Lowry, Lois

In a future society, young Jonas is given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

Unlike the other Birthmothers in her utopian community, teenaged Claire forms an attachment to her baby, feeling a great loss when he is taken to the Nurturing Center to be adopted by a family unit.

In the world where Jonas lives, there is no great pain, no hunger, no wars. And there are no independent decisions: for each member of the commune, a suitable profession, husband or wife, and even children are chosen. Jonas is worried, because very soon his future occupation will be announced. Who will he become? Will he like the assigned profession? But, as it turns out, the Elders have assigned Jonas a special role. He becomes the next Receiver of Memories. The boy meets an old man who keeps the memory of the real world, and Jonas's life is turned upside down...

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Anastasia's seventh-grade science project becomes almost more than she can handle, but her brother Sam, age three, and a bust of Freud aid her nobly.

Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous whenshe helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

When her father goes to fight in World War II, Elizabeth goes with her mother and sister to her grandfather's house where she learns to face up to the always puzzling and often cruel realities of the adult world.