When union members arrive to organize their West Virginia coal mining town, fourteen-year-old Clarence Henderson, shunned for his cleft lip, and his neighbor Elizabeth Braxton narrate the changes in their own lives and in the lives of everyone in their community.
Louis and his aunt are startled and upset when a Black family moves next door to their Kansas City home in 1958, but Louis soon recognizes that his new neighbor is a more reliable friend than the group of junior high "cools" with whom he had hoped to be friends.
Lebanese-Australian Jamilah, known in school as Jamie, hides her heritage from her classmates and tries to pass by dyeing her hair blonde and wearing blue-tinted contact lenses, until her conflicted feelings become too much for her to bear.
In 1933, as Hitler becomes Chancellor, twelve-year-old Erich and his family, who are Jewish, find they need to make changes in their everyday lives as hatred of the Jews grows.
During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family's true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend, the consequences are tragic.
Examines the history and roots of crimes committed against people based on racial or ethnic group, religious beliefs, gender or sexual orientation, or political views.
A young boy living in 2407 collides with the past when he finds himself in Strasbourg in 1348 confronting the antisemitism that sweeps through Europe during the Black Plague.
Ricki is looking forward to Divali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, but he is also waiting for the rose bush his grandfather planted to bloom because it is supposed to be the color of the Divali.
