THE GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT, by Monica Hesse

The story: Hanneke spends her days "finding" scarce things and selling them on the black market in Nazi-controlled Amsterdam. So she shouldn't be surprised when Mrs. Janssen asks her to find a girl who's gone missing--a Jewish girl who was hiding in a secret room in Mrs. Janssen's house. Hanneke reluctantly agrees, not knowing that her search will lead her to far more than just the heart-breaking solution of this mystery: she'll find people being sent to camps, people being sent to their deaths, and maybe just a little of the courage that impels her friends in the Resistance.

June Cleaver's ratings: Language PG; Violence PG-13; Sexual content PG; Nudity G; Substance abuse PG; Magic & the occult G; GLBT content PG (the Nazis persecuted gays as well); adult themes PG-13 (the Holocaust); overall rating PG-13.

Liz's comments: Here's a more in-depth than usual look at what life was like in an occupied European city during WW2. There's plenty of action and suspense, and even the occasional good-hearted Nazi soldier--because nothing is quite as black-and-white as it seems, in fiction or in real life. This one is good enough to find a place in Holocaust classroom curriculum. Give it to readers 8th grade and up who are looking for a tie-in novel.