For more than a decade, Alina Sharebenescue has been cooking soup in a small kitchen at the Light and Life center in Bucharest, Romania. She prepares homemade food for people without homes. 

“Many were rejected when born, left in the hospital or actually in the street. They grow in the street and come here and know us,” she said.

Chen Cao is chief inspector of a special unit of the Shanghai police tasked with investigating crimes involving high-up Communist Party officials. He’s earned a reputation for integrity but then discovers that someone with great power is setting him up for a fall. The author now lives in St. Louis, but he uses his knowledge of Communist Party intrigues, Chinese poetry and opera, and modern Chinese culture to enliven these crime novels. He paints a grim picture of a society searching for meaning while “Big Bucks” and high party officials grab what they can.

Archimedes: “Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will move the world.” Chicago mayor and former White House aide Rahm Emanuel: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Substitute “childhood obesity epidemic” for crisis and you can better understand how the Obama administration has levered the growing waistlines of Americans into one more opportunity to grow the federal government.

Ana Juric was 10 years old when the war between Serbia and Croatia began, upending her world overnight. Cigarette brands and last names separated friend from enemy. Serb bombers rained death from the sky, but death came to Ana’s family during a roadside stop on the highway from Sarajevo to Zagreb. In this compelling novel, war shatters a child’s world and forces her to take up arms. When family friends sneak Ana out of Croatia and into an adoptive American family, she gains physical peace and emotional respite, but it comes at a cost. Occasional R-rated violence and language.

My Grandfather’s Coat

Jim Aylesworth; illustrated by Barbara McClintock