by norma fox mazer;fatin amirrah

At fifteen, Rachel is a worrier. She worries about whether her family understands her, whether her friends like her, and whether she'll get her first kiss before she turns sixteen. And she worries about whether she can handle having a real boyfriend if he does come along.
But it takes a dying old man -- her grandfather -- who has never been easy for anyone to handle, to show Rachel she has very special abilities. With love and compassion, she reaches the heart of an old tyrant who has always been unreachable. And in so doing, she comes to a better understanding of her family,

her friends, and herself.

He could be any man, any respectable, ordinary man.
But he's not.
This man watches the five Herbert girls—Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn—with disturbing fascination.
Unaware of his scrutiny and his increasingly agitated and forbidden thoughts about them, the sisters go on with their ordinary everyday lives—planning, arguing, laughing, and crying—as if nothing bad could ever breach the safety of their family.
In alternating points of view, Norma Fox Mazer manages to interweave the lives of predator and prey in this unforgettable psychological thriller.

One minute, her mother is waking her in the middle of the night to dance with her in the rain. The next, Sarabeth is pulled out of class and told that her mother has died of a heart attack. All of a sudden, Sarabeth faces unanswerable questions:
How could this happen?
Where will she go?
Will she ever find a place she truly belongs?

Vicki's life had been perfect--now it's definitely not. When her father is laid off from his job, her family's familiar comforts slip away. They move to a city apartment, and Vicki has to forge a new path at her urban school. Worst of all, one night her depressed father simply disappears. Vicki soon finds herself living a double life--fine on the outside, anything but fine on the inside--and that leads to a moral dilemma she's ultimately forced to confront. Told through an inventive mix of poems and journal entries, this intimate narrative reveals Vicki's curiosity, spirit, and honesty as she journeys through loss to discover what really matters.

Jessie Wells can't remember her father, James--he left her family when she was very young. Now fifteen, Jessie has a sudden desire to track down the man she always thought of as "the disappearing dude." She calls all the Wellses in the phone book, hoping to speak to someone who knows her father. But will she be prepared when she finally finds him?

Karin Levi's world of family, school, and friends is torn apart when the German army occupies Paris in June of 1940. Karin and her brother, Marc, like Jews all over Europe, find themselves on the run, seeking safety wherever they can find it. When Marc obtains two coveted places aboard a ship bound for the United States, Karin knows that crossing the ocean means she may never see her beloved parents again. Yet she and Marc have little choice if they are to survive. Karin's unforgettable story--revealing the little-known world of a handful of European refugees in World War II America--tells of survival, of growing up, and of love's ability to endure even the most extraordinary circumstances.

Fourteen-year-old Toni has always felt lucky--but her luck begins to change the summer her father suffers a near-fatal heart attack, her best friend moves away, and Toni is sent to New York City stay with her older sister, Martine, who reveals a devastating secret about their family.

Eleven-year-old Joyce lives with her reclusive uncle, Old Dad, who runs the town garbage dump--which is why the kids at school call her the Dump Queen. Her only friend is Mrs. Fish, the new school custodian whose wild outfits and uninhibited personality inspire her nickname, "Crazy Fish." When Mrs. Fish is around, everything in Joyce's life seems okay. So when fiercely independent Old Dad falls ill, Joyce must convince him to accept her friend's help.

A master at describing family dynamics, Mazer reveals the ups and downs of middle-school friendship, as well. This contemporary addition to her admirable body of work should bring new readers." — Kirkus Reviews
"This entertaining and true-to-life book is an excellent introduction to the world of boys, sibling rivalry, and loyalty. Mazer's telling of age-old struggles will easily find a home with reluctant readers and sisters alike." — School Library Journal
"Like Beverly Cleary before her, Mazer catches the intense love-hate relationship that can develop between siblings in the way they separate and reconnect; she also retains a pitch-perfect ear for the way siblings today speak to each other without incorporating vocabulary that would inevitably date the book. Sprig's generally sunny disposition and interest in her world helps keep the novel fresh and funny despite her woes, and the sisters' reconciliation at the end rings completely true" — Horn Book
"Mazer hits just the right note... A solid choice for an underserved age group" — Booklist
"...the author excels at depicting the complexity of preteens' emotions and relationships, especially sibling relationships; many readers will recognize their own feelings here." — Publishers WeeklyEverything ten year-old Sprig wants, her older sister Dakota already has. Everything Sprig does, Dakota does better. And anytime Sprig complains, Dakota just grins and calls her a baby. It's enough to make a kid wish her sister would disappear.
But in a year when Sprig's father is away, her favorite neighbor is ill, and the class bully is acting almost like, well, a boyfriend, Sprig discovers that allies come in unexpected shapes. Sometimes they're even related to you.