Full disclosure #1: If you were holding the letter as I was, your thumb would cover the word "not," leading to a brief self-deluding moment.
Full disclosure #2: A thriller will never, ever win an Oregon book award.
Full disclosure #3: A thriller can be on the short list, as Learning to Fly was.
Full disclosure #4: In 2003, I sat next to the YA winner, Heather Fredericks. She made a little yelp when they called her name. ( Odd trivia fact: the woman who won for the best novel that year had been taught English by Heather's father - and they were both originally from Massachusetts. What are the chances of that?) (Full disclosure 4a: I can no longer spell Massachusetts without a spell-checker.)
Full disclosure #5: After I moved my thumb, disclosing the word "not" at the end of the line, this was still a disappointment, despite already knowing Full disclosure #2.
