28 Days: a Novel of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto by
Sixteen-year old Mira smuggles food into the Ghetto to keep herself and her family alive. When she discovers that the entire Ghetto is to be \"liquidated\"—killed or \"resettled\" to concentration camps—she desperately tries to find a way to save her family. She meets a group of young people who are planning the unthinkable: an uprising against the occupying forces. Mira joins the resistance fighters who, with minimal supplies and weapons, end up holding out for twenty-eight days, longer than anyone had thought possible.
The Light in Hidden Places by
Sixteen-year-old Catholic Stefania Podgórska has worked in the Diamant family's grocery store for four years, even falling in love with one of their sons, Izio; but when the Nazis came to Przemyśl, Poland, the Jewish Diamants are forced into the ghetto (and worse) but Izio's brother Max manages to escape, and Stefania embarks on a dangerous course--protecting thirteen Jews in her attic, caring for her younger sister, Helena, and keeping everything secret from the two Nazi officers who are living in her house.
Blackbird Girls by
On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person. Oksana must face the lies her parents told her all her life. Valentina must keep her grandmother's secret, one that could put all their lives in danger. And both of them discover something they've wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend's life? Would you risk your own?Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.
The Red Pencil by
After her tribal village is attacked by militants, Amira, a young Sudanese girl, must flee to safety at a refugee camp, where she finds hope and the chance to pursue an education in the form of a single red pencil and the friendship and encouragement of a wise elder
Between Shades of Gray by
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina, her mother, and brother are pulled from their home by Soviet guards and sent to Siberia, where her father is sentenced to death while she fights for her life, vowing to honor her family and the thousands like hers by burying her story in a jar on Lithuanian soil.
Run, Boy, Run by
This extraordinary account of one boy's survival of the Holocaust centers on eight-year-old Srulik. As conditions increasingly worsen in the Warsaw ghetto, Srulik escapes into the countryside where he spends the ensuing years hiding in the forest. His survival is totally dependent on the sympathies and generosity of the poor farmers in the surrounding area.
Never Fall Down by
When Arn's hometown in Cambodia is taken over by Khmer Rouge forces, Arn is forced into a labor camp and is separated from his family. As he struggles to survive, Arn is tasked with performing revolutionary songs and finally to become a soldier, always waiting for the moment when his people will be liberated.
Before We Were Free by
Anita de la Torre never questioned her freedom living in the Dominican Republic. But by her 12th birthday in 1960, most of her relatives have emigrated to the United States, her Tío Toni has disappeared without a trace, and the government’s secret police terrorize her remaining family because of their suspected opposition of el Trujillo’s dictatorship. Using the strength and courage of her family, Anita must overcome her fears and fly to freedom, leaving all that she once knew behind.From renowned author Julia Alvarez comes an unforgettable story about adolescence, perseverance, and one girl’s struggle to be free.
A Long Way Gone by
Ishmael Beah's memoir tells of his plight as a twelve-year-old soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s. Brought to a rehabilitation center sponsored by UNICEF at age fifteen, he becomes a spokesmen for the center's work until the war ultimately forces him to flee to the United States two years later.
