November 3, 2023

Facing the Enemy

What do you do when your best friend becomes the enemy? Growing up in Newark, NJ, in the 1930s, Tommy Anspach and Benjy Puterman have always done everything together. It never mattered that Benjy was Jewish and Tommy was of German descent. But as Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party comes to power in Germany and war brews in Europe, everything changes. Tommy is sent to Camp Nordland, a Nazi youth camp for German Americans, where he quickly learns that Jews are the enemy. Heartbroken by the loss of his friend, Benjy forms a teen version of the Newark Minutemen, […]
May 6, 2022

Caught in the Haze

Tae has moved twice in his life. First, from South Korea to the United States when he was adopted as a baby, and then to a new town before he starts high school.

In Tae’s new school, he’s one of the youngest players, and the only person of color, trying out for the Varsity soccer team―a team known for its violent hazing practices. Tae wants more than anything to be part of the team, but worries about fitting in. Then, he sees a familiar face.

Luke is a soccer star on his way to scoring a role as the team captain and a full ride to college, but no one knows his secret―that he was adopted too. Tae and Luke met in an adoption group years before, and Luke’s first instinct is to help Tae fit in. But tradition is tradition, and Luke might not be able to save Tae from being hurt in the hazing rituals without risking his own reputation.