In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values, and beliefs.

When twelve-year-old Arcady is sent to a children's home after his parents are declared enemies of the state in Soviet Russia, soccer becomes a way to secure extra rations, respect, and protection but it may also be his way out if he can believe in and love another person--and himself.

"When 17-year-old Pavol fatally sets himself on fire in Prague in 1969 to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, his three best friends must figure out how to survive an oppressive regime without him"--

When Tai Shan and his father, Baba, are separated during China's Cultural Revolution, they are able to stay close by greeting one another every day with flying kites until Baba, like the kites, is free. Includes historical note.

"Tommy's life is hard. His mother is abusive, and his sister, Mary Lou, is in the hospital badly burned from doing a chore that he was supposed to do. So Tommy takes over Mary Lou's paper route. And when he finds a copy of a communist newspaper, he decides to investigate his neighbors. But things start to spiral out of control when Tommy uses the paper to frame a store owner"--Back cover.

Nina, a young girl unsure of her role in her communist society, befriends a dog from her father's lab named Laika, who dreams of finding a home.

Marta is a young girl who saw thirty miles of barbed wire appear across her city overnight, separating Berlin into West and East - with Marta's home on the Communist Bloc - controlled Eastern side. Then, just a month ago, Marta's brother became a victim of schiessbefehl, the standing order to fire upon anyone who dared pass into the West. With her family and nation both fractured, Marta will soon be faced with a promising - but dangerous - opportunity....

In the Bronx, New York, during the McCarthy era, twelve-year-old Jamie keeps a terrible secret about her family, but when the truth is exposed, her parents lose their jobs and she is fired from the school newspaper.

In Russia, during the reign of communism and one of the many purges that sweep the country, Yuri experiences first-hand the social injustices, labor camp, and starvation.