Historical Fiction
Alma, Brave Deeds: How One Family Saved Many from the Nazi’s
Recounts how Frans Braal, a resistance worker in Holland, and his family risked their own lives to protect Dutch Jews from Nazi troops during World War II, using the story of a fictional child to tell the true story of the family's bravery.
Anderson, Laurie Halse Chains
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.
Anderson, Laurie Halse, Fever, 1793
Sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793
Auch, M. J. One-Handed Catch
After losing his hand in an accident in his father's butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities.
Avi Crispin : The Cross of Lead and Crispin: At the Edge of the World
Crispin: The Cross of Lead Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.
Crispin: At the Edge of the World Branded as traitors by the king's authorities, Crispin and his guardian, Bear, flee to coastal towns in fourteenth-century England, where they perform a musical juggling act and bond as a family after befriending a disfigured girl.
Avi Hard Gold : the Colorado gold rush of 1859 : a tale of the Old West
Early Whitcomb, whose family's farm in Iowa is failing due to drought, is enticed by his uncle Jesse to go west and dig for gold to help prevent foreclosure, but during their adventure, Jesse gets into trouble, and Early makes hard decisions while trying to find his relative and the riches that lay hidden in the mountains.
Avi, Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Monitor and the Merrimac: A Civil War Novel
Thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll takes his place as head of the family after his father dies fighting for the Union; but his job at the local ironworks, where he helps build an iron ship for the Union army, and his loyalty come into question when he is approached by Confederate spies to sell secrets about the ship to the South.
Avi, The Traitor’s Gate
When his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849 London, fourteen-year-old John Huffman must take on unexpected responsibilities, from asking a distant relative for help to determining why people are spying on him and his family.
Avi The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle, the only passenger aboard a seedy ship on a transatlantic voyage from England to America in 1832, becomes caught up in a feud between the murderous captain and his mutinous crew.
Barrett, Tracy Anna of Byzantium
In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy.
Bartoletti, Susan The Boy Who Dared
In October, 1942, seventeen-year-old Helmuth Hubener, imprisoned for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, recalls his past life and how he came to dedicate himself to bring the truth about Hitler and the war to the German people.
Black, Kat A Templar’s Apprentice
A fourteenth-century Scottish boy joins a Templar knight on a quest to locate an ancient relic, while he tries to understand and control his own gift of prophetic visions.
Blackwood, Gary L. Shakespeare Stealer
Widge is an orphan with a rare talent for shorthand. His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's players perform. As full of twists and turns as a London alleyway, this entertaining novel is rich in period details, colorful characters, villainy, and drama.
Blackwood, Gary L. The Year of the Hangman
In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from England to the American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of developments in the political unrest there that may spell defeat for the patriots and change the course of history.
Blos, Joan W. Letters from the Corrugated Castle
Eldora and her adopted family have moved to establish a school in San Francisco. They live in a common, temporary housing unit, made of corrugated iron – thus the term – “Corrugated Castle.” Written in the form of letters to and from 13 year-old Eldora, the book covers the very beginning of the California Gold Rush.
Boyne, John The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.
Bruchac, Joseph Geronimo
"He held up his right hand to show how his third finger was bent back from being struck by a bullet. Then he thumped his palm against his chest, his shoulder, his thigh, touching places where bullets and knives had pierced his flesh...where scars showed how hard it was to kill Geronimo..." After years of standing against the U.S. government, the great warrior and spiritual leader Geronimo's life is coming to an end, as his grandson visits him where he is imprisoned, in Fort Sill, OK in 1908.
Bruchac, Joseph Hidden Roots
Although he is uncertain why his father is so angry and what secret his mother is keeping from him, eleven-year-old Sonny knows that he is different from his classmates in their small New York town.
Bruchac, Joseph Pocahontas
Told from the viewpoints of Pocahontas and John Smith, describes their lives in the context of the encounter between the Powhatan Indians and the English colonists of 17th century Jamestown, Virginia.
Bunting, Eve Spying on Miss Muller
At Alveara boarding school in Belfast at the start of World War II, thirteen-year-old Jessie must deal with her suspicions about a teacher whose father was German and with her worries about her own father's drinking problem.
Burg, Ann All the Broken Pieces
Two years after being airlifted out of Vietnam in 1975, Matt Pin is haunted by the terrible secret he left behind and, now, in a loving adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events forces him to confront his past.
Burnford, Sheila. Bel Ria: Dog of War
When his owner is killed during the German invasion of France in the summer of 1940, a little performing dog changes the lives of successive caretakers as he journeys through the war-ravaged countryside looking for a permanent home.
Carbone, Elisa Lynn. Blood on the River: James Town 1607
Traveling to the New World in 1606 as the page to Captain John Smith, twelve-year-old orphan Samuel Collier settles in the new colony of James Town, where he must quickly learn to distinguish between friend and foe.
Carlson, Drew Attack of the Turtle
During the Revolutionary War, fourteen-year-old Nathan joins forces with his older cousin, the inventor David Bushnell, to secretly build the first submarine used in naval warfare.
Casanova, Mary The Klipfish Code
Sent with her younger brother to Godoy Island to live with her aunt and grandfather after Germans bomb Norway in 1940, ten-year-old Merit longs to join her parents in the Resistance and when her aunt, a teacher, is taken away two years later, she resents even more the Nazis' presence and her grandfather's refusal to oppose them. Includes historical facts and glossary.
Choldenko, Gennifer Al Capone Does My Shirts
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
Choldenko, Gennifer Al Capone Shines My Shoes
Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz along with his family and the families of the other prison guards, is frightened when he discovers that noted gangster Al Capone, a prisoner there, wants a favor in return for the help that he secretly gave Moose.
Collier, James Lincoln My Brother Sam is Dead
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.
Cooney, Caroline B. The Ransom of Mercy Carter
In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, eleven-year-old Mercy and her family and neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians and their French allies, and forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to new lives and some still hope to be ransomed.
Cooper, Susan Victory
Molly, upset by her family's move from London to the U.S., is strangely drawn to an old book about the life of Admiral Lord Nelson, and soon finds her life intertwined with that of Sam,a boy her age who served with Nelson aboard the HMS "Victory" a century earlier.
Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage
During his service in the Civil War, a young Union soldier matures to manhood and finds peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions about war.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin Crossing to Paradise
Gatty is given the chance of a lifetime when she is asked to accompany a family on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the journey, though dangerous, quickly changes Gatty's life forever.
Curtis, Christopher Paul The Watsons Go to Birmingham
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Curtis, Christopher Paul Elijah of Buxton
Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South in 1859, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.
Cushman, Karen The Loud Silence of Francine Green
In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.
Duble, Kathleen Benner The Quest
Relates events of explorer Henry Hudson's final voyage in 1602 from four points of view, those of his seventeen-year-old son aboard ship, a younger son left in London, a crewmember, and a young English woman acting as a spy in Holland in hopes of restoring honor to her family's name.
Duble, Kathleen Benner The Sacrifice
Two sisters, aged ten and twelve, are accused of witchcraft in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1692 and await trial in a miserable prison while their mother desperately searches for some way to obtain their freedom.
Eckert, Allan W. Incident at Hawk's Hill
A shy, lonely six-year-old wanders into the Canadian prairie and spends a summer under the protection of a badger.
Engle, Margarita The Surrender Tree
A collection of poems in which Rosa, a healer, describes her experiences trying to help Cuban peasants who have been forced to leave their farms and villages in 1896 and given eight days to find their way to "reconcentration camps" or be killed.
Engle, Margarita Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba
Escaping from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1939, a young Jewish refugee dreams of finding his parents again, befriends a local girl with painful secrets of her own, and discovers that the Nazi darkness is never far away.
Erdich, Louise The Birchbark House
The Birchbark HouseOmakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.
Ferrari, Michael Born to Fly
Bird McGill, an eleven-year-old tomboy obsessed with flying in 1942, withholds judgement while her classmates maintain that new Japanese American student Kenji Fujita is a spy, but she realizes Kenji is just as American as she is when they find evidence of real spy activity during their research for a class project.
Ferris, Jean Underground
Charlotte Brown, a slave who is a maid at Mammoth Cave Hotel in 1839, is drawn to the adventurous spirit of eighteen-year-old tour guide Stephen Bishop, a slave whose knowledge of the Kentucky cave system has given him a measure of freedom, and she hopes her trust in him is not misplaced when she learns that runaway slaves are arriving at the hotel in need of help.
Forrester, Sandra Leo and the Lesser Lion
In Depression-era Alabama, twelve-year-old Mary Bayliss Pettigrew struggles to understand why her beloved older brother, Leo, died and whether she, miraculously, survived for some special purpose.
Frost, Helen The Braid
Two Scottish sisters, living on the western island of Barra in the 1850s, relate, in alternate voices and linked narrative poems, their experiences after their family is forcibly evicted and separated with one sister accompanying their parents and younger siblings to Cape Breton, Canada, and the other staying behind with other family on the small island of Mingulay.
Frost, Helen Crossing Stones
Four young people in two families tell of their experience during World War I when the boys enlist and are sent to fight, Emma finishes school, and Muriel joins the suffrage movement.
Giff, Patricia Reilly Nory Ryan’s Song
When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and ingenuity helps her family and neighbors survive.
Golding, Julia The Diamond of Drury Lane
Orphan Catherine "Cat" Royal, living at the Drury Lane Theater in 1790s London, tries to find the "diamond" supposedly hidden in the theater, which unmasks a treasonous political cartoonist, and involves her in the street gangs of Covent Garden and the world of nobility.
Gorman, Carol Stumptown Kid
In a small Iowa town in 1952, eleven-year-old Charlie Nebraska, whose father died in the Korean War, learns the meaning of both racism and heroism when he befriends Luther Peale, a young man who once played for the old Negro Baseball League.
Greene, Bette Summer of My German Soldier
When German prisoners of war are brought to her Arkansas town during World War II, twelve-year-old Patty, a Jewish girl, befriends one of them and must deal with the consequences of that friendship.
Harlow, Jean Hiatt Shadows on the Sea
In 1942, fourteen-year-old Jill goes to stay with her grandmother on the coast of Maine, where she is introduced to the often gossipy nature of small-town life, and discovers that the war is closer than she thought.
Harold, Keith Rifles for Watie
The struggles and hardships faced by Jeff Bussey on his 300-mile escape route during the Civil War.
Hesse, Karen Brooklyn Bridge
Fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life takes a dramatic turn when, in 1903 Brooklyn, his parents turn their apartment into a factory for making teddy bears; and Joseph wonders whether he will ever see the glitter of Coney Island.
Hoffman, Ann Incantation
During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family's true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella's best friend, the consequences are tragic
Hoffman, Mary The Falconer’s Knot
Silvano and Chiara, teens sent to live in a friary and a nunnery in Renaissance Italy, are drawn to one another and dream of a future together, but when murders are committed in the friary, they must discover who is behind the crimes before they can realize their love.
Holm, Anne I am David
After escaping from an Eastern European concentration camp where he has spent most of his life, a twelve-year-old boy struggles to cope with an entirely strange world as he flees northward to freedom in Denmark.
Holm, Jennifer L. Our Only May Amelia
As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
Hostetter, Joyce Moyer Blue
Ann Fay Honeycutt becomes the man of the house at age thirteen after her father leaves to fight in World War II, forcing Ann to give up her childhood and tend to her family, but when a polio epidemic strikes, Ann faces the most devastating challenge of her life.
Hull, Nancy On Rough Seas
In Dover, England in 1940, fourteen-year-old Alec Curtis wants nothing more than to go to sea, to absolve himself of the guilt he feels over the earlier drowning of his cousin and to help the war effort, but when he sneaks aboard a small boat going across the English Channel to Dunkirk, his experience changes him forever.
Hunt, Irene Across Five Aprils
Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War.
Ibbotson, Eva The Star of Kazan
Annika, a twelve-year-old foundling in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, and soon afterwards a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.
Kadohata, Cynthia Kira-Kira
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
Kadohata, Cynthia Weedflower
Eleven-year-old Meggie Dillon shares her feelings and experiences on the homefront during World War II after her family moves from Rockaway, New York to Willow Run, Michigan.
Kelly, Jacqueline The Evolution of Capurnia Tate
In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother, learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural world with her grandfather, the latter of which leads to an important discovery.
Kerr, Judith When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Recounts the adventures of a nine-year-old Jewish girl and her family in the early 1930s as they travel from Germany to England.
Klages, Ellen The Green Glass Sea
While her father works on the Manhattan Project, eleven-year-old gadget lover and outcast Dewey Kerrigan lives in Los Alamos Camp, and becomes friends with Suze, another young girl who is shunned by her peers.
LaFaye, A. Worth
After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate feels even worse.
Larson, Kirby Hattie Big Sky
Sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks inherits her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana in 1917 and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war in Europe.
Lasky, Kathryn Dancing Through Fire
A story inspired by Edgar Degas's famous 1878 painting "L'Etoile," or "Dancer on the Stage," in which Sylvie Bertrand, an ambitious young pupil at the Paris Opera Ballet, struggles to keep herself and her dreams alive when the Franco-Prussian War breaks out.
Lawrence, Iain Convicts
His efforts to avenge his father's unjust imprisonment force fourteen-year-old Tom Tin into the streets of nineteenth-century London, but after he is convicted of murder, Tom is eventually sent to Australia where he has a surprise reunion.
Lawrence, Iain Lord of the Nutcracker Men
An English boy during World War I comes to believe that the battles he enacts with his toy soldiers control the war his father is fighting on the front
Lawrence, Iain Wreckers
Shipwrecked after a vicious storm, fourteen-year-old John Spencer attempts to save his father and himself while also dealing with an evil secret about the Cornish coastal town where they are stranded.
LaZotte, Ann Clare T4: A Novel in Verse
After the Nazi party takes control of Germany, thirteen-year-old Paula, who is deaf, is forced to go into hiding because of Adolf Hitler's Tiegartenstrasse 4--T4--which was put in place to kill any mentally ill or disabled people.
Lisle, Janet Taylor The Art of Keeping Cool
In 1942, Robert and his cousin Elliot uncover long-hidden family secrets while staying in their grandparents' Rhode Island town, where they also become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy.
Lisle, Janet Taylor Black Duck
Years afterwards, Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend's family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.
Lowry, Lois Number the Stars
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
Martin, Ann M. Here Today
In 1963, when her flamboyant mother abandons the family to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, eleven-year-old Ellie Dingman takes charge of her younger siblings, while also trying to deal with her outcast status in school and frightening acts of prejudice toward the "misfits" that live on her street.
Mazer, Harry A Boy At War
While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a naval officer who was serving on the U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell.
Mazer, Harry A Boy No More
After his father is killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Adam, his mother, and sister are evacuated from Hawaii to California, where he must deal with his feelings about the war, Japanese internment camps, his father, and his own identity.
McCaughrean, Geraldine The Kite Rider
In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
McKernan, Victoria Shackleton's Stowaway
A fictionalized account of the adventures of eighteen-year-old Perce Blackborow, who stowed away for the 1914 Shackleton Antarctic expedition and, after their ship Endurance was crushed by ice, endured many hardships, including the loss of his toes to frostbite, during the nearly two-year return journey across sea and ice.
Miller, Sarah Miss Spitfire Reaching Helen Keller
At age twenty-one, partially-blind, lonely but spirited Annie Sullivan travels from Massachusetts to Alabama to try and teach six-year-old Helen Keller, deaf and blind since age two, self-discipline and communication skills. Includes historical notes and timeline.
Morpurgo, Michael Private Peaceful
When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.
Murphy, Jim Desperate Journey
In the mid-1800s. with both her father and her uncle in jail on an assault charge, Maggie, her brother, and her ailing mother rush their barge along the Erie Canal to deliver their heavy cargo or lose everything.
Nanji, Shenaaz Child of Dandelions
In Uganda in 1972, fifteen-year-old Sabine and her family, wealthy citizens of Indian descent, try to preserve their normal life during the ninety days allowed by President Idi Amin for all foreign Indians to leave the country, while soldiers and others terrorize them and people disappear.
Naidoo, Beverly Burn My Heart
While the Mau Mau rebellion threatens the British settlers living in Kenya during the 1950s, Mathew and Mugo maintain their friendship, despite their different races, but during these tense times, a single act of betrayal could alter everything.
Napoli, Donna Jo Stones in Water and Fire in the Hills
Stones in Water After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.
Fire in the Hills Upon returning to Italy, fourteen-year-old Roberto struggles to survive, first on his own, then as a member of the resistance, fighting against the Nazi occupiers while yearning to reach home safely and for an end to the war.
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds Blizzard’s Wake
In March of 1941, when a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, a girl trying to save her stranded father and brother inadvertently helps the man who killed her mother four years before.
Osborne, Mary Pope, Adaline Falling Star
Feeling abandoned by her deceased Arapaho mother and her explorer father, Adaline Falling Star runs away from the prejudiced cousins with whom she is staying and comes close to death in the wilderness, with only a mongrel dog for company.
Paterson, Katherine Bread and Roses, Too
Twelve-year-old Rosa and thirteen-year-old Jake form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Paterson, Katherine Jacob Have I Loved
Feeling deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to find her identity.
Paulsen, Gary The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West
The story of Bass Reeves who was born a slave and later became one of the most respected federal marshals in Oklahoma and Texas.
Paulsen, Gary Mr. Tucket
In 1848, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.
Peck Richard Fair Weather
Thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago in 1893 to visit Aunt Euterpe and attend the World's Columbian Exposition which, along with an encounter with Buffalo Bill and Lillian Russell, turns out to be a life-changing experience for everyone.
Peck, Richard A Season of Gifts
A companion novel to: A long way from Chicago and A year down yonder. Relates the surprising gifts bestowed on twelve-year-old Bob Barnhart and his family, who have recently moved to a small Illinois town in 1958, by their larger-than-life neighbor, Mrs. Dowdel.
Peck, Richard A Long Way From Chicago : A Novel in Stories
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
Peck Richard The River Between Us
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
Peck, Richard The Teacher's Funeral : A Comedy in Three Parts
In rural Indiana in 1904, fifteen-year-old Russell's dreams of quitting school and joining a wheat threshing crew are disrupted when his older sister takes over the teaching at his one-room schoolhouse after mean old Myrt Arbuckle dies.
Peck, Richard On the Wings of Heroes
A boy in Illinois remembers the homefront years of World War II, especially his two heroes--his brother in the Air Force and his father--who fought in the previous war.
Rabin, Staton, Betsy and the Emperor
In 1815 on the remote island of Saint Helena, fourteen-year-old Betsy Balcombe develops a friendly relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte who, after his defeat at Waterloo, is brought there as an exile and is housed with her family.
Rees, Celia Pirates! The True and Remarkable Adventures of Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, Female Pirates
At the dawn of the eighteenth century, Nancy Kington and Minerva Sharpe, set sail from Jamaica on a pirate vessel, hoping to escape from an arranged marriage and slavery.
Rees, Celia Witch Child
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.
Rinaldi, Ann Hang A Thousand Trees With Ribbons: The Story of Phyllis Wheatley
Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, a young girl is purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family in Boston. Phillis Wheatley--as she comes to be known--has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave--she becomes America’s first published black poet
Rinaldi, Ann The Red-Headed Princess
In 1542, nine-year-old Lady Elizabeth lives on an estate near London, striving to get back into the good graces of her father, King Henry VIII, and as the years pass she faces his death and those of other close relatives until she finds herself next in line to ascend the throne of England in 1558.
Rinaldi, Ann An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley
Relates the lives of Mary Todd Lincoln, raised in a wealthy Virginia family, and Lizzy Keckley, a dressmaker born a slave, as they grow up separately then become best friends when Mary's childhood dream of living in the White House comes true.
Roy, Jennifer Yellow Star
From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
Ryan, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
Salisbury, Graham Under the Blood-Red Sun.
Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Schlitz, Laura Amy A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama
In the early twentieth century, young orphan Maud Flynn hopes to finally be loved when she is adopted by the elderly Hawthorne sisters, but she is instead roped into the family's crooked seance business.
Schmidt, Gary D. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.
Scott, Elaine The Secrets of Cirque Medrano
In the Paris village of Montmartre in 1904, fourteen-year-old Brigitte works long hours in her aunt's cafe, where she serves such regular customers as the young artist Pablo Picasso, encounters Russian revolutionaries, and longs to attend the exciting circus nearby. Includes author's note on the Picasso painting "Family of Saltimbanques."
Sensel, Joni The Humming of Numbers
Aiden, a novice about to take monastic vows in tenth century Ireland, meets Lana, a girl who understands his ability to hear the sounds of numbers humming from all living things, and just as he is beginning to question his religious calling, the two of them are thrown together in a mission to save their village from invading Vikings.
Smith, Roland Elephant Run
Nick's father and others are taken prisoner when his plantation in Burma is invaded by the Japanese in 1941, leaving Nick and his friend Mya to risk their lives in order to free them from the POW camp.
Spain, Susan Rosson The Deep Cut
Considered "slow" by his father, Lonzo tries his best to help his family in Culpeper, Virginia, during the Civil War and, in the process, comes to some decisions about how to live his life.
Speare, Elizabeth George, The Witch of Blackbird Pond
In 1687 in Connecticut, Kit Tyler, feeling out of place in the Puritan household of her aunt, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and suddenly finds herself standing trial for witchcraft.
Sturtevant, Katherine A True and Faithful Narrative
In London in the 1680s, sixteen-year-old Meg tries to decide whether to marry either of the two men who court her, taking into account both love and her writing ambitions.
Thomson, Sarah Secret of the Rose
Rosalind Archer has secrets. Her father is in jail. She and her brother, Robin, are in hiding. Desperate to survive, she cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy. When the popular playwright Christopher Marlowe takes on Rosalind as his servant and scribe, she hopes that she and Robin will be safe, at least for a time. But Marlowe has secrets, too, and he is involved in something more sinister than writing plays for the Rose Theatre. A paper scribbled with mysterious symbols, an urgent warning, and a blood-stained letter all hint at danger that Rosalind is only beginning to understand. Rosalind's own secrets could lead to her death. But as she is pulled deeper into Marlowe's life, she finds that "his" secrets are just as deadly and even more likely to be revealed. And when they are, Marlowe isn't the only one who will be in peril. . . .
Updale, Eleanor Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?
In Victorian London, after his life is saved by a young physician, a thief utilizes the knowledge he gains in prison and from the scientific lectures he attends as the physician's case study exhibit to create a new, highly successful, double life for himself.
Whelan, Gloria Listening for Lions
Left an orphan after the influenza epidemic in British East Africa in 1919, thirteen-year-old Rachel is tricked into assuming a deceased neighbor's identity to travel to England, where her only dream is to return to Africa and rebuild her parents' mission hospital.
Whelan, Gloria The Disappeared
Teenaged Silvia tries to save her brother, Eduardo, after he is captured by the military government in 1970s Argentina.
Whelan, Gloria Angel on the Square
In 1913 Russia, twelve-year-old Katya eagerly anticipates leaving her St. Petersburg home, though not her older cousin Misha, to join her mother, a lady in waiting in the household of Tsar Nicholas II, but the ensuing years bring world war, revolution, and undreamed of changes to her life.
White, Ruth Way Down Deep
In the West Virginia town of Way Down Deep in the 1950s, a foundling called Ruby June is happily living with Miss Arbutus at the local boarding house when suddenly, after the arrival of a family of outsiders, the mystery of Ruby's past begins to unravel.
Whitney, Kim The Other Half of Life: A Novel Based on the True Story of the MS St. Louis
Fifteen-year-old Thomas sets sail on a German ship bound for Cuba in 1939 along with more than nine hundred German Jews expecting to be granted safe haven on the island, but he discovers that although the passengers have landing permits, they may not be allowed to enter the country.
Wilson, Diane Firehorse
Spirited fifteen-year-old horse lover Rachel Selby determines to become a veterinarian, despite the opposition of her rigid father, her proper mother, and the norms of Boston in 1872, while that city faces a serial arsonist and an epidemic spreading through its firehorse population.
Winthrop, Elizabeth Counting on Grace
Twelve-year-old Grace Forcier and her friend Arthur, taken out of school and put to work in a Vermont textile mill in 1910, are championed by their teacher who urges them to write the National Child Labor Committee, an action only Grace seems to realize will have serious repercussions.
Wolff, Virginia Bat 6
In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface
Yolen, Jane The Devil's Arithmetic
Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Zindel, Paul The Gadget
In 1945, having joined his father at Los Alamos, where he and other scientists are working on a secret project to end World War II, thirteen-year-old Stephen becomes caught in a web of secrecy and intrigue.
