(3) YA Fifteen-year-old Hannah must find a safe place to take care of her younger siblings. Their father has been killed in the Civil War and their mother dies following an attack by neighboring "bushwhackers" who disagree with the family's pro-Union politics. Ernst's fast-paced narrative conveys Hannah's growing desperation. The ending offers hope without being too sentimental.

Reviewer: Juliet S. King

(3) 4-6 History Mysteries series. Twelve-year-old Elspeth lives in 1775 North Carolina with her Scottish immigrant grandparents. Times are tense: local Patriots try to strong-arm Elspeth's grandfather into joining their cause, but he and the other MacKinnons join the Loyalists. This engaging mystery--who in the community is a clandestine Patriot? and who has betrayed the MacKinnons to the Patriots?--shows readers another aspect of the American Revolution.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(4) 4-6 History Mysteries series. In Whistler, Emma and her dress-reformer mother face trouble when they move West in 1867 to run a newspaper in Colorado Territory. In Chilkoot, Hetty, her father, her uncle, and a friend contend with a mysterious thief as they attempt to hike Chilkoot Pass enroute to the Yukon goldfields in 1897. Each story is suspenseful though somewhat formulaic. An afterword provides archival photos and additional historical information. [Review covers these History Mysteries titles: Whistler in the Dark and Mystery at Chilkoot Pass.]

Reviewer: Lauren Aimonette LIang

(3) 4-6 History Mysteries series. Before leaving Ohio to pursue life as a peddler, sixteen-year-old Will Spencer helps Noah, a slave, escape to Canada. When he learns that Noah's family is still in Kentucky, he agrees to steal them and bring them north to freedom. Though Will's horrified discovery--that slave owners view slaves as "stock" that they own, work, and breed--seems naive, his passion for abolishing slavery is inspiring.

Reviewer: Anne St. John