Two Austrian children, their lame grandfather, and a sick pilot are trapped inside their house when a plane crash causes a great avalanche to come down on their farm.

Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice. But that's exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside. No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison ... An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebellion, Prisoner of Ice and Snow will fire you up and melt your heart all at once. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Piers Torday and Cathryn Constable.

A poignant, inspirational account of women’s suffering and resilience in Stalin’s forced labor camps—diligently transcribed in the kitchens and living rooms of 9 survivors. “A worthy addition to the literature of the gulag that also features intimate glimpses of the author of Doctor Zhivago.” —Kirkus Reviews The pain inflicted by the gulags has cast a long and dark shadow over Soviet-era history. Zgustová’s collection of interviews with former female prisoners not only chronicles the hardships of the camps, but also serves as testament to the power of beauty in face of adversity. Where one would expect to find stories of hopelessness and despair, Zgustová has unearthed tales of the love, art, and friendship that persisted in times of tragedy. Across the Soviet Union, prisoners are said to have composed and memorized thousands of verses. Galya Sanova, born in a Siberian gulag, remembers reading from a hand-stitched copy of Little Red Riding Hood. Irina Emelyanova passed poems to the male prisoner she had grown to love. In this way, the arts lent an air of humanity to the women’s brutal realities. These stories, collected in the vein of Svetlana Alexievich’s Nobel Prize-winning oral histories, turn one of the darkest periods of the Soviet era into a song of human perseverance, in a way that reads as an intimate family history. “We see the darkest years of Soviet history illuminated, again and again, by small yet radiant flashes of humanity, of art, of beauty.” —Olga Grushin, author of The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Residents of a thriving port town in Russia's Far East are shaped by regional history and lore throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, from a local woman who considers an Italian footballer's proposition to a former Soviet boss' memories about a thorny friendship.

“MacColl’s fidelity to Austen’s biography and family, with a bit of creative license woven in, results in a charming historical mystery.” —School Library Journal Jane Austen’s family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is much more interested in writing her novels, and finds every suitor lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? Before Jane can find out, she must solve a murder, clear her family’s name, and face a decision that might cost her true love. Praise for writing of Michaela MacColl “Equal parts gothic melodrama and Nancy Drew derring-do.” —Kirkus Reviews “Dynamic and engrossing.” —Booklist “The fast-moving plot makes this a well-crafted page-turner.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “MacColl takes a character that most people do not really know much about and brings her to life . . . Fun, interesting reading.” —VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates

An international bestseller, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and now a major motion picture! Ruta Sepetys's Between Shades of Gray is now the film Ashes in the Snow! This special movie tie-in edition features 16 pages of color movie stills starring Bel Powley and Jonah Hauer-King in never-before-seen footage and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, plus a brand-new letter from the author! "Few books are beautifully written, fewer still are important; this novel is both." --The Washington Post Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life -- until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing. Risking everything, she imbeds clues in her drawings of their location and secretly passes them along, hoping her drawings will make their way to her father's prison camp. But will strength, love, and hope be enough for Lina and her family to survive? A moving and haunting novel perfect for readers of The Book Thief. Praise for Between Shades of Gray: "Superlative. A hefty emotional punch." --The New York Times Book Review "Heart-wrenching . . . an eye-opening reimagination of a very real tragedy written with grace and heart." --The Los Angeles Times "At once a suspenseful, drama-packed survival story, a romance, and an intricately researched work of historial fiction." --The Wall Street Journal * "Beautifully written and deeply felt . . . An important book that deserves the widest possible readership." --Booklist, starred review A New York Times Notable book An international bestseller A Carnegie Medal nominee A William C. Morris Award finalist A Golden Kite Award winner A Best Children's Book of 2011 selection from The Wall Street Journal, PW, SLJ, Booklist,Kirkus, iTunes, Amazon, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and Columbus Dispatch ILA Notable Book for a Global Society Award winner Winner of 10 international book prizes across France, Sweden, Belgium, Lithuania, and Canada 26 state award lists 4 starred reviews And more!

After surviving a major accident, a man is trapped in a village buried in the snow and cut off from the world by a nationwide power failure. He is entrusted to Matthias, a taciturn old man who agrees to heal his wounds in exchange for wood, food, and eventual escape from the village. Will they manage to stand up against external threats and intimate pitfalls?

Snow Flowers is a rare study by one of the 1,300 Hungarian Jewish inmates who were "eased out" by the SS to Junkers Company to produce airplane parts in Markkleeberg, Germany. Working conditions and profits shed light on slave labor establishments. Describing prisoners' ways of coping, their spiritual world addresses the question of how it was possible to live in the camp. A recurring theme is the experience of the author and her teenage sister. The 250 French political resistance fighters in the camp shared the death march and the anguish of the Allied bombing. Russian soldiers bent on sexual exploitation were the first disappointment after liberation. Homecoming and life of the survivor are recounted in the concluding chapters. The eight years of research on this book was prompted by the query of a Markkleeberg school teacher. German archival documents, songs, diaries written in the camp, and the testimonies of 110 fellow survivors provide a collective and a personal narrative. The book is part of a traveling exhibit, "The Forgotten Women of Buchenwald." Dr. Stessel is a retired librarian from The New York Public Library.

Günter Koschorrek wrote his illicit diary on any scraps of paper he could lay his hands on, storing them with his mother on infrequent trips home on leave. The diary went missing, and it was not until he was reunited with his daughter in America some forty years later that it came to light and became Blood Red Snow. The author’s excitement at the first encounter with the enemy in the Russian Steppe is obvious. Later, the horror and confusion of fighting in the streets of Stalingrad are brought to life by his descriptions of the others in his unit – their differing manners and techniques for dealing with the squalor and death. He is also posted to Romania and Italy, assignments he remembers fondly compared to his time on the Eastern Front. This book stands as a memorial to the huge numbers on both sides who did not survive and is, some six decades later, the fulfilment of a responsibility the author feels to honour the memory of those who perished.

Grade Level 5.5, Book# 85, Points 4.