Escape From

Two young siblings flee the Chernobyl disaster with their parents, but the Communist party is on their heels. Meanwhile, the friends and family they were forced to leave behind must contend with a disinformation campaign that's determined to pretend nothing is wrong—even as deadly radiation spills into the air.

December, 1961, Marta is a young girl who saw thirty miles of barbed wire appear across her city overnight, separating Berlin into West and East—with Marta's home on the Communist Bloc-controlled eastern side. January, 1989, Now a spray-painted concrete monolith, the Berlin Wall bisects the city. Kurt, a young East Berliner, often wonders what those living on the other side must think of their unseen neighbors. Do they hate the people of East Germany as completely as Kurt has been instructed to hate them?

Artem lives in the sleepy city of Stalingrad, which has mostly been cut off from war with Nazi Germany—until the summer of 1942. That July, martial law is declared as the Nazis begin their unprecedented march toward the city. Artem's older brother is a soldier in Stalin's Red Army, so Artem is worried for his brother's safety once he and his family have evacuated the city. Then the announcement comes. Stalin has ordered that no civilians be allowed to leave Stalingrad. 

May 1962. In the middle of San Francisco Bay looms Alcatraz, home to America's most infamous prisoners. Also home to Chip Carter and his dad, who works at the high security prison. Their neighbors are former mobsters, gangsters, and murderers, but Chip finds it to be a pretty boring place to live. After all, the inmates can't hurt him—they're locked up in an impenetrable fortress, surrounded by unforgiving waters. Or are they?

"Nonstop action, real history, serious danger. You gotta read these books!" —Alan Gratz, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Refugee April 29, 1975 In the early morning hours, Malcolm and Violet are woken by their dad and told to pack up and be ready to leave in three minutes. Their dad...