclination take things a little further, whether that means extending their love for books to food, games and travel, or simply taking pleasure in being together in different settings. In our annual book club survey, we asked people about what their clubs like to do. Answers covered a variety of pastimes both inside and outside of regular book club meetings, book-related and otherwise.

Looking for ideas or inspiration to enhance your own group's time together? Just curious about what other book clubs do? Check out our summary of the results below.

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What a great group of librarians at last week's "Building Community Through Book Clubs" webinar hosted by Niche Academy! Almost 700 took part in the live session and the chat room was buzzing!

You can view the whole webinar for free, and a certificate of attendance is available if you want one.

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The cover of the young adult fantasy novel Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong reliably hints at the promise and magic of the story that lies within while also seeking to differentiate itself in a saturated market. Not only is the artwork attractively rendered, but it shows the emotion and supernatural abilities of the character Matilde with symbolism attached to the particular bird associated with her in the novel: the goldfinch. This portrayal of Matilde brings the reader's attention to her beauty and lips — the main characters' kisses are the means by which they convey their magic to others. At the same time, her eyes are drawn in a way that evokes the sadness and yearning she feels as she comes of age and fights to establish her own power against years of entrenched oppression. This imagery and the cover as a whole reflect many current trends in young adult fantasy.

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At the start of each year, we ask BookBrowse subscribers to look back on the previous year and tell us which books they most enjoyed discussing with their book group. The 2022 Top 10 includes some favorites from previous years and some new arrivals!

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publisher W.W. Norton & Company, which was started by married couple William Warder Norton ("Warder") and Mary Dows Herter Norton ("Polly") in 1923, as the People's Institute Publishing Company. The Nortons believed in the importance of education and thought that leaders of their fields should "bring to the public the knowledge of our time."

Early on, W.W. Norton acquired work by Bertrand Russell, Rainer Maria Rilke and Sigmund Freud, among others. It would continue to be known for publishing influential and groundbreaking material, and would eventually become famous for The Norton Anthology of English Literature, along with subsequent anthologies. After Warder's death, Polly entrusted the company to its employees, asking in exchange for a commitment to keep W.W. Norton independent. It remains independent and employee-owned to this day, which creates a culture of collaboration and shared purpose.

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