A take-no-prisoners tale of growing up without knowing who you areWhen David Matthews's mother abandoned him as an infant, she left him with white skin and the rumor that he might be half Jewish. For the next twenty years, he would be torn between his actual life as a black boy in the ghetto of 1980s Baltimore and a largely imagined world of white privilege. While his father, a black activist who counted Malcolm X among his friends, worked long hours as managing editor at the Baltimore Afro-American, David spent his early years escaping wicked-stepmother types and nursing an eleven-hour-a-day TV habit alongside his grandmother in her old-folks-home apartment. In Reagan-era America, there was no box marked "Other," no multiculturalism or self-serving political correctness, only a young boy's need to make it in a clearly segregated world where white meant "have" and black meant "have not." Without particular allegiance to either, David careened in and out of community college, dead-end jobs, his father's life, and girls' pants.  A bracing yet hilarious reinvention of the American story of passing, Ace of Spades marks the debut of an irresistible and fiercely original new voice.

Life in Claire’s typical Midwestern town is quiet; some would even say boring. But this is the 1950s, and things that seem calm on the surface are often churning underneath. When Claire takes a new black friend, dressed as “Liberty,” to the Fourth of July parade in the town park, she realizes there can be no liberty for either girl in her all-white town. And as she grows older, she discovers that her world is more complicated than she ever imagined.Being the “new girl” in school isn’t the fresh start she was hoping for. Getting a pet involves sacrifices. And falling in love is more confusing than fulfilling—especially when it is not a love that can be spoken of, least of all by Claire.Teenage sexuality, northern segregation, differing religious beliefs, and animal cruelty are just a few of the controversial topics explored in this collection of five interrelated stories, told in a voice that is both refreshingly naive and darkly humorous. With this book, Marion Dane Bauer lives up to her reputation as a writer who is not afraid to delve into difficult material in search of the truth.

Davy Bowman’s brother and their dad hung the moon. Dad looks forward to Halloween more than a kid, and Davy’s brother, Bill, flies B-17s. Davy adores these two heroes and tries his best to follow their lead, especially now. World War II has invaded Davy’s homefront boyhood. There’s an air raid drill in the classroom, and being a kid is an endless scrap drive. Bill has joined up, breaking their dad’s heart. It’s an intense, confusing time, and one that will invite Davy to grow up in a hurry. Still, Richard Peck is a master of comedy, and even in this novel of wartime uncertainty, he infuses his tale with humor: oddballs and rascals and boyhood misadventures alongside the poignant moments. This is one of Richard Peck’s very finest novels—a tender, unforgettable portrait of the World War II homefront and a family’s love.

Sam Glodsky lives among the rough-and-tumble gangs on the streets of New York's Lower East Side. When 13-year-old Sam falls in with fearsome gangster Monk Eastman, he joins an outrageous scheme to rescue Eastman's prize racing-pigeon from a cholera-ridden steamship quarantined in the harbor. The caper Monk hatches to snatch the bird pairs Sam with his archenemy, the notorious Izzy Fink. Widely acclaimed for his picture book histories, Don Brown's first historical novel is a fast-paced tale of immigrant life at the turn of the twentieth century.