Twelve-year-old Alice Dare is one of 300 seven- to sixteen-year-olds evacuated to Mars to attend school and train as soldiers, safe from the war with Earth's invading aliens, the Morrors, but when all of the adults and robots mysteriously disappear, the youths must survive on their own.

Fifteen-year-old Peak Marcello is invited to participate in an "International Peace Ascent" in the Hindu Kush, with a team made up of under-eighteen-year-old climbers from around the world--but from the first something seems wrong, so when the group is attacked, and most of the climbers are either killed or kidnapped, Peak finds himself caught up in a struggle to survive, shadowed by the Shen, a mysterious snow leopard.

Documents the stories of ten real-life survivors of the Titanic disaster, including seventeen-year-old Jack Thayer and eleven-year-old Billy Carter.

Eleven-year-old Travis and twelve-year-old Stacey, separated from their families after being thrown into the Pacific off the coast of Washington, battle hypothermia as they struggle to survive. Includes Coast Guard-approved cold-water survival tips.

From back cover: "In the Pacific there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Once, Indians also lived on the island. And when they left and sailed to the east, one young girl was left behind.".

Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and escaping her village and the narrow role that the Taliban believes is appropriate for women--both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11.