Follows Viola as she survives brutality in war-torn Sudan, makes a perilous journey, lives as a refugee in Egypt, and finally reaches Portland, Maine, where her quest for freedom and security is hampered by memories of past horrors and the traditions her mother and other Sudanese adults hold dear. Includes historical facts and a map of Sudan.

Sofie, sixteen, lives alone with her father, a Scottish fisherman, on New Hampshire's coast and is not prepared for the return of her pregnant mother, a Cambodian immigrant, or for the forbidden relationship she has begun with a young Army medic back from Afghanistan.

A refugee boy's determination to ride a bicycle leads to an unexpected friendship. Joseph wants only one thing: to ride a bike. In the refugee camp where he lives, Joseph helps one of the older boys fix his bike, but he's too small to ride it. Joseph and his mother travel to America, where everything is strange and new. One day, he spots a red bike that seems just right for him! It belongs to a girl with a whoosh of curly hair. When Whoosh crashes...