Stardust is the story of a boy, Tristran, who stumbles into the land of Faerie and meets a star fallen from the heavens. The star, Yvaine, falls in love with him over the course of their adventures together as they are pursued by a cold-hearted prince and a witch eager to eat the star and claim her youth and power for herself. Tristran and Yvaine marry and Tristran is revealed as the rightful ruler of the realm, but he passes away of old age while Yvaine lingers forever.
Starship Troopers is the story of Juan "Johnnie" Rico, a Filipino soldier in a futuristic spacefaring Earth military unit called the Mobile Infantry. Told in flashbacks, Rico's story is one of intense violence, taking place during a war with a race of sentient insects from another world. The novel spends a great deal of time reflecting from a Conservative point of view on war, service, nationalism, and other pertinent issues.
Number the Stars tells the story of Annemarie Johansen, a ten-year-old girl living in Denmark during the Nazi Occupation. Annemarie's Jewish friend Ellen comes to live with the Johansens after the Nazis begin persecuting Danish Jews, impersonating Annemarie's deceased sister so that she will not be discovered. Until the end of the war, Annemarie and her family work to help Ellen and other Jews. Annemarie's story is one of courage in the face of impossible odds, and of doing the right thing even when its against the law.