"Radley's parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.
Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley's plane lands in New Hampshire, she's been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren't there.
Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn't have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .
This is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal."
"From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America.
'America,' the girl repeated. 'What will you do there?'
I was silent for a little time.
'I will do everything there,' I answered.
Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh treatment of the Jews. Throughout her journey, Rifka carries with her a cherished volume of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. In it, she records her observations and experiences in the form of letters to Tovah, the beloved cousin she has left behind.
Strong-hearted and determined, Rifka must endure a great deal: humiliating examinations by doctors and soldiers, deadly typhus, separation from all she has ever known and loved, murderous storms at sea, detainment on Ellis Island—and is if this is not enough, the loss of her glorious golden hair.
Based on a true story from the author's family, Letters from Rifka presents a real-life heroine with an uncommon courage and unsinkable spirit."
"Nyle’s life with her grandmother on their Vermont sheep farm advances rhythmically through the seasons until the night of the accident at the Cookshire nuclear power plant. Without warning, Nyle’s modest world fills with protective masks, evacuations, contaminated food, disruptions, and mistrust. Things become even more complicated when Ezra Trent and his mother, refugees from the heart of the accident, take temporary shelter in the back bedroom of Nyle’s house. The back bedroom is the dying room: It took her mother when Nyle was six; it stole away her grandfather just two years ago. Now, Ezra is back there and Nyle doesn’t want to open her heart to him. Too many times she’s let people in, only to have them desert her. If she lets herself care for Ezra, she knows he’ll end up leaving her, too.
“The author’s understated approach heightens the emotional impact of her searching and memorable tale.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Hesse transcends the specific to illuminate universal questions of responsibility, care, and love. . . . Hesse portrays her characters’ anguish and their growing tenderness with such unwavering clarity and grace that she sustains the tension of her lyrical, understated narrative right to her stunning, beautifully wrought conclusion.” — Kirkus Reviews, Pointer Review"
"Now I didn't believe a broken-down old unicorn could make wishes come true . . . not for a minute. But what if it could?
Mags has a lot to wish for—a nice house with a mama who isn't tired out from work; a normal little sister; a brother who doesn't mooch for food; and, once in a while, she'd like some new clothes for school. When her sister Hannie finds a stuffed unicorn, Mags's wishes start to come true. She knows the unicorn can't really be magic, but she won't let anything ruin her newfound luck—even if it means telling her own sister to believe something that can't possibly be true."
"The Coast Guard is shocked when they rescue a child from the waters off Florida. Her long, wild hair and the barnacles attached to her skin initially lead them to think that they have discovered a mermaid. However, they are even more amazed to discover that this is a young girl that has been raised by dolphins after losing her family at sea. They name her Mila.
Eager to learn more about this child, as well as the marine environment she was raised in, scientists take her to Boston University to be studied. Here Mila learns about her human body and mind, including the joys of using her hands, the ability to communicate with words, and most of all, the gift of playing music. But soon Mila learns that there is a darker side to humans, a manipulative nature that often frustrates her. She is torn between her new life with these confusing creatures and her longing to return to her uncomplicated dolphin family.
'As moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve, this book poignantly explores what it means to be human.'- Publishers Weekly, starred review"
"On that day in 1903, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changed irrevocably when his parents—Russian immigrants—created the first teddy bear. No longer did the Michtom's gather family and friends around the kitchen table to talk. No longer was Joseph at leisure to play stickball with the guys. No longer were Joseph and his book-loving sister free from watching their pesky two-year-old brother. Now—when it was summer vacation and more than anything Joseph wanted to experience the thrill, the grandeur, the electricity of Coney Island—Joseph worked. And complained. And fell in and out of love. And argued. And hoped that everything would go back to how it used to be. All the while no one let him forget that he was lucky.
Because—'There are other children. The unwanted, the forgotten, the lost ones. They gather under the bridge each night to sit, to talk, to sleep. They know, they know, they know that to everyone beyond the bridge they are invisible. . . .' These are the children who live under the bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge.
Newbery medalist Karen Hesse masterfully entwines Joseph's coming-of-age tale (and that of his big, colorful family) with the heartbreaking stories of the children under the bridge. Riveting historical fiction that is by turns accessible and ornate, very real but with a touch of magical realism. Hesse's extraordinary new novel is an insightful reminder that a life—fragile and precious—can change in a moment.
Brooklyn Bridge is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year."
"Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive: her father for causing the accident that killed her mother; her mother for leaving when Billie Jo needed her most; and herself for being the cause of her own sorrow. Daddy's too wrung out to help her, and there's no one else to care. So at fourteen, Billie Jo must heal herself - even if it means tearing up her roots and leaving behind everything she's ever known."
"Vera, a young Aleut girl who lives with an elderly couple on a larger island so that she can attend school, returns home for the summer of 1942 to visit her mother and friends. But when the Japanese launch an air attack on the Aleutian Islands, the U.S. government reacts by "evacuating" most of the Aleut population. Vera and her village are forced to leave their small island of Kashega and spend the rest of the war in internment camps, facing sickness, suffer, and death."
"In 1767, 11-year-old Nicholas Young stowed away on Captain James Cook's "Endeavour." Cook's three-year mission was secret: he was charged by the British Navy to search for a lost continent, believed to be located between the southern tip of South America and New Zealand. Young's journal charts the voyage and with every port of call a new adventure awaits. This is the story of a great voyage of discovery seen through the eyes of a boy who was actually there."
"Leanora Sutter, Esther Hirsh, Merlin Van Tornhout and Johnny Reeves are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year old Esther, who is Jewish."
