Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943, and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.

This timely and powerful novel tells the story of three different children seeking refuge. Josef is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world. Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America. Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe.

Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods - all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, 40 dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.

Sadie is upset when her mum uproots them from the city to move to the remote small town of Boort. But before long, she has discovered a powerful place and crows that speak to her, and she is drawn to two boys, Lachie and Walter. Then Sadie is thrown back in time to witness a dreadful crime in which her family is involved. Sadie, Walter, and Lachie must find a way to atone for past wrongs, or be doomed to repeat them. 

Abel Jackson lives with his mother, Dora, at Longboat Bay, an isolated stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish. Theirs is a simple life. It’s tough. And at times it’s lonely. But Abel has friends in the sea, particularly the magnificent old groper he meets one day while diving for abalone. Abel learns that the sea and its treasures are precious. And as Longboat Bay is threatened by greedy developers and overfishing, Abel and his mum wonder how they can keep their homeplace safe.