A year they’ll never forget

Ten-year-old Frederika (Fred for short) doesn’t have much faith that the new teacher in town will last very long. After all, they never do. Most teachers who come to their one-room schoolhouse in remote, Alaska leave at the first smell of fish, claiming that life there is just too hard.

But Miss Agnes is different — she doesn’t get frustrated with her students, and she throws away old textbooks and reads Robin Hood instead! For the first time, Fred and her classmates begin to enjoy their lessons and learn to read and write — but will Miss Agnes be like all the rest and leave as quickly as she came?

rom the Newbery Award–winning, New York Times–bestselling author of Northwind. “A stark, moving portrait of Mexican poverty and street life.” —School Library Journal

Fourteen-year-old Manny is an orphan in Juarez, Mexico. He competes with his bigger, meaner rivals for the coins American tourists throw off the bridge between Texas and his town. Across that heavily guarded bridge await a different world and a better existence.

On the night when Manny dares the crossing—through the muddy shallows of the Rio Grande, past the searchlights and the border patrol—the young man encounters an old stranger who could prove to be an ally or an enemy. Manny can’t tell for certain. But if he is to achieve his dream, then he must be willing to risk everything—even his life.