Living with her Israeli father in Chicago, seventeen-year-old Amy Nelson-Barak feels like a walking disaster, worried about her "non-boyfriend" in the Israeli army, her mother, new stepfather, and the baby they are expecting, a new boy named Nathan who has moved into her apartment building and goes to her school, and whether or not she really is the selfish snob that Nathan says she is.

Ten-year-old Allie's family moves from urban New Haven to rural Stamford, Connecticut, in the midst of the Great Depression.

Tara Feinstein, proud of both her East Indian and Jewish heritage, questions what it means to have a bat mitzvah and deals with her own doubts about her faith.

Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn't to murder the spy, but to marry her.--From publisher's description.

Rinnie relates a childhood marked by privilege but also abuse, which steadily increases after her parents' divorce and remarriages, emotionally crippling Rinnie until a school counselor helps her begin to heal.

Natty copes with her parents splitting up, moving in with her grandparents, and starting a new school by maintaining and spreading a positive attitude, but she soon realizes it is more important to feel her feelings than it is to be eternally peppy.

In 1892, Dom, a nine-year old stowaway from Naples, Italy, arrives in New York and must learn to survive the perils of street life in the big city.

While preparing for their bar mitzvahs, comedy-obsessed Noah and Dash find their friendship threatened by a personal tragedy.

Nate wants to dress as an alien for Purim, but his friend wants him to wear a superhero costume like the other boys, so Nate seeks guidance from his Daddy and Abba, who advise that being yourself makes you stronger.