On December 7, 1941, thirteen-year old Alice's life changes completely as she experiences an act of war, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and her father's imprisonment in a Japanese internment camp, leaving Alice and the rest of her family struggling to adjust to life without him.

In early September 1900, twelve-year-old Carrie of Galveston is looking forward to spending Saturday night at her friend's house, until her parents are invited to a very important party and she is forced to stay home and take care of her little brother; but a boring chore turns into a nightmare when the storm surge from the Great Hurricane hits and their house is swept off its foundation--and Carrie must think quickly and not panic if she is going...

"Emmi, a German immigrant, is living in Chicago when the Great Fire breaks out on October 8, 1871, and, separated from her father, she finds herself with her neighbors, Cara and Seamus, braving the smoke and flames trying to escape the danger of the burning city, and searching for all their parents." --

Fourteen-year-old Daisy Meyer is angry and frustrated with her world: her German American town, New Ulm, is under surveillance, her father's newspaper was forced to shut down for criticizing the United States' entry into World War I, her beloved older sister Elsie's fiancé is deployed to France, and she deeply resents her stepmother--but worse is coming, because this is October 1918, and influenza is about to descend on her home and family, and...

Just turned twelve, Lily is the oldest of the three children in her Chinese American family living in San Francisco when the 1906 earthquake hits; her family has survived the quake, but as the city starts to burn Lily and her younger brother are separated from the others and must get to the safety of Oakland across the bay and hope that the rest of their family and friends are there waiting for them--but between the fire and the anti-Chinese violence...

Twelve-year-old Maribel daydreams at school, but when she defies evacuation orders to return home just as Mount St. Helens erupts in 1980, she must focus in order to survive. Includes historical note, glossary, and discussion questions.

When a Philadelphia girl intercepts a message about an impending British attack against her father's regiment, commanded by General Washington, in White Marsh, she travels alone by horseback to warn the Patriot army.

In 1851 twelve-year-old Sarah is a free Black, happy living with her parents, grandparents, and brother on their own farm in Iowa; but her father has been bitten by the gold bug and wants to take the trail west to California, and after some argument it is decided that the grandparents will stay on the farm, but the rest of the family will go; the journey will be difficult and dangerous, but if they survive extreme weather, difficult terrain, illness,...

After helping prepare their London home for German bombing raids, young Hettie and her brothers are sent to safety in the countryside, where she strives to keep them connected to each other and their parents.

Twelve-year-old Lena is aware of racism, but she lives a comfortable life in the segregated but relatively wealthy Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma; but on May 31, 1921 racial tensions explode, and men from downtown Tulsa invade Greenwood, set on killing and destroying the district--and as the violence escalates Lena, her parents, and her older sister search desperately for a safe place to hide from the mob.