It's 1953, and the United States has just executed an American couple convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Everyone is on edge as the Cold War standoff between communism and democracy leads to the rise of Senator Joe McCarthy and his zealous hunt for people he calls subversives or communist sympathizers. Suspicion, loyalty oaths, blacklists, political profiling, hostility to foreigners, and the assumption of guilt by association divide the nation. Richard and his family believe deeply in American values and love of country, especially since Richard's father works for the FBI. Yet when a family from Czechoslovakia moves in down the street with a son Richard's age named Vlad, their bold ideas about art and politics bring everything into question.Richard is quickly drawn to Vlad's confidence, musical sensibilities, and passion for literature, which he shares. But as the nation's paranoia spirals out of control, Richard longs to prove himself a patriot, and blurred lines between friend and foe could lead to a betrayal that destroys lives. Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.
From acclaimed author Patricia Hruby Powell comes the story of a landmark civil rights case, told in spare and gorgeous verse. In 1955, in Caroline County, Virginia, amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love...
Now available in Spanish, the book Horn Book called “a realistic and compelling account of a girl growing up too quickly while coming to terms with the cost of freedom.” I wonder what it would be like to be free? Not to ne...
If you love The Great Gatsby, you'll want to read the Flappers series.Power . . . love . . . scandal . . . there’s never enough to go around. In the city that never sleeps, Lorraine Dyer is wide awake. Ever since she exposed Cla...
Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn’t turn out that way.“The author balances humor and generosity with the obstacles and injustice of Katy’s wo...
If you love The Great Gatsby, you'll want to read the Flappers series.Jazz . . . Booze . . . Boys . . . It’s a dangerous combination. Every girl wants what she can’t have. Seventeen-year-old Gloria Carmody wants the flappe...
When Ruben and Jeddy find a dead body in an evening suit washed up on the shore, they are certain it has to do with smuggling liquor. It is spring 1929, Prohibition is in full swing, and many in their community are involved. Soon the boys, along wi...
This Newbery Honor winning, New York Times bestseller celebrates the true spirit of independence on the American frontier.For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of bein...
You’d think every dang person from Lampasas to Houston wanted to go to Galveston this hot August day. Everyone but Seth. Galveston, Texas, may be the booming city of the brand-new twentieth century, filled with opportunites for all, but to Set...
It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life th...
