Pownal, Vermont. At 12, Grace and her best friend Arthur must leave school and go to work as a “doffers” on their mothers’ looms in the mill. Grace’s mother is the best worker, fast and powerful, and Grace desperately wants to help her. But she’s left handed and doffing is a right-handed job. Grace’s every mistake costs her mother, and the family. She only feels capable on Sundays, when she and Arthur receive special lessons from their teacher. Together they write a secret letter to the Child Labor Board about underage children working in Pownal. A few weeks later a man with a camera shows up. It is the famous reformer Lewis Hine, undercover, collecting evidence for the Child Labor Board. Grace’s brief acquaintance with Hine and the photos he takes of her are a gift that changes her sense of herself, her future, and her family’s future.

    Long-haired hippies, racial tension, and the divisive Viet Nam war leave Nicky longing for the good old days. Nicky's complaints and remembrances revolve around the five things that ruined his childhood: the nosebleed he received from President Kennedy; the Great Northeast Blackout (which he thought he caused); the end of neighborhood stickball games; the departure to Viet Nam of his beloved big brother, Roy; and Roy's hippie girlfriend, Margalo. With Roy overseas for a year, Nicky is left behind with two distracted, worried parents. And for him, enough is enough. He decides to do something about the endless downward spiral of events. He decides to lead a crusade to revive neighborhood stickball, which he is sure will spark a return to all that was innocent and beautiful about the good old days. In the course of his year-long quest, Nicky confronts an ancient fortune-teller from the second floor; Willie Mays; his father's deep, dark secret from World War II; neighborhood bullies; and a huge romantic crush on Margalo. Most important is his encounter with Lester Allnuts, a new kid in the building who gives Nicky a fresh outlook on Eggplant Alley, and eventually on life in general. Lester is a country boy with a deep secret, and that secret makes him as eager as Nicky to revive stickball and rejuvenate Eggplant Alley. Working together toward the same goal - for entirely different reasons --- the boys develop a strong friendship. Before the year without Roy is over, Nicky learns Lester's secret --- and realizes the destructiveness of prejudice and fear, and the value of empathy and forgiveness. And he ultimately learns there is something far richer than the good old days: real hope for a better future. D.M.Cataneo is a native New Yorker and a magna cum laude graduate of Boston University's School of Public Communication who worked for 22 years for the Boston Globe and Boston Herald as a reporter, columnist, and editor. He is the author of six non-fiction books. He is currently teaching at the University of New Hampshire and lives in Durham, NH, with his family.

    That is the summer they find an unexploded bomb buried in the hill where they ride their bikes. Faced with the choice of whether or not to reveal their discovery, the boys take a blood oath that will change their lives forever. Set against a crisply realized backdrop of post-war Britain, this explosive story of boyhood camaraderie follows the four friends as they confront the issues that have set their country, their community, and their lives ablaze.

    It is the 1920’s, Prohibition is in full swing, and almost everyone in the shore community is involved. Suddenly, the boys find themselves involved as well: Didn’t the dead man have something on him, and didn’t they take it? It isn’t long before Ruben is actually on the legendary Black Duck itself, caught in a war between two of the most ferocious prohibition gangs. Filled with resounding mystery and suspense by Newbery Honor winner Janet Taylor Lisle, Black Duck is original, gripping historical fiction.

     When a famous ex-general's daughter is kidnapped, Detective Simms is assigned with bringing her home. Forged in the Mexican War, this man of steel knows how to survive and how to kill. But he will need all of his skill and guile to survive this unforgiving land, and bring the general's daughter home. And then, it gets personal...

    Saul is sending Josiah as far away as he can and hopes never to see him again. Josiah's wife is ill and knows she can never return to England.What will these people make of their new lives? As it often does, migration causes other people to follow the group out to the Peel Region of Western Australia, bringing new complications in their lives. Some will die, some will succeed, and others will move on from Western Australia, either back to England or across to Victoria. For Liza and Benedict, the central characters, there will be cruel disappointments before they can win their way through to a happier life.

    While it is common practice for British children in India to be packed off to boarding school at the age of 6, Rosalind is unusual because she lives and is schooled in India because her mother insists. The heart of this penetrating story is Rosalind's coming of age set against the hardship of life for the Indian people, Rosalind's daily life in India, the rise of Ghandi and Rosalind's coming to make her own decisions and become her own person.

    And if you're clumsy and your older brothers and sisters all call you "Awkward Anna" as well, it's even worse. In award-winning writer Jean Little's poignant novel, From Anna, readers are sure to be touched by Anna Soldens's struggles with her new home in Canada, the unfamiliar language of English, and the realization that, in fact, there is a reason for her being such an awkward child. When it's discovered that Anna needs glasses and that her clumsiness is actually the result of being visually impaired, Anna's life changes completely. Suddenly her brothers and sisters see Anna in a new light and try to make amends for being unkind. From Anna is one of Jean Little's most popular novels, and it's little wonder. Readers will also want to check out the sequel, Listen for the Singing. (Ages 10 to 14) --Jeffrey Canton

    Susanna -- A young schoolteacher with a will as fierce as her snapping green eyes. The Civil War had stolen everything but her spitfire spirit. Now she vowed to find a new life in an untamed land...Ase -- The most powerful man in Mason-Dixon. With looks and charm to match his money, he could have any woman in Kansas. But the one he wanted wouldn't say yes... Matt -- A handsome doctor as bitter as he was mysterious. His crippled hand would not let him practice medicine -- and a secret agony would him love... No Roof But Heaven -- Their lives were bound together by fortune and friendship. They would suffer and survive the heartaches of a harsh land -- and learn to love with hearts made bold by the taste of frontier freedom....

    Her story is dramatically and cleverly linked with the present as her heirs search for her will. The will can only be found through a trail of literary clues from classic children's books.

    Here she steps out of the shadows to tell her story: from fleeing the terrors of the Reformation to becoming a trusted spy for Queen Anne, to her own dangerous tumble in the king’s bed. In the political maze of the Tudor court, she can trust only one other person: a seemingly timid country girl named Jane Seymour, whose demure exterior masks a deeper ambition. But when it becomes clear that Jane is playing her own ruthless game to win the king’s affection – and Anne’s crown – will the web of betrayal be severed by the axe?

    As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her sharp intelligence and the courage she didn't know she had to survive the war that threatens to destroy her family, her Virginia home, and the only life she has ever known. A timeless heroine of inspiring drive and bravery, India holds on to her dream of forging a career in science, unheard-of for a woman, in the face of battle, starvation, and tragic loss. Rarely has the Southern perspective on the war been told so even-handedly for young adults as in this meticulously researched, poignant, and riveting novel.

    With degrees in both Medicine and Law, at the age of seventeen, Clint still felt empty and dissatisfied. He struck up a bargain with his father, to be allowed four years to go West and see the lands, experience life, then return to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor in the family practice. When he boarded the train west with fifty thousand dollars set up in a bank account, Clint had no way of knowing just how much his life would turn in a completely different way.

    Meet the Air Raid Girls: three young women keen to do their bit during the Yorkshire blitz.Connie's life has taken an unexpected turn since her husband died - she's living at home and working in the family bakery - but night shifts as an ARP Warden give her a firm sense of purpose.Her younger sister Lizzie is eager to play her part too, perhaps as an ambulance driver. Her fiance refuses to support her decision... but does he really know what's best for her?Twenty-year-old Pamela has led a sheltered life, but when her family's home is destroyed in a raid she must learn to stand on her own two feet - helped by new friends.As bombs fall and fires rage, the young women face the destruction of everything they've ever known. Can their fighting spirit prevail? And what of their families and the men they love?A thrilling and heartwarming new story of friendship, love and duty in wartime by the author of The Spitfire Girls, for fans of Elaine Everest and Rosie Hendry.