The Only Road

Azzi in Between

The Willoughbys

A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home (Nest for Celeste, 1)

Bronze and Sunflower

The Mystery at Skeleton Point

Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna

Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now

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

Azzi in Between

Sarah Garland, 2012

The Willoughbys

Lois Lowry, 2008

A Nest for Celeste: A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home (Nest for Celeste, 1)

Henry Cole, 2010

Bronze and Sunflower

Cao Wenxuan, Helen Wang, 2005

The Mystery at Skeleton Point

Hodges Soileau, Gertrude Chandler Warner, 2002

Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna

Alda P. Dobbs, 2021

Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now

Lauren Child, 2006