The Only Road

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

Azzi in Between

The Universe Is Expanding and So Am I

The House on Mango Street

Bronze and Sunflower

Broken Soup

This One Summer

A beautifully told middle-grade novel-in-verse about a Japanese orphan’s experience in occupied rural Manchuria during World War II.

Twelve-year-old Natsu and her family live a quiet farm life in Manchuria, near the border of the Soviet Union. But the life they’ve known begins to unravel when her father is recruited to the Japanese army, and Natsu and her little sister, Cricket, are left orphaned and destitute.

In a desperate move to keep her sister alive, Natsu sells Cricket to a Russian family following the 1945 Soviet occupation. The journey to redemption for Natsu's broken family is rife with struggles, but Natsu is tenacious and will stop at nothing to get her little sister back.

Literary and historically insightful, this is one of the great untold stories of WWII. Much like the Newbery Honor book Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Mariko Nagai's Under the Broken Sky is powerful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful.

Christy Ottaviano Books

Perseverance

Courage

Family And Relationships

Under the Broken Sky

Discover Your Child's Next Read

The Only Road

Alexandra Diaz, 2016

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

Glenda Millard, 2009

Azzi in Between

Sarah Garland, 2012

The Universe Is Expanding and So Am I

Carolyn Mackler, 2018

The House on Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros, Harold Bloom, 1984

Bronze and Sunflower

Cao Wenxuan, Helen Wang, 2005

Broken Soup

Jenny Valentine, 2008

This One Summer

Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki, 2014