In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States

Set in 1853 in Japan, this novel follows Yoshi, a Japanese boy who dreams of someday becoming a samurai. Unfortunately, as part of the serving class, Yoshi can never become a warrior. He is taken up by Manjiro, the protagonist of Preus's Heart of a Samurai, and becomes his servant and secret watchdog. Meanwhile, Commodore Matthew Perry and his USS Susquehanna squadron of steamships arrive in Edo Bay demanding "diplomatically" that Japan open its ports...

Newbery Honor recipient Margi Preus tells the incredible true story of a group of French teenagers who helped save refugees in WWII Based on the true story of the French villagers in WWII who saved thousands of Jews, this novel tells how a group of young teenagers stood up for what is right. Among them is a young Jewish boy who learns to forge documents to save his mother and later goes on to save hundreds of lives with his forgery skills. There is...

"Newbery Honor winner Preus . . . delivers a riveting story about teenage freedom fighters in WWII Norway" (Publishers Weekly).
After Nazi Germany invades and occupies Norway, fourteen-year-old Espen and his friends are swept up in the Norwegian resistance movement. Espen gets his start by delivering illegal newspapers, then graduates to the role of courier and finally becomes a spy, dodging the Gestapo along the way. During five...

Margi Preus, a gripping middle-grade fantasy about a girl who must save the children of her world from being "windswept" In Tag's world, children are disappearing. "Youngers" who venture Outside are windswept-vanishing in the swirling snow-Tag's sisters among them. Many have tried to find the lost children, all have failed. And since the Other Times, the Powers That Be seem intent on keeping it that way. Little remains from those times: snippets of...

Longing to fulfill his dream of becoming a voyageur, Jean Pierre Petite Le Rouge stows away in one of the canoes traveling from Montreal to a faraway trading post. He’s so excited, he can’t stay hidden long and soon finds himself perched on the bow of the canoe, whiskers to the wind, singing his heart out. The voyageurs are not amused to find a pesky red squirrel among their crew. He rides, but does not paddle! He eats, but does not cook! On the...