Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson - After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War

The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi - As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage in 1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious

My brother Sam is dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier - Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis - In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice for his family

The inquisitor's tale, or, The three magical children and their holy dog by Adam Gidwitz - Crossing paths at an inn, thirteenth-century travelers impart the tales of three characters who join forces on a chase through France to escape persecution

Projekt 1065 by Alan Gratz - It is 1943, and thirteen-year-old Michael O'Shaunessey, son of the Irish ambassador to Nazi Germany in Berlin, is also a spy for the British Secret Service

The night diary by Veera Hiranandani - Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her

A night divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen - When the Berlin Wall went up, Gerta, her mother, and her brother Fritz are trapped on the eastern side where they were living, while her father, and her other brother Dominic are in the West

A long walk to water by Linda Sue Park - When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members in search of safe haven

When my name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park - With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely

Esperanza rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan - Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California

The hired girl by Laura Amy Schlitz - Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs chronicles her life in a journal when she leaves her family's farm in Pennsylvania to work as a hired girl in Baltimore in the summer of 1911