Lexie and her fragile cousin Elena are inseparable until Lexie tells a lie that splits apart her large, colorful Greek-Cypriot family.

Alex, nearly thirteen, flees with his grandfather across snowy Europe to escape the human and mechanical assassins that pursue them, trying to retrieve a powerful object.

"As the frightening impact of World War II creeps closer and closer to her door, eleven-year-old Ada learns to manage life on the home front"--

"Miss V. Conroy is good at keeping secrets. She likes to sit as quiet as a mouse, neat and discreet. But when her father sends her to Kensington Palace to become the companion to Princess Victoria, Miss V soon finds that she can no longer remain in the shadows. Miss V's father has devised a strict set of rules for the young princess, which he calls the Kensington System. It governs her behaviour and keeps her locked away from the world. He says it...

Selina receives a beautiful dress and shoes as a surprise gift but has difficulty finding an occasion to wear them--it being war time--until she and her cousins decide to hold a pageant.