With the rise of the Berlin Wall, twelve-year-old Gerta finds her family suddenly divided. She, her mother, and her brother Fritz live on the eastern side, controlled by the Soviets. Her father and middle brother, who had gone west in search of work, cannot return home. Gerta knows it is dangerous to watch the wall, to think forbidden thoughts of freedom, yet she can't help herself. She sees the East German soldiers with their guns trained on their...

In these four previously published stories, Katie Woo has her first ride in an airplane, her first horse ride, and enjoys other new adventures.

Ten-year-old Jimmy Barclay thinks his life will be much better after he says "yes" to Jesus, so when he loses his best friend and his grandmother dies, Jimmy wonders if becoming a Christian was the right thing to do.

Amish teen Katie smuggles a gravely injured young man, an outsider, into her family's barn despite the elders' ruling that no one can come in or out of the community while some mysterious and massive unrest is wreaking havoc in the "English" world.

"The wackiest road trip in history continues as the McDonald twins travel the Southwest dodging nefarious villains and visiting weird but true American landmarks"--

Sixteen-year-old Miles and his family must flee their Minneapolis home and begin a new life in the wilderness after a chain of cataclysmic volcanic explosions creates dangerous conditions in their city.

Captured by a senator with knowledge of the Dark Shores, pirate Teriana and soldier Marcus are forced to sail in pursuit of conquest together, uniting for the sake of their families but unsure of how far they are willing to go.

Illustrations and simple, rhyming text reveal a young ninja who uses his special moves to sneak up on the family dog, take a cookie from his brother, and escape Granny's kisses, but before day is done he meets his match.

"It's fun to be a Baby-sitters Little Sister. No fair! Karen is having a bad-luck day. Her favorite jeans are missing. There's no prize in the Crunch-O cereal box. And Boo-Boo the cat runs away from her! Karen tries everything to make her day better. But her bad luck just won't go away. She even gets punished and sent to her room! Poor Karen--will this be her worst day ever?" -- Back cover.

"Stay and die, or run and survive. Twins Virginia and Tommy Matthews have been on their own since they were orphaned at the age of five, surviving a merciless foster care system by relying on each other. Twelve years later, the world begins to collapse around them as a deadly contagion steadily wipes out entire populations and a devastating world war rages on. When Tommy is drafted for the war, the twins are faced with a choice: accept their fate...