Winner of the 2015 Schneider Family Book Award, Girls Like Us tells the difficult and inspiring story of two special education teenagers entering the adult world. Quincy and 
Biddy have very little in common, other than recently graduating from the special education program at their school. Nevertheless, the two are placed together in their first independent apartment. Things do not go smoothly at first, but when Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience, the two come to realize that they have more in common than they initially thought. More importantly they learn that they can rely on each other and help each other through their hard times. Told from the alternating perspectives of Biddy and Quincy, Girls Like Us is a story about finding strength and support in others to face a world that can be too cruel when you are the slightest bit different.
In If You’re Reading This, Trent Reedy explores an incredibly complicated father-son 
relationship. Mike’s father died in Afghanistan when he was seven years old. Eight years later Mike is struggling with being the “man of the house,” having to miss out on normal teenage life, helping his overworked and overprotective mother, and trying to keep his father’s memory alive for his sister who can barely remember him. On his sixteenth birthday Mike begins to receive letters from his father, written prior to his death. With the help of these letters Mike begins to learn more about his father, finds the courage to explore new adventures in his life, and tries to uncover the mysterious circumstances of his father’s death. As the answers to their many questions are answered, Mike and his family also find a way to heal.
Based on a true story, Like Water on Stone is the harrowing story of three siblings and their fight to survive the Armenian genocide in 1915. Shahen, his twin sister Sosi, and their little sister Mariam live in the Armenian Highlands. Despite their being twins, Shahen and Sosi have very different views of what they want their life to be. While Sosi cannot imagine ever leaving their home, Shahen dreams of going to New York. But when the attacks on the Armenian community by the Ottoman pashas leave the siblings orphaned and in mortal danger they have no choice but to flee into the mountains. Told in poems from the alternating perspectives of the siblings and the eagle that watches over them as they make their escape, this award winning novel tells the harrowing tale of a family’s fight to survive.
Set in Greenland at the beginning of the 20th ce
ntury, Between Two Worlds by Katherine
Kirkpatrick is an impassioned coming-of-age novel inspired by a true story. The novel tells of Eqariusaq, a sixteen-year-old Inuit girl who finds herself caught between her traditional life with her lazy husband and the New World represented by Lieutenant Peary and his family and crew, who call her Billy Bah. When Peary’s ship gets trapped in the ice during his expedition to the North Pole. Billy Bah sets out on a harrowing quest to find him. Her journey will bring her to the edge of the earth, endanger her life and force her to question what it means to be between two worlds.
I
n Shooting at the Stars: the Christmas Truce of 1914 John Hendrix weaves together fact and fiction to tell the true story of German and Allied forces setting aside the war to celebrate Christmas. The story is told from the perspective of a young British soldier on the front lines during World War I who experiences the unforgettable events of that evening. Later, in a letter home to his mother he describes how, despite the heavy fighting of earlier in the day, soldiers from both sides of the trench lay down their arms and came together on the battlefield to celebrate the holiday. They sang carols, exchanged gifts and lit a Christmas tree, but when the holiday ended they all returned to their separate trenches to await orders and resume the fighting.
Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine tells a touching, little-known, true story of the lon
gest reigning monarch in British history. Queen Victoria loves to swim, but is unsure of how to manage a dip without her subjects seeing her swimming suit (a sight which would, of course compromise her regal dignity). Fortunately her devoted husband, Prince Albert has come up with an invention that will solve her problem. This endearing story was written by Gloria Whalen, with pictures by Nancy Carpenter, and includes pictures of the actual machine created by Prince Albert.
