North Teen

When a shy girl named Sarah Sierra first joins an after-school program in her neighborhood, she never expects to travel back in time and discover the words of Miguel de Cervantes. But at Still Waters in a Storm, a teacher named Stephen and a group of kids have pushed together tables piled high with books so they can gather round to talk about and translate Cervantes’ classic, Don Quixote de La Mancha. They begin to reimagine Don Quixote as the story of a group of modern-day kids from immigrant families in Brooklyn.

Stationed on an aircraft carrier in the heart of the Mediterranean, WW II pilot John Archer serves his country by going head-to-head with the Luftwaffe in the struggle for the North African front. And after he’s given his next death-defying mission - to infiltrate enemy lines in Libya and steal top-secret intel - he jumps at the chance.

Santa as the bad guy? Come on. Who would possibly believe that? How about Jack Frost, a dark elf with a decidedly different take on the story of the North Pole? When Jack returns to his home late one spring, he finds his people gone and an enemy fortress on his doorstep. The name on that castle? Kringle. Let the battle begin.

For this striking, stripped-down account of youth immigration, Villalobos interviewed teens at various stages of the immigration process to illustrate their stories - the physical and emotional difficulties of their travels. He then changed certain elements of these stories in order to protect the children's identities. Each chapter brings forth the voice of one young immigrant's experience, from crossing the Mexican desert to gang violence to the freezers at ICE detention centers.

Rosalba is a nine-year-old Mayan girl living in rural Mexico. Like her mother and grandmother, she weaves stories of her people onto blouses, ensuring that the age-old traditions continue. But new influences are entering her life. A ladina girl from the city, visiting with her scientist father, passes on the astonishing news that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. Rosalba knows nothing about that, but her village is faced with a bulldozer tearing through the forest, dying wildlife, and cornfields in danger.

Focusing particularly on George Washington's youth, Sterling North fully captures the spirit of the man as he examines his childhood in colonial Virginia, his early experiences as a member of the militia, and his many other adventures leading up to the Revolutionary War. The fully rounded person who emerges from this captivating portrait is uncomfortable with words, shy with women, totally at home in the outdoors, and deeply in love with the country he helped found.