The fast-paced story captures the desperation some families experienced when the Berlin Wall was erected. As the protagonist and her brother face critical decisions, readers will explore their own thinking and possible choices given the story's extraordinary circumstances. The result is a reading-based thrill ride.

The distinct setting (1935 Florida Keys) and the rising suspense that parallels the hurricane’s approach generate interesting reading.

Set in Galilee in the time of Jesus, this story tells of a young Jewish rebel who is won over to the gentle teachings of Jesus. A Newbery Medal Book.

This book should win an award for its marriage of creative design, storytelling, and journalism. The first of a planned trilogy, this "docu-novel" capitalizes on Wiles' ability to evoke empathy for her characters while expertly weaving together a time-period collage of images and headlines that set a marked tone and mood for the storyline. Political events impact family and community, and striking ...

It's 1962, and it seems everyone is living in fear. Eleven-year-old Franny Chapman lives with her family in Washington, D.C., during the days surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis. Amidst the pervasive threat of nuclear war, Franny must face the tension between herself and her younger brother, figure out where she fits in with her family, and look beyond outward appearances.

While the story is based on the Pinkerton National Detective Agency's beginnings and the notable detective work of its first female detective, Kate Warne, the pages dedicated to the restoration of family through testing fortifies this tale's telling. Hannigan weaves parallel stories -- of Underground Railroad workers and undercover detective agents whose survival depends on wits, disguise, truth-s ...

In 119 A.D., the Ninth Roman Legion marches north into the wilds of Britain--and disappears without a trace. Fifteen years later, Marcus Flavius Aquila, the son of the unit's commander, embarks upon a quest to recover the lost eagle standard of the Ninth.

Year after year, Eli watches the solemn lighting of seven candles at his family's celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. On such a happy occasion, his parents and grandparents always seem sad, and Eli can't understand why.Then one year Eli travels to Eastern Europe to learn more about his family history. There, he learns how the candles represent his family's connection to the Holocaus ...

Desperate tale of a family’s survival during the winter of 1944, a time the Dutch call Hongerwinter. Papa and older sister, Els, are away as resistance fighters, and Mamma has died. Alone, thirteen-year-old Dirk must safely transport himself and little sister Anna across NAZI-held countryside to rejoin their relatives. They meet many people, but they never know who is friend or who is foe.

Little Charlie is but a 12-year-old sharecropper’s son. When his father dies, Charlie is bribed to join a cruel slave catcher on a mission to Dee-troit for two runaways. The journey is bitter, and the Cap’n he accompanies is evil, lying to everyone along the way. Charlie desperately needs the money but does not trust the Cap’n. On his journey Charlie learns of the brutal punishments for slav ...

Threatened by an unstoppable tide of invaders, the last of the Roman Auxiliaries are setting sail to leave Britain forever. But Aquila, a young legionnaire, chooses to stay behind, in order to join the fight to save his native land.

Bell Kirby is an expert at systems, whether he’s designing the world’s most elaborate habitat for his pet chinchilla, re-creating Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest inventions in his garage, or avoiding Parker Hellickson, the most diabolical bully Village Green Elementary has ever seen. Since third grade, Parker has tormented Bell, who’s spent two long years devising a finely tuned system that k ...

A poem cycle that reads as a novel, this Newbery Medal winner tells the story of Billie Jo, a girl who struggles to help her family survive the dust bowl years of the Depression.

Based on history, this is a great story of how society's perspective can be completely wrong when it comes to assessing an individual's potential. Inspiring!

In this powerful, Newbery Medal-winning classic, a 13-year-old boy is kidnapped and brought aboard a slave ship, where he is forced to play music that will entice the slaves to exercise. Illustrations.

On August 6 each year the people of Hiroshima, Japan, set paper lanterns afloat in the river as a remembrance to those killed by the bomb dropped there in 1945. Three school children, Kozo, Shun, and Nozomi are budding artists challenged by their teachers to create a display the children choose to call Hiroshima: Then and Now for their families and classmates. Over the summer they ask friends and ...

When Sugar, living as an orphaned child cared for by fellow plantation workers, decides to befriend the Plantation owner's son, she is rebuked by her "family." When Chinese immigrants arrive to share the workers' responsibility, tension escalates until Sugar's determination deconstructs barriers. Just as healing begins, a dark reminder of selfish unforgiveness rears its ugly head. This time, it ta ...