Emma Carlson Berne

In November 1938, young Ruth Block is a Jewish girl in Frankfurt Germany, trying to cope with the ever tightening noose of Nazi oppression; her father's stationery store has been shut down, and her school closed; then one night her family's apartment is broken into, and her father is dragged out, arrested, and taken to a concentration camp--and it becomes clear that if Ruth and her best friend Miriam are going to survive they must somehow get out...

Marissa, who loves to dance, starts to feel a bit clumsy and overly tall when she dances, so she does not bother to try out for the Rose Fairy ballet until somebody else encourages her.

Alex has just moved and joined a new soccer team, where she is expected to play a different position; when her error leads to the team's first loss she has to learn to put aside her pride and put the team first.

Twin girls Sarit and Allie have always been coached in basketball by their father, but now that their parents are divorced and he has moved away, Sarit is unhappy playing on the school team, and resentful that her sister still enjoys the game.

Lily Davis's big sister and star soccer player, Jana, has left home for basic training, and now Lily's parents and coach want her to change positions, from goalie to striker, wear Jana's jersey, and fill her sister's shoes--at first she goes along with the switch, until a letter from Jana gives her the courage to tell them all that she is her own person, and that person is a goalie.