When twelve-year-old Dana Shannon starts to strip away wallpaper in her family's old house, she's unprepared for the surprise that awaits her. A hidden room -- containing a human skeleton How did such a thing get there? And why was the tiny room sealed up?
With the help of a diary found in the room, Dana learns her house was once a station on the Underground Railroad. The young woman whose remains Dana discovered was Lizbet Charles, a conductor and former slave. As the scene shifts between Dana's world and 1856, the story of the families that lived in the house unfolds. But as pieces of...

A terminally ill teenager is forced to choose between her religion and her life

Adam doesn't think much of it when Miriam faints in class. She's an oddball, a student who hardly talks, never makes eye contact, and wears clothes that seem straight out of the 19th century. She says she's fine, and he wants to believe her. But when she passes out while they're working on an English assignment, Adam takes Miriam to the last place she wants to go: the hospital. Miriam has bone cancer. She believes that God will heal her, but if He doesn't, she plans to let herself die.

A terminally ill teenager is forced to choose between her religion and her life

Adam doesn't think much of it when Miriam faints in...

An angry teenager is sucked into a gang of neo-Nazis

Dan shows up on his first day at a new school with long blond hair, John Lennon glasses, and a shy grin that makes every girl in the hallway swoon. But he only has eyes for Laurel, who's in his English class. Laurel stirs feelings in Dan that he never knew existed, and suddenly, he understands love. Soon, he will understand hate as well.

When a gang of violent young men invades the annual Halloween party, most of Laurel's friends stay away. The men are white supremacists with shaved heads, steel-toed boots,...

A spunky young girl forms an unlikely friendship with a dying Chinese man while living in a group home

For Greta, having light and carefree Hackey hanging around her mom is a lot more fun than having an ordinary dad. But Hackey isn't her father--he's more like a pimp, and no matter how friendly he is, he still treats Greta's mom like dirt. When the situation at home goes from bad to worse, Greta is moved into a home for at-risk children where she meets some of the most interesting girls she has ever known--and a shy young boy named Wing.

Greta's riding a San...

In a new town, Dovi's family befriends a young boy who was abandoned at their restaurant

Dovi Chandler collects yearbooks. She has them from all over the country: mementos of every time her parents uprooted her to a new town, and a new crackpot business venture. They've managed apartment houses, tried to save failing bookstores, even sold Tupperware, but all it's ever gotten them is debt and a new yearbook for Dovi to add to the pile. It's not until her parents take over the Pig-Out Inn that Dovi feels ready to put down roots. It's just another truck-stop diner, but to Dovi...

A young girl fleeing Hitler takes refuge in Shanghai, where she learns that she must fight to survive Throughout tomboy Ilse's childhood, her mother has tried to force her to behave like a proper Austrian lady. But when Hitler annexes their country, the family flees, boarding a packed freighter and sailing around the world in search of a safe harbor. The United States refuses to take them, so they proceed to China and make a new home in steamy, mysterious Shanghai. Their lodgings are cramped, money is tight, and Ilse's father cannot find work-but Ilse is enchanted by the city's international...