Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz

In this novel, two siblings, Rew and Annie are being raised by Gran.  Gran has told them about their parents.  Annie and Rew, living in the rural part of their town, are growing up during the Iran Hostage Crisis when a prison break occurs on the other side of their Zebra Forest.  A prisoner shows up at their house and keeps them hostage.  They are not expecting to hear the secrets he is spilling.  Andrew Snow is an unexpected, but not unwelcome guest.  The characters in this novel are not flat, but grow with the plot.

White Zone by Carolyn Marsden

White Zone by Carolyn Marsden

Two cousins, Nouri and Talib, are tangled in the religious strife in Iraq in 2008 between the Sunnis and the Shiites.  The cousins are torn in this war, dealing with normal teen issues of bullying and fitting in. When one of the boys has to move away, the cousins look toward an Iraq where they were both were equal and friends. The story, based on true events, relays the strength of family and the bonds of loyalty to your roots. Marsden tells the story from each boys' perspective, allowing readers inside the character to know how each one feels.

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples

After her brother and father are taken by the Taliban to fight in a war and her baby brother and mother are killed in an air raid, Najmah, a young Afghan girl is on her own. An American woman, Nusrat, who has given up her successful life in Boston to marry her Pakistani husband, teaches refugee children in her home while her husband, a doctor, is on the war front helping to fight the Taliban.  Staples brings these two characters in parallel situations together in a desperate story of two stars that collide.

Prisoner 88 by Leah Pileggi

Prisoner 88 by Leah Pileggi

Only 10 years old, Jake is sentenced to five years in prison after killing someone.  After coming from near poverty, Jake is fed and clothed, thinking his sentence is more of a gift than a consequence.  The story is told through Jake's perspective, detailing his time in prison and the changes in the prison system near the turn of the century.  Jake is housed with murderers, thieves, and the mentally insane, and he wonders why they all want to get out.  Jake is ordered to work on a nearby farm caring for the animals. Set in 1885 Idaho, this novel is based on a real prisoner and real circumstances.

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth

In the struggle to survive, Gopal and his family must leave their Indian Village.  By promising their farm to the loan shark of the village, Gopal's father becomes indebted to the man with no way out.  Fleeing the village in the middle of the night, the family becomes separated from their father.  Finally in Mumbai, Gopal leaves his uncle's house to find a way to help out his family financially and to find his missing father. Tricked into a job in which he is locked down in an attic with other boys who have been sold into child slavery. Forbidden to talk or tell each other their names, the boys wonder if they will be able to get out and see their families again?  

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff

Reading Counting on Grace as O.N.E. book sparked an interest in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  In this novel, Water Street Bird Mallon lives in an apartment in Brooklyn that overlooks the towers that will eventually become the Brooklyn Bridge.  Her mother, Nory, is a healer who helps the neighborhood in times of medical need.  Thomas and his father move in upstairs to the dismay of Bird who would much rather have a girl move into the apartment.  Keeping his secrets and writing about Bird in his journal, Thomas forges a friendship with Bird. After a scary and life threatening event, Bird doesn't know what she wants from life.  This coming of age novel is a tender story of a strong family who works together in surviving their circumstances.  Patricia Reilly Giff creates one story in her series of novels about Nory Mallon's family.