Attired in conservative skirts, heels, and jackets, American study-abroad students switch gears to help rescue books and manuscripts buried by the devastating Arno flood. The mud was full of adulterants, especially fuel oil. Adding a fictional detail, the author gives the Florentine child who narrates the story an ancestor whose “hand-printed, older-than-old, one-of-a-kind book” is …

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Unlike her two older siblings, 12-year-old Mavis has never questioned her lavish life—full of vacations and shopping trips, not to mention a home in one of Chicago’s richest neighborhoods. She also doesn’t doubt her position as the most-favored child, her wildly successful mother’s “mini-me.” Then one day, her mother disappears, and the FBI shows up. …

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In England, 1327, Sir Guy Bickerstaffe has the worst job in the kingdom: guarding the deposed and imprisoned king, Edward of Caernarfon. It’s an awkward position for a man who considers himself a loyal, honorable, god-fearing knight—though, of course, he wouldn’t be a knight at all if it weren’t for Edward’s wife, Queen Isabella, who …

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Ruby is having fun with Nelly, the new girl at school, when Keya and Yaz invite Ruby to play. The note they slide over to Ruby reads, “Let’s play after school without Nelly.” Keya and Yaz are popular, so Ruby feels flattered. Still, Ruby’s uncomfortable when the other two start mocking Nelly’s shirt. Later, the …

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When introducing a young Mae, whose curiosity about the natural world was equaled only by her inability to sit still, Lukidis frames her brief portrait of the future astronaut around those twin qualities. So it was that science “gave her courage” and dance “gave her determination” to complete her medical studies, keep her body flexible …

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“I was plucked from a suburban hairdressing salon, whipped up in the frenzy of Ziggy Stardust,” writes Ronson, and wound up “marrying the man of my dreams,” Mick Ronson, Bowie’s guitarist. The author had left school at 15 and trained to be a hairdresser in Bromley, where her client Mrs. Jones boasted, “My David is …

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Miranda Mae Meredith Moose has a passion for orange juice. One morning, she awakes craving gooseberry jam and her favorite drink, but the latter is nowhere to be found in her home. The local shopkeeper is also out of orange juice, and thus unable to help her, so she tries her friend, Miss Hallie Hen, …

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In September 1663, 12-year-old Etienne Gayneau is waiting on the dock in the harbor of New Amsterdam, waiting to board a merchant ship that will take him, as a crewmember, to Boston and then across the Atlantic. He’s a French immigrant whose Protestant family fled religious persecution in his country several years ago. He’s now …

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Valentina and her best friends, Jasmine, Andy, and Xander, live in an apartment complex at risk of being torn down by developers to make way for “businesses that all look the same.” Certain that there’s a monster hiding in a nearby forest, the kids decide to find the creature and use it to scare away …

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