Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

My Palace of Leaves in Sarajevo

In 1991, ten-year-old Nadja begins writing to her cousin in Minnesota, and over the next four years, her letters reveal the horrors of war in this former republic of Yugoslavia, while her cousin’s letters give Nadja and her family some hope.

Going Over

It is February 1983, and Berlin is a divided city with a miles-long barricade separating east from west. But the city isn’t the only thing that is divided. Ada lives among the rebels, punkers, and immigrants of Kreuzberg in West Berlin. Stefan lives in East Berlin, in a faceless apartment bunker of Friedrichshain. Bound by love and separated by circumstance, their only chance for a life together lies in a high-risk escape

In Andal’s House

As a young boy in Gujarat, India, Kumar sometimes feels like he lives in two worlds. First there is the old world where people and their choices are determined by prejudice and bigotry. But then there is the second, modern world: in this world Kumar can be friends with whomever he chooses and his future looks bright. As part of the annual Diwali celebration, Kumar is invited to the house of his classmate Andal to watch fireworks. Andal is from a high-caste Brahmin family so Kumar is especially pleased to be included. But there in Andal’s house, Kumar’s two worlds collide in a very unpleasant way. Instead of being welcomed as a guest, Kumar is sent away, forbidden to join the festivities. Angry and hurt, Kumar is left questioning his place in Indian society. Where does he fit in? To which world does he really belong?

Kenta And The Big Wave

When tsunami strikes Kenta’s small village in Japan, he ran to school far up the hill, where the waves couldn’t reach. Climbing to safer ground, Kenta watches helplessly as his prized soccer ball goes bouncing down a hill and gets swept away by the waves. When the tsunami recede, his family returned to their home, they found village ruined and could not find their belongings. Out on the ocean, Kenta’s soccer ball floated across the ocean. Finally the ball reached the other side of the world, where a boy picked the ball up and sent it back to Kenta, even though he could not read the word on the ball.

Three Years And Eight Months

Recounts the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1942-1945 as Choi, a ten-year-old Chinese American boy, secretly joins the resistance and saves thousands of American, British and Canadian forces. Includes historical notes and photographs