In 1854 in Eastern Maryland twelve-year-old Ann is a slave, grateful that her family is still all together; but when their master, in need of money, decides to sell Ann and her younger brother, their parents decide to take the dangerous step of running away north to freedom--a journey filled with danger, especially since they are not sure how to find the first station on the Underground Railroad.

It is 1911, and fourteen-year-old Lucia (Lucy) Morelli dreams of going to college, but for the present she lives with her large Italian family in a crowded apartment in New York City, and works as a sewing machine operator in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory bringing home money because her father can no longer work--but this is March twenty-fifth, and Lucy will soon be fighting for her life as fire sweeps through the locked down factory trapping the...

In November 1938, young Ruth Block is a Jewish girl in Frankfurt Germany, trying to cope with the ever tightening noose of Nazi oppression; her father's stationery store has been shut down, and her school closed; then one night her family's apartment is broken into, and her father is dragged out, arrested, and taken to a concentration camp--and it becomes clear that if Ruth and her best friend Miriam are going to survive they must somehow get out...

Twelve-year-old Mary and her Cherokee family are forced out of their home in Georgia by U.S. soldiers in May 1838. From the beginning of the forced move, Mary and her family are separated from her father. Facing horrors such as internment, violence, disease, and harsh weather, Mary perseveres and helps keep her family and friends together until they can reach the new Cherokee nation in Indian Territory. Featuring nonfiction support material, a glossary,...

While vacationing in Thailand for the holidays, Tara and her mother are thrown into survival mode when a massive tsunami sweeps through Phuket. "When her mother announces a holiday vacation to Thailand, Tara isn't thrilled. She'd rather stay home with her friends, but Mom is determined they use the girls' trop to explore their Thai heritage. Tara is reluctant to travel so far from home, especially to a country she doesn't feel connected to. But then...

After helping prepare their London home for German bombing raids, young Hettie and her brothers are sent to safety in the countryside, where she strives to keep them connected to each other and their parents.

When the Twin Towers fall on September 11, 2001, blocks from her school, twelve-year-old Molly, unable to reach her dads or Gran, must find her seven-year-old sister, Adi, and get her safely home. Includes author's note, glossary, and discussion questions.

Twelve-year-old Lena is aware of racism, but she lives a comfortable life in the segregated but relatively wealthy Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma; but on May 31, 1921 racial tensions explode, and men from downtown Tulsa invade Greenwood, set on killing and destroying the district--and as the violence escalates Lena, her parents, and her older sister search desperately for a safe place to hide from the mob.

Twelve-year-old Millie's family is hesitant to leave the farm their family has owned for generations, but after Black Sunday they leave Oklahoma for California where they find a new kind of stuggle.