Akron Public Library

In 1937, during the Depression, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice, initially apprehensive about leaving Chicago to spend a year with her fearsome, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois, gradually begins to better understand and admire her grandmother's unusual qualities.

As letters flow back and forth--between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan, across cultural and religious divides--sixth-grader Abby, ten-year-old Amira, and eleven-year-old Sadeed begin to speak and listen to each other.

A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

To escape the violent cartel that is after them in Ciudad Juárez, siblings Sara and Emiliano flee across the border, seeking a better life in the United States and hoping to bring their pursuers to justice, only to discover that an even greater danger awaits them

A surrealist tale by the best-selling author of Mosquitoland follows the experiences of a 16-year-old history enthusiast whose perspectives transform when he suddenly gains the ability to see changes in others, from mysterious scars and odd behaviors to rewritten histories and the unconscious ways that friends hurt one another.

Twelve-year-old Lily mourns her brother, and has not spoken since the accident she feels she could have prevented, but the summer Tinny comes to town she is the only one who realizes Lily's secret.

Twelve-year-old Lily mourns her brother, and has not spoken since the accident she feels she could have prevented, but the summer Tinny comes to town she is the only one who realizes Lily's secret.

When her family moves from Chicago to the country, nine-year-old Emily is drawn to a mysterious playhouse she finds in the woods and soon meets its sad, lonely inhabitant.

During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

The unforgettable tale of a girl, her maybe-criminal mom, her babysitting business, and her pet pineapple. When FBI agents swarm twelve-year-old Mavis Callahan's downtown Chicago home, her mom goes on the run. With the family’s house and bank accounts seized, Mavis’s dad takes her and her siblings to seek refuge with his sister just south of rural Somewhere, Illinois―a far cry from the big city lifestyle Mavis is used to. As Mavis grapples with...