Girls survive

Twelve-year-old Charlotte lives on a plantation in Richmond, Virginia, where the American Civil War is raging. All around her, citizens and the Confederate army are fighting to protect slavery - the very thing Charlotte wishes would end. When she overhears the plantation owner conspiring against the Confederates, Charlotte knows she must join forces with her. Maybe together they can help the Union win the war and end slavery. Helping a spy is dangerous...

In 1911, fourteen-year-old Lucy Morelli lives with her parents, older brother, and several youngers siblings in a crowded apartment in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Lucy dreams of going to college, but her Italian immigrant family relies heavily on her income from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory to survive. Lucy finds the factory work boring, but the working conditions are better than many other jobs. But when Lucy and her best...

In 1918, fourteen-year-old Daisy's family has fallen on hard times. Her sister Elsie's fiance was recently deployed to fight in World War I, and her father's newspaper was forced to shut down for criticizing the U.S. entrance into the war. When the Spanish Flu arrives in her small town in Minnesota, Daisy tries to shield her loved ones from the devastating illness. As the influenza pandemic sweeps through the nation, can Daisy protect those closest...

Lily is a twelve-year-old Chinese American girl living in San Francisco's Chinatown when an earthquake destroys her home and sets her neighborhood on fire. Separated from her parents, Lily must help her younger brother and neighbor escape San Francisco. As the city burns, Lily struggles to keep her group close as they face peril and racism. Will Lily be reunited with her parents and make it across the bay to the safety of Oakland? Readers can learn...

It is June first and twelve-year-old Mary does not really understand what is happening: she does not understand the hatred and greed of the white men who are forcing her Cherokee family out of their home in New Echota, Georgia, capital of the Cherokee Nation, and trying to steal what few things they are allowed to take with them, she does not understand why a soldier killed her grandfather--and she certainly does not understand how she, her sister,...

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 isdecided that the 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,...

Fifteen-year-old Constance is looking forward to a new life in the New World. There's nothing left for her in England-no family and no future. She agrees to set sail on the Mayflower, along with her employer. But the ocean crossing is harder than anyone anticipated, and the journey is riddled with dangerous obstacles. Will Constance live to see the New World, or will she and the other passengers be lost at sea?

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 question.

Twelve-year-old Audrey wants nothing more than to be a dance performer and aerialist, but that feels far from reality in 1944 Hartford, Connecticut. So when she learns the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to town, Audrey is determined to be there under the big top. It's her only chance to see the Flying Wallendas, a world-renowned highwire act, perform. Audrey convinces her mother to let her take her six-year-old twin sisters...

With Hurricane Katrina on track to hit New Orleans, twelve-year-old Claudia and her family are preparing to weather the storm. But nothing can prepare them for the awful flooding that occurs when the levees that surround the city fail. Even worse, after a chaotic helicopter evacuation, Claudia and her younger sister become separated from the rest of their family. Now it is up to Claudia to protect and comfort her sister through the tragedy. Readers...

After Flor's mother dies in early 1969, she is left with her grandmother who refuses to accept Flor's identity as a trans girl. Flor decides that in order to be true to herself, she must leave home. She makes friends with Tami, a trans teenager, and the two girls meet adults who help them make their way in the queer and trans community of New York City. Invited to meet up with some new friends, the girls sneak into the Stonewall Inn on a night that...

It's May 1963, and twelve-year-old Nina Norris is answering a call from civil rights leaders in Birmingham, Alabama. Black Americans are demanding the right to vote, but adults who protest risk losing their jobs. So, children are protesting in their place. As Nina prepares for her day, she knows she will likely be arrested and put in jail, but it's a price she is willing to pay so that all people can have a say in their government. Readers can learn...