Jane

On the first page, Catherine Rozier admits that she has killed Nic, a "friend" at one time. Brilliant, yet socially awkward, "Cathy" tells her story from Guernsey Island, 1985, while studying her dad's 1965 records of the severe impact of the WWII German Occupation. The quest for truth obsesses both Cathy and her dad each reaching conclusions highly unpopular with others. High-spirited and crazy, Cathy's voice relays enduring extreme bullying, longs for acceptance and wants to confess her crime. One person's truth is another's lie, as this intriguing and quickly paced tale focuses upon a historically forgotten people and a devastated, lonely girl!

Frequently taunted and called "Donkeyface," Zulaikha is a young Afghan girl with a cleft palate The Taliban has forbidden girls to attend school, so Zulaikha secretly meets with Meena to learn to read. Hope is born, when American forces come to Zulaikha's village. Construction sites for new schools and public buildings pop up, and army doctors offer surgery to fix Zulaikha's face. Author Trent Reedy, inspired to write this story based on real experiences, served in Afghanistan from 2004-2005!

Illiterate and speaking only Yiddish, Raisa travels from her small polish village to New York city in search of her older sister, Hendra, and a new life. Raisa "adopts" a younger girl, Brina, whose mother dies on the rough voyage. Penniless in NYC, 1910, Raisa and Brina live with the Kamensky family, while Raisa works as a seamstress at the triangle Shirtwaist Factory and, surprising herself, falls in love with Gavriel Kamensky and learning to read. The Asch building (housing the triangle Shirtwaist Factory burns in March of 1911. 146 of the locked in workers die, and bereaved families lives are turned upside down. All are enraged by the "not guilty" verdict in the trail of the building owners. Months of searching for the missing Gavriel and Hendra nearly destroys Raisa's spirit, until a lucky break turns the tables toward realized dreams!

Abilene, dropped off by her father, Gideon, in the small, immigrant town of Manifest, Kansas, steps into a world of mystery. Two girls become friends and compatriots with Abilene, as the book flips between 1936 and 1918. In pursuit of a “spy,” the girls brush shoulders with the town's most eccentric residents, including Miss Sadie and her Divining Parlor. Abilene works off a debt to Miss Sadie and is the audience for her strange stories, which amazingly parallel the news clippings and objects which Abilene has found beneath the loose floorboards of her room at Shady's Tavern (and church!) Only really wanting to find out about her father's roots in this town, looking for him in every piece of evidence and detail, hoping he will return for her one day, Abilene uncovers a story which no one in Manifest has ever been able to tell! -Jane

Winner of the 2010 National Book Award! Struggling with basic situations, 5th grader, Caitlin has Asperger’s Syndrome. Her older brother, Devon, who was her close friend, has recently died in a horrific school shooting. Neither Caitlin nor her dad have a clue as to how to reach the CLOSURE everyone sees as important, until Devon’s unfinished Eagle Scott project diverts their grief. “To Kill a Mockingbird” was Caitlin and Devon’s favorite movie. Devon saw himself as Jem and Caitlin as Scout, but Devon became the Mockingbird, an innocent being who would harm no one. -Jane

What might have utterly destroyed Leo King's 8 year-old soul nearly did. Following years of psychiatric treatment, Leo finds himself expelled from one high school and entering Peninsula High for his senior year. Football bonds Leo with eight other fragmented lives, and he tells this story of Charleston, 1969, alternately with the 1989 events which cement the spirits of these successful, talented individuals. Pat Conroy reveals the key characters' stories in a natural unveiling of once unshared secrets. Master of characters, Conroy colorfully imprints the triumphs and tragedies of Leo, Molly, Chad, Sheba, Trevor, Niles, Starla, and Fraser. I will remember them forever from this book I never wanted to end!