In 1960s New York, fifth-grader Ruthie, a Cuban-Jewish immigrant, must rely on books, art, her family, and friends in her multicultural neighborhood when an accident puts her in a body cast.

In 1912 New York, Gertie feels left out while Mama and her four older sisters cook Hanukkah dinner, but Papa comes home and asks her help with an important task.

In early twentieth-century New York, Sacha Kessler's ability to see witches earns him an apprenticeship to the police department's star Inquisitor, Maximillian Wolf, to help stop magical crime and, with fellow apprentice Lily Astral, Sacha investigates who is trying to kill Thomas Edison, whose mechanical witch detector could unleash the worst witch-hunt in American history.

"Rebecca Rubin is growing up in a big Russian-Jewish family in New York City in 1914. She wants to be an actress--but her parents and grandparents have traditional ideas of what a young lady should do, and acting isn't one of them! Can Rebecca find a way to follow the traditions she loves, without giving up her dreams?"--Container.