The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

Winner of the Newbery, the heart warming tale of a girl who finds a home, an occupation, some food, and her own name. Nameless until the midwife starts calling her Beetle because of where she found her (think of the grossest place in the world) , Beetle never remembers anyone who cared for her, not even in toddlerhood. Life is tough in the 14th century. Midwifery is looked down about even if they are the only ones who can help bring a new life in the world. What would you do to keep the only safe place you have ever know and what name would you give yourself if you could? This character in this very quick read has more in common with todays students than you think possible. Hope, dreams and needs don't change, just the ablity to fill them.

Wolf by the Ears by Ann Rinaldi

Based on historical people and maybe actual facts, this story is about the tough choice that Thomas Jefferson's bi-racial daughter has to make. She is a slave like her mother, but at 21 she can get her freedom. If she does take her freedom, will she pass as white, or stay true to those who raised her. But who is Harriet, if she has both black and white parents. At a time when you had to choose and could not be both, passing will open up a better world but you would lose your past forever. You either will love or hate Ann Rinaldi's work . Filled with strong teenage women characters, the stories are true to their settings in history. Being bi-racial, EML also had to make the choice of who I am. Once you make it, it is who you are for the rest of your life, even if you don't look like the choice you made when you get older.

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

While they don't put faces of missing children on school milk cartons anymore, just image if you saw a picture of yourself as a young child on one. When teenage Janie does, she starts down a path to find the truth, but can she handle the truth and where it leads. She has her whole world pulled apart. Can she put herself back together? Who are her "real" parents, those who raised her or the ones she share blood ties? Does she risk her world to find out? First of a series of 4 books. EML had to face a similar problem when her birth parents found her after 42 years and found someone will get hurt everytime, it is just the way these things work out.

Alone in the World; Orphans and Orphanages in America by Catherine Reef

It is hard to image how different children without parents or who could not keep them were treated in the past compared today. Was it a better way or was it worst than today? With all the stories in the news, would it be better to bring back orphanages as safe places to grow up? Why do senior citizens who grew up in them talk so loving about them? Are they just remembering the good and not the bad? Do the fiction books you read tell the real story? Find out in this book. EML started life out in an orphanage so I had to read this book when I got it. Maybe I should have been left there? What do you think?