Realizing that her father's lack of work has endangered her family, nine-year-old Juice decides that she must return to school and learn to read in order to help their chances of surviving and keeping their house.

In 1938 Berlin, Germany, a cat sees Rosenstrasse change from a peaceful neighborhood of Jews and Gentiles to an unfriendly place where, one November night, men in brown shirts destroy Jewish-owned businesses and arrest or kill Jewish people. Includes facts about Kristallnacht and a list of related books and web resources.

A little boy's mother won't let him have a dog. Dogs are too messy and too loud. But she says he can have a dragon for a pet - if he can find one. Enter the coolest - but naughtiest - pet ever. The dragon is messier and louder than any dog. And he will not leave. How will the boy ever get a dog now?

Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse emerses readers in a small Vermont town in 1924 with this haunting and harrowing tale. Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.

Erika's Story is one woman's account of the tragedy of the Holocaust. Erika is a survivor who recalls the difficult decisions her parents had to make and how those decisions have affected her life. Erika has a quiet hope and confidence which is sure to inspire readers. The exquisite illustrations of Roberto Innocenti are poignant and moving. The combination of words and pictures in this book speak not only to the reader's head but also to the heart. The foreign rights to Erika's Story have been sold in eleven countries.

With lyrical narration and elegant, evocative artwork, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse and illustrator G. Brian Karas share the nighttime experience of a father and child. When the sun sets, Dad’s job as a school custodian is just beginning. What is it like to work on a Friday night while the rest of the city is asleep? There’s the smell of lilacs in the night air, the dusky highway in the moonlight, and glimpses of shy nighttime animals to make the dark magical. Shooting baskets in the half-lit gym, sweeping the stage with the game on the radio, and reading out loud to his father in the library all help the boy’s time pass quickly. But what makes the night really special is being with Dad. Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse’s quietly powerful story of a boy and his father is tenderly brought to life by G. Brian Karas in this luminous tribute to an enduring, everyday sort of love.

With the thought of Ma working so hard for so little, Maybelle and her brothers brew up an idea to surprise her. They will rescue the stray potatoes from a farmer's field that were just left to rot in the ground. As the children gather "spuds" in the frosty dirt under the blanket of night, they hide from passing cars in a joyful autumn-night dance. They can almost taste Ma's mouthwatering spuds--sliced thin as fingernails and fried up crusty brown, hot, and sparkling with salt. Won't Ma be surprised? But Ma's reaction to their good-hearted gift is not what the children anticipated. How will they set things right? Only Karen Hesse could construct such a delicate and delicious narrative, filled with stunning images and overflowing with love. Wendy Watson's glowing, moonlight-drenched art perfectly compliments the story.