Barbara Durbin

Could you survive in a cave...for a whole year?That's the challenge facing fourteen-year-old Stepan. Set in Ukraine during the final months of World War II, THE HIDDEN ROOM is based on the true story of a Jewish family who escapes from the Nazis by taking refuge in a remote cave. Stepan adjusts to the hardships of living underground and the dangers of night-time adventures outside the cave. Food is scarce. Darkness, bone-chilling cold, and the fear of being captured are constant. But a surprising discovery gives his family reason to hope.Bringing young readers back to this time of terror, THE HIDDEN ROOM reveals little-known but vivid historical details of Ukraine, including Stalin's brutal pre-war campaign of forced starvation, known as the Holodomor. You will celebrate the courage of a family who stays positive, even in the face of adversity that threatens their survival.William Durbin, winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and two Minnesota Book Awards, is the author of fourteen historical novels, including THE BROKEN BLADE; WINTERING; BLACKWATER BEN; DEADMAN'S RAPIDS, co-authored with his wife, Barbara; THE DARKEST EVENING; and three books in Scholastic's My Name is America Series.For additional information visit williamdurbin.com

When 13-year-old Ben Ward left school to work with his Pa in a logging camp, a winter of peeling potatoes and setting tables wasn’t the adventure he had in mind. Still, come spring, he signs up for the log drive with his friend Nevers, wishing the head cook on the wanigan (the floating cook shack) could be someone other than his crabby Pa. Fate, with a wink, complies, and Pa quits-only to be replaced by someone far worse: Pete Sardman, aka Old Sard, a cantankerous character complete with a greasy apron, an eye patch, one deaf ear, and plenty to say.Luckily, there’s also the rest of the crew-a colorful, sometimes outrageous company of men. Together Ben and Nevers endure freezing weather, dangerous rapids, logjams, storms and floods, and a number of gripping tall tales, along the way learning about logging on the river and a whole lot more about life. Taking up where Blackwater Ben left off, Dead Man’s Rapids returns to the north woods of Minnesota in the late nineteenth century, and with warmth, humor, and attention to historical detail engages readers both young and old.