In 1854 in Eastern Maryland twelve-year-old Ann is a slave, grateful that her family is still all together; but when their master, in need of money, decides to sell Ann and her younger brother, their parents decide to take the dangerous step of running away north to freedom--a journey filled with danger, especially since they are not sure how to find the first station on the Underground Railroad.

In 1864 twelve-year-old former slave Charlotte is lucky enough to live on a plantation near Richmond, Virginia, owned by a Miss Van Lew, who hates slavery, and when Charlotte overhears a conversation she realizes that her mistress is gathering information and passing it on to the Union army; Charlotte is eager to help, (especially since her own cousin, Mary, is involved) but her enthusiasm may endanger them all--or help free 400 Union soldiers who...

It is 1911, and fourteen-year-old Lucia (Lucy) Morelli dreams of going to college, but for the present she lives with her large Italian family in a crowded apartment in New York City, and works as a sewing machine operator in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory bringing home money because her father can no longer work--but this is March twenty-fifth, and Lucy will soon be fighting for her life as fire sweeps through the locked down factory, trapping the...

In November 1938, young Ruth Block is a Jewish girl in Frankfurt, Germany, trying to cope with the ever tightening noose of Nazi oppression; her father's stationery store has been shut down, and her school closed; then one night her family's apartment is broken into, and her father is dragged out, arrested, and taken to a concentration camp -- and it becomes clear that if Ruth and her best friend Miriam are going to survive they must somehow get out...

Just turned twelve, Lily is the oldest of the three children in her Chinese American family living in San Francisco when the 1906 earthquake hits; her family has survived the quake, but as the city starts to burn Lily and her younger brother are separated from the others and must get to the safety of Oakland across the bay and hope that the rest of their family and friends are there waiting for them--but between the fire and the anti-Chinese violence...

In 1851 twelve-year-old Sarah is a free Black, happy living with her parents, grandparents, and brother on their own farm in Iowa; but her father has been bitten by the gold bug and wants to take the trail west to California, and after some argument it is decided that the grandparents will stay on the farm, but the rest of the family will go; the journey will be difficult and dangerous, but if they survive extreme weather, difficult terrain, illness,...

After helping prepare their London home for German bombing raids, young Hettie and her brothers are sent to safety in the countryside, where she strives to keep them connected to each other and their parents.

The people of fourteenth-century Florence, Italy, starving after years of bad weather and natural disasters, now face the Black Plague but twelve-year-old Maria is determined to survive. Includes historical note, glossary, and discussion questions.

When the Twin Towers fall on September 11, 2001, blocks from her school, twelve-year-old Molly, unable to reach her dads or Gran, must find her seven-year-old sister, Adi, and get her safely home. Includes author's note, glossary, and discussion questions.

While vacationing in Thailand for the holidays, Tara and her mother are thrown into survival mode when a massive tsunami sweeps through Phuket.