READ: Summer 2025

The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley It's 1942. German Nazis occupy much of France. And twelve-year-old Miriam, who is Jewish, is not safe. With help and quick thinking, Miri is saved from the roundup that takes her entire Jewish neighborhood. But Miri's life is no fairy tale. Her parents are gone--maybe alive, maybe not. Taken in at the boarding school near the chateau, pretending to be Catholic to escape Nazi capture, Miri volunteers one night to undertake a deadly task, one that spans the castle grounds, its bridge, and the very border to freedom.

The Peach Thief by Linda Joan Smith The night that workhouse orphan Scilla Brown dares to climb the Earl of Havermore's garden wall, she wants only to steal a peach--the best thing she's ever tasted in her hard, hungry life. But when she's caught by the earl's head gardener and mistaken for a boy, she grabs on to something more: a temporary job scrubbing flowerpots. If she can just keep up her deception, she'll have a soft bed and food beyond her wildest dreams . . . maybe even peaches.

The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys; Steve Sheinkin Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they're living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II--Britain's eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley's top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen-year-old Matthew discovers a shocking secret about his great-grandmother's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine.

Heroes: a Novel of Pearl Harbor by Alan Gratz December 6, 1941: Best friends Frank and Stanley have it good. With their dads stationed at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, the boys get to soak up the sunshine while writing and drawing their own comic books. World War II might be raging overseas, but so far America has stayed out of the fight. There's nothing to fear, right? December 7th, 1941: Everything implodes. Frank and Stanley are touring a battleship when Japanese planes zoom overhead, dropping bomb after bomb. As explosions roar and sailors scream, Frank and Stanley realize the unthinkable is happening: Japan is attacking America! The war has come to them.

All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen Two Black young men attend prestigious schools nearly thirty years apart, and yet both navigate similar forms of insidious racism. In April 1968, in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, Kevin joins a protest that shuts down his Ivy League campus... In September 1995, amidst controversy over the Million Man March, Gibran challenges the "See No Color" hypocrisy of his prestigious New England prep school... As the two students, whose lives overlap in powerful ways, risk losing the opportunities their parents worked hard to provide, they move closer to discovering who they want to be instead of accepting as fact who society and family tell them they are.

Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between by L. M. Elliott Patty Appleton is making history. As one of the Senate's first female Congressional Pages, she's not only paving the way for other politically minded girls, she has a front-row seat to debates dividing the nation, especially around women's rights and roles. The battle between the old ways and the new polarizes the women in Patty's life, and she finds herself torn between traditional expectations--to be an obedient daughter aspiring to become a perfect wife--and questions new friends like fiercely feminist Simone encourage her to ask. But the questions don't stop at women's rights: The Watergate scandal is intensifying. As evidence mounts that the White House engaged in crimes, smears, and cover-ups to manipulate an election, Patty worries her dad, a fundraiser for President Nixon, could somehow be involved. Determining truth from lies becomes ever more essential for the nation's future--and for Patty's. Illustrated throughout with remarkable real-life images and headlines, this timely exploration of 1973--the year of Watergate hearings, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade--unfolds through the story of a young woman driven to question everything as she learns to think for, and rely on, herself.

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay An emotionally charged, moving novel about four generations of Filipino American boys grappling with identity, masculinity, and their fraught father-son relationships. Watsonville, 1930. Francisco Maghabol barely ekes out a living in the fields of California. As he spends what little money he earns at dance halls and faces increasing violence from white men in town, Francisco wonders if he should've never left the Philippines. Stockton, 1965. Between school days full of prejudice from white students and teachers and night shifts working at his aunt's restaurant, Emil refuses to follow in the footsteps of his labor organizer father, Francisco. He's going to make it in this country no matter what or who he has to leave behind. Denver, 1983. Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father, Emil, can't control him. However, when a missed assignment on "ancestral history" sends Chris off the football team and into the library, he discovers a desire to know more about Filipino history - even if his father dismisses his interest as unamerican and unimportant. Philadelphia, 2020. Enzo struggles to keep his anxiety in check as a global pandemic breaks out and his abrasive grandfather moves in. While tensions are high between his dad and his lolo, Enzo's daily walks with Lolo Emil have him wondering if maybe he can help bridge their decades-long rift. Everything We Never Had unfolds like a beautifully crafted nesting doll, where each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down his flaws, values, and virtues to the next generation, until it's up to Enzo to see how he can braid all these strands and men together.

Pearl: a Graphic Novel by Sherri L. Smith; Christine Norrie (Illustrator) A beautifully crafted and captivating graphic novel from award-winning writer Sherri L. Smith and Eisner-nominated artist Christine Norrie about a Japanese-American girl who must survive years of uncertainty and questions of loyalty in Hiroshima during World War II. Amy is a thirteen-year-old Japanese-American girl who lives in Hawaii. When her great-grandmother falls ill, Amy travels to visit family in Hiroshima for the first time. But this is 1941. When the Japanese navy attacks Pearl Harbor, it becomes impossible for Amy to return to Hawaii. Conscripted into translating English radio transmissions for the Japanese army, Amy struggles with questions of loyalty and fears about her family amidst rumors of internment camps in America -- even as she makes a new best friend and, over the years, Japan starts to feel something like home. Torn between two countries at war, Amy must figure out where her loyalties lie and, in the face of unthinkable tragedy, find hope in the rubble of a changed world.

Where the Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan In 1847, everything in Ireland was falling apart--but sixteen-year-old Nell was falling in love. Ireland is starving, and a poor Irish scullery maid falls in love with the British heir to the land. Can their romance stay hidden during the devastating famine?

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud "Inspired in part by long-ago stories from her own family's history, this masterful story follows the Cassars over seven decades, starting with patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne, whose myth of perfect love sustains them, and ending with Chloe, who believes telling her family's buried stories will bring them all peace."

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor In 1938, a dead whale washes up on the shores of remote Welsh island. For Manod, who has spent her whole life on the island, it feels like both a portent of doom and a symbol of what may lie beyond the island's shores. A young woman living with her father and her sister (to whom she has reluctantly but devotedly become a mother following the death of their own mother years prior),Manod can't shake her welling desire to explore life beyond the beautiful yet blisteringly harsh islands that her hardscrabble family has called home for generations

The Women by Kristin Hannah Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets--and becomes one of--the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam. The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm's way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

James by Percival Everett A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view.

Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray Instant New York Times Bestseller * A USA Today Bestseller * An Indie Bestseller * A Good Morning America Book Club Pick "Under the Same Stars will leave you shattered and wildly hopeful." --E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud "Stirring and absolutely unforgettable" --Samira Ahmed, New York Times-bestselling author of Internment and Hollow Fires "Full of banter, romance, humor and a little bit of magic" --Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing and After Life From New York Times-bestselling and Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray comes a propulsive historical mystery that examines truth, rebellion, reconciliation, and what must be sacrificed for a better world. It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom's Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last. In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too--but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis. In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own. In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe's grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom's Oak eighty years ago.