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It is December 17, 2010: Nadia’s twelfth birthday and the beginning of the Arab Spring. Soon anti-government protests erupt across the Middle East and, one by one, countries are thrown into turmoil. As civil war flares in Syria and bombs fall across Nadia’s home city of Aleppo, her family decides to flee to safety. Inspired by current events, this novel sheds light on the complicated situation in Syria that has led to an international refugee crisis, and tells the story of one girl’s journey to safety.

Japanese Americans in Hawaii during World War II identified themselves as Americans, but their fellow enlisted soldiers didn’t necessarily see them that way. In this historical novel, Eddy and his friends join the Army to defend their country, only to be the victims of vicious discrimination by their commanders.

Twelve-year-old Korean American Junie Kim, who’s kept quiet about the bullying and racism she encounters at school, is diagnosed with depression but is later inspired to speak out after learning about her grandparents’ experiences during the Korean War.

The perils of life under the brutal Pol Pot regime change a young woman’s life forever, as she and her family find themselves fugitives of war, without even their names to remind them of what they lost.

During World War II, an African-American woman named Ida decides to pass as white in order to become a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot). The book focuses on the lives and adventures of these pilots, making it a fast-paced, lively read. Though there is no official record of an African-American in the WASPS, the other historical details are accurate and informative.

“Who will remember the Armenians?” Hitler asked, referencing the Armenian genocide as his inspiration for the final solution. This brutal hidden chapter of history is seen through the eyes of 12-year-old survivor Vahan Kendarian, whose world was shattered within a matter of days.

Five-year-old Marion Blumenthal and her family left Germany and went to Holland in an attempt to travel to America to escape the Nazis. Unfortunately, their ship was delayed three months and the Germans invaded Holland. The Blumenthals became a bargaining chip for the Nazis who wanted German POWs. They are deported to Bergen Belsen, where Marion, clinging to the hope that one day they would all be freed together, collects four pebbles from the camp to symbolize the members of her family. This riveting memoir is a story of determination and survival under the most dire of circumstances.

It’s World War II and Yuki doesn’t have many options. As a Japanese American, he can choose to go into an internment camp, or he can go to war. He opts to go to war and is assigned to the 442 regiment—a segregated regiment made up of Japanese Americans.

Ryan Smithson was in high school on September 11, 2001, but the events of that day made him determined to join the military. Here, in his own, sometimes unpolished but always authentic words, he tells of the joys, fears, even boredom of being stationed in Iraq as an army engineer.

Livia Bitton-Jackson a.ka. Elli Friedmann, was only 13 years old when the Nazis invaded Hungary. She recounts her struggle to survive with her mother, first in the ghetto, then in the Plaszow Concentration Camp (the one shown in Stephen Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List), and then while working in a factory in Augsburg.

Sandra sees her mother and sister gunned down when she is ten. Surviving that massacre, she becomes a refugee struggling with no home and no money. Sandra escapes, comes to the United States, and faces many challenges while building a new life.

Daisy is a spoiled American teen with plans to spend the summer in England with her aunt and cousins at their farmhouse. While her aunt is away, an unnamed country invades England, and soldiers take over the farmhouse. Lacking adult guidance, Daisy must stop thinking of herself and take responsibility for her young cousins. This novel won both the Printz Award (U.S.) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award (U.K.).

A journalist explores the pristine “Emerald City,” the American government’s enclave in the middle of war-torn Baghdad.

Nine year old Dodgers fan Maggie and firefighter Jim bond over their mutual love of baseball. When Jim is drafted and returns from Korea traumatized and barely responsive, Maggie is determined to bring him back to his old self. A sensitive and artful work about grief and hope.

After a horrific bombing, Tareq must travel with his father and one surviving younger sister, Susan, from war-torn Syria to Turkey to Greece.

Lily is looking forward to spending another summer at her family’s vacation home with her grandmother on the shore in Rockaway, New York, when her father drops the news that he must go to Europe with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. Angry at her widower father for leaving, Lily refuses to say goodbye to him and is certain that this summer will be lonely. Then she meets Albert, a Hungarian refugee who lost most of his family to the war and had to leave his sickly sister behind in Europe. The two friends rely on each other to overcome their feelings of guilt in this story of how war affects the children at home.

When rebel soldiers attack his village in Sudan, 11-year-old Salva flees the violence, beginning a dangerous walk toward a crowded refugee camp in Ethiopia, then on to new life in Rochester, New York. Meanwhile, 12-year-old Nya spends her days in Sudan looking for scarce supplies of fresh water for her family. Based on the true story of Sudanese “Lost Boys” who came to the U.S. in the mid-1990s.

As a 12-year-old growing up in Sierra Leone, Beah lived a life not unlike a typical American pre-teen, listening to hip hop and hanging out with friends. When civil war comes to his country, however, he is surrounded by death and is forced to survive by becoming a soldier, plied with cocaine and sent on killing sprees. The violence is frequent and not for the squeamish — the book was published for the Adult market — but teens love a tale of overcoming long odds.

The incredible true story of a World War I nurse who brought medical care to the Appalachians: Mary Breckinridge, trained as a nurse during World War I, rode on horseback into the isolated mountains of Appalachia and never looked back. Instead, she spent her life fording icy streams and climbing untracked mountains to bring medical help to those in need.

Matilda’s Pacific Island village has been torn apart by civil war. Against this harsh backdrop, Mr. Watts, a lonely British expatriate, maintains calm by reading Dicken’s Great Expectations aloud to the village children, transforming their lives.

This is a collection of drawings and poems that were done by children who grew up in the Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia between 1942 and 1944. The terror, the pleas for rescue, and the reflections of beliefs and values of these children who lived during World War II are vividly captured.

In December 1938, a young Englishman canceled a ski vacation and went instead to Prague to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Nazis who were crowded into the city. He raised money, found foster families in England, arranged travel and visas, and, when necessary, bribed officials and forged documents. In the frantic spring and summer of 1939, as the Nazi shadow fell over Europe, he organized the transportation of almost 700 children to safety.

Then, when the war began and no more children could be rescued, he put away his records and told no one. It was only fifty years later that a chance discovery and a famous television appearance brought Winton’s actions to light.

Peter Sís weaves Winton’s experiences and the story of one of the children he saved, Vera Gissing. This is a tale of decency, action, and courage told in luminous, poetic images by an internationally renowned artist.

The narrator, 10-year-old Annemarie, and her family defy the Nazis as Danish Jews are gathered for transport to death camps. They help Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen Rosen, and her family escape to Sweden. The horror of World War II is mitigated by the limited view of the narrator, yet the courage of individuals shines through for a breathtaking look at this time in history.

Persepolis is an autobiography by Marjane Satrapi that depicts her childhood up to her early adult years in Iran and Austria during and after the Islamic Revolution. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life.