After his mother's death in 1946, eleven-year-old Langston and his father leave behind their quiet life in Alabama and move to Chicago. Struggling to fit in and missing his mother, Langston finds refuge at the local library where, unlike his library in Alabama, blacks are just as welcome as whites to use. There he discovers the poetry of Langston Hughes and a secret--he was named after this very poet whose work his mother loved.

When it was first produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for that season and hailed as a watershed in American drama. A pioneering work by an African-American playwright, the play was a radically new representation of black life. "A play that changed American theater forever." The story tells of a Black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances...

"Franny Steinberg knows there's powerful magic in laughter. She's witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper. When Franny steps into...

While running a con in 1934 Chicago, sixteen-year-old Joe splits his time between Eddie, a handsome flirt, and Raymond, a carefree rich kid who shows Joe the queer life of the big city, but as danger closes in, Joe must decide who he wants to be before disappearing.

Fifth-grader Billy must transfer from his all-white, Catholic school to a public school, where he becomes best friends with Foster, who is black, just before the Red Summer of 1919.

In the 1920s, a ten-year-old newsgirl who aspires to be a reporter at the Chicago Tribune investigates the murder of a gangster.

In 1938, Edith Westerfeld, a young German Jew, is sent by her parents to Chicago, Illinois, where she lives with an aunt and uncle and tries to assimilate into American culture, while worrying about her parents and mourning the loss of everything she has ever known. Based on the author's mother's experience, includes an afterword about a little-known program that brought twelve hundred Jewish children to safety during World War II.

When her best friend Lydia disappears, Piper Sail goes searching for answers in the dark underbelly of 1924 Chicago, uncovering deep corruption that may lead back to her affluent neighborhood.

In 1934 Chicago, Willie sees a game between the Negro League All-Star team and the Major League All-Stars, and realizes that his dream of becoming a professional baseball player could come true.

In 1928 Chicago, eighteen-year-old Ruby, daughter of the state attorney, uses her ability to read minds as a vigilante to hunt out murderers and kill them even if they have not yet committed the crime; Guy works in the morgue, and wants to understand the human body, because maybe then he will learn how it is that he is able to shapeshift into other people--something Ruby plans to use because someone is out to get her father and she is pretty sure...