Boyne, John.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

     Set in Hitler’s Germany, Bruno’s father has received a promotion and the family moves to a new house far away from friends and fun.  Bruno meets a boy who wears “striped pajamas” like the others in his strange new community and consequences follow as the two young boys develop a friendship.

Bunce, Elizabeth. A Curse as Dark as Gold

This reworking of the "Rumplestiltskin" story includes curses, ghosts and witchcraft. As Charlotte struggles to keep the family's wool mill running, a man capable of spinning straw into gold appears on the scene, offering to help.  But what price will Charlotte pay?

Gardener, Sally.  The Red Necklace: A Story of the French Revolution

     In the late eighteenth-century, Sido, the 12-year-old daughter of a marquis, and Yann, a 14-year-old Gypsy orphan, face a common enemy at the start of the French Revolution.

Glatstein, Jacob.  Emil and Karl

This tale is set in Vienna just before the outbreak of World War Two and tells the gripping story of friendship between two recently orphaned ten-year-old boys struggling to survive.

Klages, Ellen.  The Green Glass Sea

     Quirky, brainy Dewey Kerrigan is overjoyed to travel to Los Alamos in 1943 to be reunited with her mathematician father, who’s been assigned a very special kind of war work.

Larson, Kirby.  Hattie Big Sky

     Hattie Brooks sets out to claim a homestead in Montana that was left to her by an uncle she never met.  She has little idea what’s in store for her.  She comes to love the land, the people and the life she will fight to preserve.

Lester, Julius.  Day of Tears

Lester portrays the experiences of slaves, slave-owners, and abolitionists, from the time of the largest slave auction in United States history in 1859 until slavery was outlawed in this country. 

Myers, Walter Dean.  Fallen Angels

After enlisting to go to Viet Nam, Richie finds that war is less glorious and more horrific than he ever realized that it could be.

Napoli, Donna Jo.  Sirena

In the time of the Trojan War, mermaid Sirena wants no part of the fate that dictates that she must lure Greek sailors onto the rocks to die, especially after she falls in love with one of them.

Selznick, Brian.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret: a Novel in Words and Pictures

     Illustrations and text are interwoven to create a unique style, resembling flip book, graphic novel and film to tell this lively story of 12-year-old orphan Hugo who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the early 20^th century.

Sharenow, Robert.  My Mother the Cheerleader

     In this coming of age story set in New Orleans in 1960, 13-year-old Louise’s mother protests desegregation by home schooling her while Ruby Bridges attends her school. 

Sheth, Kashmira. Keeping Corner

     In India in the 1940s, thirteen-year-old Leela's happy world comes crashing down when her husband since age nine, whom she barely knows, dies, leaving her a widow whose only hope of happiness could come from Mahatma Ghandi's social and political reforms.

Yang, Gene Luen.  American Born Chinese (graphic novel)

Three stories intertwine: Jin tries to fit in at school despite his Taiwanese background, the legendary Monkey King longs to transcend his monkey nature and become a god, and a white sitcom character is humiliated by his absurdly stereotyped visiting Chinese cousin.

Zuzak, Marcus. The Book Thief

     At 9 years old, Liesel Meminger is taken from her mother to live with a foster family in Molching, Germany, during Hitler’s rise to power.  A most unusual narrator, Death, recounts tales about Liesel’s life and the lives of the people she comes to love in her neighborhood.