Problems in Society

When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory's courage and ingenuity help her family and neighbors survive.
176 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  19th Century, Famine, Ireland

In ancient Persia, Mitra and her little brother, Babak, scratch out a living by begging and stealing food, but Mitra knows they are exiled royals if they could only rejoin the rest of their family. Then they discover that Babak has a strange power, he can dream other people's dreams. They use this gift to gain money until they attract the attention of the wrong person.
304 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Homelessness, Middle East

Ted loves to read mysteries, but when he sees a face in the window of the abandoned Anderson house, he becomes involved in a real-life mystery.
176 pages, Grades 3-5
related subjects:  Detectives, Homelessness

Sequel to Parvana's Journey. Fourteen-year-old Shauzia dreams of seeing the ocean and eventually making a new life in France, but it is hard to reconcile that dream with the terrible conditions of the Afghan refugee camp where she lives.
176 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Homelessness, Middle East, Refugees

A tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young orphan in Nazi-occupied Warsaw.
224 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Jewish Holocaust, Survival, World War II, Homelessness

Sequel to The Breadwinner. Kabul, Afghanistan is in ruins. Parvana, separated from the rest of her family, sets out alone to find them. She meets other victims of war: an infant boy in a bombed-out village, a nine-year-old girl who thinks she has magic powers over landmines, and a boy with one leg. The strength of their bond helps them to survive the most desperate conditions.
176 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Homelessness, Middle East, Refugees

Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
192 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Korea, Pottery, Homelessness

In 14th Century England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world.
128 pages, Grade 4-7
related subjects:  14th-15th Century, Homelessness

Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
64 pages, Grades 4 and up
related subjects:  Japan, Nuclear Weapons, World War II

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. Told through the memories of survivors, this book tells what happened on that day.
160 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Japan, Nuclear Weapons, World War II

Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.
80 pages, Grades 3-6
related subjects:  Japan, Nuclear Weapons

Smart, practical, and fun things you can do to make your home, school, neighborhood, and planet more environmentally friendly.
112 pages, Grades 4-6
related subjects:  Pollution

Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor, which has made the local beach into toilet. He can¹t prove it though, so he decides to sink the boat. But the boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah¹s dad is stuck in jail. Now Noah is determined to prove that the Coral Queen is dumping illegally.
272 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  Fathers, Pollution

In the months leading up to the August 1991 coup attempt that resulted in the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, a young dancer with the Kirov Ballet struggles to decide whether to defect while on an upcoming trip to Paris.
224 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  Russia, Poverty, Dancing

The 1930s in America will be remembered for twin disasters-the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. This book documents this tumultuous period, beginning with the 1929 stock market crash and continuing with the severe drought in the Midwest, chronicling the everyday struggle for survival by those who lost everything, as well as the mass exodus westward to California on Route 66.
96 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Great Depression, Poverty, Drought

When beggar girl, Animah appeals to the princess for help, the black-hearted wife of Aladdin throws an old lamp at her head. The lamp holds a jinni who informs Aminah that she can make three wishes after each full moon. With the jinni's magic, Aminah regains security and comfort. But the power-hungry princess hunts down Aminah and the lamp.
272 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Genies (or Djinn), Middle East, Poverty

In 1968, eleven-year-old Jaynell's life in Texas is enlivened when her eccentric Grandpap comes to live with her family.
176 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  Grandparents, Poverty

Cassie and her brothers do not understand the racism and discrimination they face as a black family living in Mississippi in the 1930s.
288 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Great Depression, Poverty, Racism

Twelve-year-old Matthew moves to Montreal in the summer of 1946, and gets a job at the baseball stadium to watch Jackie Robinson break into the major league.
221 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Racism, Baseball

Many baseball players claim that Satchel Paige was the fastest pitcher in the history of the game. Stosh and his coach are on a mission to find out. With radar gun in tow, they travel back to 1942 and watch Satch pitch to power hitter Josh Gibson in the Negro League World Series.
192 pages, Grades 4-6
related subjects:  Baseball, Racism

As a Navajo boy at American school, Ned Begay was punished for speaking Navajo, but when war broke out with Japan, the navajo language formed an unbreakbale code that saved many American lives.
240 pages, Grades 6 and up
related subjects:  World War II, Racism

In Mississippi in 1969, sixteen-year-old Ruba, trained by her Haitian grandmother in both voodoo and Amazonian war tactics, uses her skills to fight against racism and the African witch Zashar, coming ashore in the form of Hurricane Camille.
208 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Civil Rights Movement, Racism, Hurricanes

While working on a project, Julia, a Korean-American, and her friend Patrick learn not just about silkworms, but about tolerance, prejudice, friendship, and patience.
240 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Korea, Racism

In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home in Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright, a girl from a from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers want to change to a tourist spot.
224 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Best Friends, Racism

Free-verse poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.
272 pages, Grades 4-8
related subjects:  Racism

With his ability to travel through time by using baseball cards, Joe goes back to 1947 to meet Jackie Robinson, the man who broke baseball's color barrier.
160 pages, Grades 4-6
related subjects:  Baseball, Racism

Sequel to Mountain Light. When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a fifteen-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867.
352 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  China, 19th Century, Wild West Pioneers, Racism

Cassie and her brothers do not understand the racism and discrimination they face as a black family living in Mississippi in the 1930s.
288 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Great Depression, Poverty, Racism

Moon Shadow was eight when he sailed from China to join his father Windrider in America. Windrider lived in San Francisco's Chinatown and worked in a laundry. With Moon Shadow's help, Windrider was willing to endure the mockery of the other Chinese, the poverty, and the longing for his wife and his own country in order to make his dream come true.
256 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  China, Racism

This wordless graphic novel powerfully captures the immigrant experience.
128 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  Refugees

Thirteen-year-old Azad, a Kurdish boy living in Iran, tries desperately to cling to the life he has known, but the political situation in Iran during the war with Iraq, and Saddam Hussein's persecution of the Kurds forces his family to flee.
152 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Refugees, Middle East

During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmah, a young refugee from Afghanaistan, and Nustrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her husband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Pakistan.
288 pages, Grades 6 and up
related subjects:  Middle East, Refugees

As fighting closes in on the village where Tiger's parents are aid workers, the three of them and native guide set out on a difficult journey to safety.
192 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Survival, Refugees, Drought

This book documents the true story of Long, a Vietnam War orphan, his struggle to survive in war-torn Vietnam, his dramatic escape to America as part of "Operation Babylift" during the last chaotic days before the fall of Saigon, and his life in the United States as "Matt," part of a loving Ohio family.
128 pages, Grades 6 and up
related subjects:  Vietnam, Refugees

Sequel to Parvana's Journey. Fourteen-year-old Shauzia dreams of seeing the ocean and eventually making a new life in France, but it is hard to reconcile that dream with the terrible conditions of the Afghan refugee camp where she lives.
176 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Homelessness, Middle East, Refugees

Sequel to The Breadwinner. Kabul, Afghanistan is in ruins. Parvana, separated from the rest of her family, sets out alone to find them. She meets other victims of war: an infant boy in a bombed-out village, a nine-year-old girl who thinks she has magic powers over landmines, and a boy with one leg. The strength of their bond helps them to survive the most desperate conditions.
176 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  Homelessness, Middle East, Refugees

Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government.
144 pages, Grades 4 and up
related subjects:  Vietnam, Refugees

Her father's involvement with the Kurdish resistance movement in Iraq forces thirteen-year-old Tara to flee with her family over the border into Iran, where they face an unknown future.
288 pages, Grades 7 and up
related subjects:  Refugees, Middle East

Desta and the other members of her Falasha family, Jews suffering from discrimination in Ethiopia, finally flee the country and attempt the dangerous journey to Israel.
192 pages, Grades 6 and up
related subjects:  Middle East, Refugees

In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the South, uses his wits to try to bring justice to the lying preacher who stole money that was saved to buy a family's freedom.
288 pages, Grades 4-7
related subjects:  19th Century, Funny, Slavery

On the day that her uncle takes her to be sold to the highest bidder, eleven-year-old Lu Si-Yan learns what it really means to be born a girl in her culture. Torn from her family, she is taken to the big city where she will become a servant to a wealthy family, and someday marry their son. But Lu Si-Yan is determined to return to her mother and brother, so she embarks on a journey to escape and find her way home.
224 pages, Grades 5 and up
related subjects:  China, Slavery

When Mitty finds a smallpox scab in an envelope, he fears he may have contracted the disease, but when a terrorist group discovers his situation, they kidnap him to use the disease against innocent people.
208 pages, Grades 6 and up
related subjects:  Disease Epidemics, Terrorism

When terrorist violence in London tears an American family apart, sixteen-year-old Laura becomes obsessed with finding her brother's killer.
208 pages, Grades 5-7
related subjects:  Terrorism