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The Bronte sisters were the most extraordinary of literary siblings. In the nineteenth century, when women were discouraged from writing and publishing books, all three produced one or more novels now considered masterpieces. In "The Bronte Sisters," award-winning author Catherine Reef explores the turbulent lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne and offers insights into their passionate and timeless work.

Armed with a one-way ticket to New York City, small-town theater geek Nate is off to start rehearsals for E.T.: The Musical. It's everything he ever practiced his autograph for! But as thrilling as Broadway is, rehearsals—full of intimidating child stars, cutthroat understudies, and a director who can't even remember Nate's name—are nothing like Nate expects.

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are orphans. Determined to make it on their own, they set out to find a safe place to live.

They discover an old, red boxcar that provides shelter from a storm. Against all odds, they make it into their home—and become The Boxcar Children!

Parvana felt the shadow before she saw it, as the man moved between her and the sun. Turning her head, she saw the dark turban that was the uniform of the Taliban. A rifle was slung across his chest as casually as her father's shoulder bag had been slung across hers...

The Talib kept looking down at her. Then he put his hand inside his vest. Keeping his eyes on Parvana, he drew something out of his vest pocket.

Parvana was about to squish her eyes shut and wait to be shot when she saw that the Talib had taken out a letter.

He sat down beside her on the blanket.

It's 1793, and there's an invisible killer roaming the streets of Philadelphia. The city's residents are fleeing in fear. This killer has a name—yellow fever—but everything else about it is a mystery. Its cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

Fifty years after the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, it remains the most-watched television event in history. When the Beatles burst onto the scene, they charmed the public with their mop-top haircuts, their playful wit, and their sweetly romantic rock songs—igniting Beatlemania, an intense fandom unlike any before.

When I was ten, one summer night,
The baby stars that leapt
Among the trees like dimes of light,
I cupped, and capped, and kept.

It takes only a few words, if they're the right words, to create a strong image. Whether listened to in the comfort of a cozy lap or read independently, the thirty-six very short poems in this collection show readers young and old that a few perfect words and pictures can make the world glow.

In 1964, Mississippi civil rights groups banded together to fight Jim Crow laws in a state where only 6.4 percent of eligible black voters were registered. Testing a bold new strategy, they recruited students from across the United States. That summer these young volunteers defied segregation by living with local black hosts, opening Freedom Schools to educate disenfranchised adults and their children, and canvassing door-to-door to register voters.

Early in the twentieth century, most Asian immigrants bound for America disembarked at a rocky island in San Francisco Bay. At the Angel Island Immigration Station, they were scrutinized, physically examined, interrogated, and confined behind barbed wire in crowded dormitories. Detainees often waited weeks or months to be processed. Those who passed inspection were allowed to enter the country known to many Chinese as Gold Mountain. Others, less fortunate, were sent back home or even died in detention.

"This woman's place is in the house—The House of Representatives!"

That was the slogan of Bella Abzug's successful 1970 election campaign. But from the first Congress, in 1789, until the 65th Congress, in 1917, women served in neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate. It wasn't until a suffragist from Montana named Jeannette Rankin won her state's congressional election that women first came to the House. "I may be the first woman member of Congress," she declared, "but I won't be the last." She wasn't, but it's been slow going.

Lucy's family has just moved to an old house on a New Hampshire lake, and her dad, a famous photographer, is already leaving on another business trip.

Maybe it's because she misses him. Maybe it's because she wants to show him that she's talented too. So when Lucy discovers that her dad is judging a photography contest, she decides to enter. Is her eye for photography really something special? Now, at last, she might find out.

Serafina has a secret dream.

She wants to go to school
and become a doctor
with her best friend, Julie Marie.

But in their rural village
outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
many obstacles
stand in Serafina's way—
little money,
never-ending chores,
and Manman's worries.

More powerful even
than all of these
are the heavy rains
and the shaking earth
that test Serafina's resolve
in ways she never dreamed.

When Michael's aunt passes away, she leaves behind a letter entitled "Who I am, what I've done, and who you are."

It reveals a story that will change everything. It starts with Michael's grandfather Leroy, a black officer in World War I who charged into a battle zone not once, but three times, to save wounded men. His fellow soldiers insisted he deserved special commendations for his bravery, but because of their racial barriers, he would go unacknowledged. Now it's up to Michael to change that.

As the First World War rages on, Alfie Summerfield has given up hope of seeing his father again. Though his mother maintains that father is away on a secret mission, Alfie knows he must be dead. But when Alfie learns by chance that his father is in a hospital close by—a hospital treating soldiers with shell shock, whatever that might be—he resolves to rescue his father from this strange unnerving place.

We spend most of our lives in buildings. We make our homes in them, go to school in them, and work in them. We're surrounded by buildings practically every moment of our lives! But why and how did people start making buildings? How did they learn to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable? And why did they start to decorate them in different ways?