Without explanation, kids around the country begin to disappear, coinciding with the government's recent clampdown on civil freedoms. Fifteen-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit are no exception. Kidnapped in the middle of the night, the teens are taken to a secret facility and locked in a cell. Plotting their escape, Wisty and Whit start exhibiting special powers, which may be the reason for the recent capture.

When sixth-grader Mac discovers several words of his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic are blacked out he is outraged, so he, his friends, and his eccentric family set out to do something about the censorship imposed by one teacher and the school board.

Set against the backdrop of World War II, this unforgettable novel, inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime, follows three women whose fates become intertwined by their belief in the power and goodness in the written word to triumphover the very darkest moments of war. Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture...