Resilience

A Child Called “It”

Pelzer writes about his abusive mother who singles him out among his siblings for repeated emotional and physical punishment.

A Single Shard

Tree-ear is an orphan who lives under a bridge. He wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and dreams of making a pot of his own someday.

All Quiet On The Western Front

This novel depicts the experiences of a group of young German soldiers fighting and suffering during the last days of World War I.

Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl

Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio

This story is about a Mexican-American family in East L.A. where random acts of generosity and goodwill improves the lives of the community.

Blue Gold

The lives of three teen girls are affected by coltan or "blue gold" which is a rare mineral used in making cell phones and computers.

Boy on the Wooden Box

Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list, “brings to readers a story of bravery and the fight for a chance to live”.

Bud, Not Buddy

Bud Caldwell is an orphan on the run during the Great Depression.  One dilemma after another uncovers a tough character who perseveres and triumphs in his adventure.

Call of the Wild/White Fang

The story opens at a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley of California when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska.

Children of the River

At thirteen, Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army, leaving her parents, two siblings and the boy she has loved since childhood behind.

Crossing the Wire

Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores heads north from Mexico so he can find work and send money home to his family.

Fallen Angels

Active duty in Vietnam is seen through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old African American private. He and his new buddies experience bonding, battles, grave wounds, and the brutal fact that not all will return home.

Framed in Fire

Peter Larson has an increasingly hostile relationship with his verbally abusive stepfather, Buck, and some scuffles at school, but is basically a good kid.

Hatchet

After a plane crash, thirteen-year-old Brian survives 54 days in the wilderness, initially with only the aid of a hatchet given to him by his mother.

Holes

Stanley Yelnats is sent to a correctional boot camp for a crime he did not commit.

I Am The Cheese

Imagine discovering that your whole life has been a fiction, your identity altered, and a new family history created.

Iqbal

When young Iqbal is sold into slavery at a carpet factory, his arrival changes everything for the other overworked and abused children there. It is Iqbal who explains to them that despite their master's promises, he plans on keeping them as his slaves indefinitely.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

This novel tells the tale of Karana, an Indian girl living on an island off the coast of California.  As her tribe evacuates, she suddenly jumps off the ship when she realizes that her brother has been left behind. 

Journey of the Sparrows

This moving story is about the secret lives of immigrants struggling to find work and are fearful of arrest and deportation.

Maniac Magee

Maniac is an "on-his-own" kid searching for a place that he can call home. When he sees no difference between the people of the East Side and the West Side, others begin to realize that Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee is truly the "stuff" from which legends are made.

Mud City

Parvana’s best friend, Shauzia, has escaped the misery of her life in Kabul, only to end up in a refugee camp in Pakistan.

My Brother Sam is Dead

The Meeker family is torn apart during the American Revolutionary War when one son joins the rebel forces and the rest of the family try to remain neutral in a divided town.

Nectar in a Sieve

This is a story of a simple peasant woman in a primitive village in India. Her entire life becomes a gallant, persistent battle to care for those she loves.

Out of the Dust

A tribute to hope and inner strength, fourteen-year-old Billie Jo is dealing with unspeakable loss during the Great Depression.

Parrot in the Oven

Manny, fourteen years old, is confronted with an alcoholic father, friends involved in gangs, and a rough neighborhood. Manny struggles to make the right choices and to somehow belong.

Parvana's Journey

After her father's death, 13-year-old Parvana, disguised as a boy, wanders alone through the war-torn Afghanistan looking for her mother and siblings who had disappeared in the tumult of the Taliban takeover of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Shadow Spinner

In this story, Jimmy learns about his father and about himself, finding out that while things can’t always be fixed, sometimes they can be understood, and maybe even forgiven.

The Book Thief

Liesel is a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding.

The Cay

In 1942 an elderly black man and a young white boy are victims of a shipwreck and are stranded on a Caribbean island.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–time

Fifteen-year-old Christopher is gifted with a superbly logical brain, however, everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning.

The Joy Luck Club

This California author depicts the contrasting worldviews of women born in China who immigrated to the United States and their American-born daughters.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The adventurous journey of four English children is traced as they discover the magical land of Narnia behind an old wardrobe.

The Mighty Miss Malone

Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But it's 1936 and the Great Depression has hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

This story describes an African-American woman's search for a fulfilling relationship through two loveless marriages.

Tunes for Bears to Dance To

After his brother’s death, Henry moves with his parents to a new town, where he meets and befriends Mr. Levine, an elderly survivor of the Holocaust who spends his days craving a replica of his childhood village.

Under the Blood Red Sun

This novel depicts 1941 Hawaii through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old Japanese American boy, Tomi Nakaji, as he struggles with the racism, violence, and hardship that arise when his father and grandfather are wrongfully arrested after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Wonder

Starting 5th grade at a new school, August Pullman wants to be treated as an ordinary kid. However, his new classmates can't get past his facial difference.