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The Kin

It is two hundred thousand years ago. A small group of children are cut off from their Kin, the Moonhawks, when they are driven from their Good Place by violent strangers. While searching for a new Good Place, they face the parched desert, an active volcano, a canyon flood, man-eating lions, and other Kins they’ve never seen before. These young Moonhawks are brave, clever, and warmhearted, and all three traits are crucial to their survival. Told from four points-of-view, with tales of the Kins’ creation interspersed throughout, this epic novel humanizes early man and illuminates the beginning of language, the development of skills, and the organization of society. Winner of a Printz Honor for The Ropemaker, Peter Dickinson has won most of the major British writing awards (some of them twice). With The Kin, he more than lives up to his honored reputation.

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away his ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba. As the tropical island begins to work its magic on him, the young refugee befriends a local girl with some painful secrets of her own. Yet even in Cuba, the Nazi darkness is never far away . . .

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2

Memory (Phoenix Award Book)

On the fifth anniversary of his sister’s death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart is still troubled by guilt and an imperfect memory of the accident that took hr life. He goes searching for the only other witness to the fatal event, his sister’s best friend. But instead of finding the answers he’s looking for, he finds Sophie — a gentle old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, who teaches him about remembering and about loss.

Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Three Kittens

Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka were three little girls who lived in Sweden. They had blue eyes and yellow curls, and they looked very much alike. One time, while their aunt and uncle were away, Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka offered to take care of Mitzi, the cat. The girls got fresh milk and fish for Mitzi, and they played with her all day. Then Mitzi disappeared! Flicka, Ricka, and Dicka searched everywhere–the streets and even the rooftops. Mitzi stayed hidden–but that was because she had a big surprise.

Walk the Dark Streets

A girl’s escape from Nazi Germany.The city Eva Bentheim once adored is no longer familiar. A swastika is emblazoned on the flag atop the City Hall. Teachers, family, and friends are beginning to disappear. Her father seems gone in a different way; he has become ill, fragile, and despondent as the Nazis gain power. When things get worse, Eva’s mother desperately tries to obtain the proper papers for her family to leave the country. Then a horrible night of roundups occurs and Eva’s father is taken away. A nocturnal search begins for someone who can help release him from the city jail. Eva’s boyfriend, Arno, may have a way to save her father from deportation, but it soon becomes clear that their struggles have just begun. Exquisitely felt and written, Walk the Dark Streets resonates with the indomitability of the human spirit even as a loving family’s attempts to stay together grow more and more hopeless.

Baer’s previous novel, A Frost in the Night, relates earlier episodes in the lives of the family in Walk the Dark Streets.

Changes in Latitudes

Sixteen-year-old Travis is looking for a good time. A vacation in Mexico with his mother, sister, and little brother might cramp his style, but he’s willing to take that risk for a chance to cruise the beaches.Travis soon discovers that even with his headphones and shades, he can’t completely cut himself off from his family’s problems. He begins to understand why his father didn’t come with them: His mother is contemplating a divorce. Meanwhile his younger brother, Teddy, becomes increasingly obsessed with protecting some endangered sea turtles near the resort. In spite of himself, Travis is drawn into Teddy’s efforts to save the turtles. But it takes a devastating tragedy beyond his imagining to shake Travis out of his cynicism — a tragedy that will change his family forever.

Ryan and Jimmy: And the Well In Africa that Brought Them Together

In Agweo, Uganda, villagers were used to walking a long way every day in search of water. It costs a lot of money to build a well in Africa. The 6-year-old, Ryan Hreljac, kept doing chores around his parents’ house, even after he learned it could take him years to earn enough money to build one. Then a friend of the family wrote an article in the local newspaper about Ryan’s wish to build a well in Africa to supply people with clean water. After Ryan’s well was built, a young orphan named Akana longed for a chance to thank Ryan in person for this gift of life-clean water.

This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.