Green Boy by Susan Cooper

Long Pond Cay has always been a special spot for twelve-year-old Trey and his brother Lou. Its white sand beaches are always changing, with some new treasure to discover every visit, and there's even a small cave that the brothers have claimed as their own. Lou, who has never spoken in all his seven years, seems to have an affinity with the ospreys - large white birds - who live on the cay.

But the cay is threatened by a group of foreign businessmen who want to build a large hotel and resort there. They're planning to reshape the sea floor and the surrounding cays to create space for tennis courts, restaurants, and even a golf course! They've promised to bring in work and money for the local people, but they're only going to end up destroying the ecosystem of plants and animals that live in the shallow warm waters around the cays.

Trey and Lou's grandfather works hard to fight to save the cay, but the boys have their own fight ahead of them, spurred by a discovery they make on Long Pond Cay. In the time between the changing tides, a doorway opens to a strange land - one full of concrete and noise, fast vehicles and strange rules. And a prophecy that Lou is meant to bring about destruction and rebirth - a prophecy the Government wants to stop and the Underworlders work to make happen...

Escape to West Berlin by Maurine Dahlberg

It’s July of 1961, and Heidi Klenk is about to have the worst summer of her life. To start things off, she just found out that her family won’t be going to visit Opa and Oma, her grandparents, on their farm this August like they do every year. Her mom is about to have a baby, so she doesn’t want to travel, and Heidi’s parents won’t let her go alone; they say she’s too young.

Even worse, Heidi’s father is being called a traitor. You see, Heidi and her family live in Berlin, which after World War II was split into two parts – the East, which is Soviet, and the West, which is not. Heidi’s family lives in East Berlin, but her father works in the West, and has since long before the division of the city. Some people in the East think that border-crossers like Heidi’s dad are betraying the East by working in the higher-paying West but receiving the health care and other benefits of the East, and recently the tension has been getting worse and worse.

Now even Heidi’s best friend Petra won’t play with her, and Heidi’s father has been told he must get a job in the East. Their landlord is threatening to evict them, and Heidi’s parents have begun whispering behind closed doors.

And that is worst of all, because above all else, Heidi wants to be treated like the responsible teen she is and not like a child. She wants to be able to ride the train out to Opa and Oma’s on her own, she wants to be able to choose her friends, and she wants to be able to help make the decisions about her family’s life.

But when everything goes wrong all at once, will Heidi be as level-headed and responsible as she thinks she is?