After the Train by Gloria Whelan(2009)Ten years after the end of the Second World War, the town of Rolfen, West Germany, looks just as peaceful and beautiful as ever, until young Peter Liebig discovers a secret about his past that leads him to question everything, including the town's calm facade and his own sense of comfort and belonging.
Andie's Moon by Linda Newbery(2007)
Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura Williams(1996)Thirteen-year-old Korinna must decide whether to report her parents to her Hitler youth group when she discovers that they are hiding Jews in a secret space behind Korinna's bedroom wall.
Beware, Princess Elizabeth by Carolyn Meyer(2001)After the death of her father, King Henry VIII, in 1547, thirteen-year-old Elizabeth must endure the political intrigues and dangers of the reigns of her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary before finally becoming Queen of England eleven years later.
Blue Fingers: a Ninja's Tale by Cheryl Aylward Whitesel(2004)Having failed apprenticeship as a dye maker, Koji is captured and forced to train as a ninja, where he remains disloyal until he discovers samurai have burned his former village.
Broken Song by Kathryn Lasky(2005)In 1897, fifteen-year-old Reuven Bloom, a Russian Jew, must set aside his dreams of playing the violin in order to save himself and his baby sister after the rest of their family is murdered.
Burying the Sun by Gloria Whelan(2004)In Leningrad in 1941, when Russia and Germany are at war, fourteen-year-old Georgi vows to help his family and his city during the terrible siege.
Catherine: the Great Journey by Kristiana Gregory(2005)A fictional diary of Princess Sophie, later named Catherine, from 1743 until 1745, when at age fifteen she is married to her second cousin Peter, Grand Duke of Russia, who will one day be Emperor..
Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society by Adeline Yen Mah(2005)During the Japanese occupation of parts of China, twelve-year-old Ye Xian is thrown out of her father's and stepmother's home, joins a martial arts group, and tries to help her aunt and the Americans in their struggle against the Japanese invaders. Includes historical notes.
A Coming Evil by VIvian Vande Velde(1998)During the German occupation of France in 1940, thirteen-year-old Lisette meets a ghost while living with her aunt who harbors Jewish and Gypsy children in the French countryside.
The Crimson Oak by E.M. Almedingen(1983)Peter, a Russian peasant boy, twelve years old in the year 1739 and full of dreams, chances to cross paths with the exiled Princess Elizabeth and comes to realize his fate is linked to hers.
Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi(2002)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.
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli(1949)When Robin, the son of a nobleman, falls and loses the use of his legs, he is abandoned and left alone. A monk named Brother Luke rescues Robin and takes him to the hospice of St. Mark's were he is taught woodcarving and--much harder--patience and strength.
Elizabeth I, Red Rose of the House of Tudor by Kathryn Lasky(1999)In a series of diary entries, Princess Elizabeth, the eleven-year-old daughter of King Henry VIII, celebrates holidays and birthdays, relives her mother's execution, revels in her studies, and agonizes over her father's health.
The Fall of the Amazing Zalindas by Tracy Mack(2006)The ragamuffin boys known as the Baker Street Irregulars help Sherlock Holmes solve the mysterious deaths of a family of circus tightrope walkers.
For Freedom: the Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley(2003)Despite the horrors of World War II, a French teenager pursues her dream of becoming an opera singer, which takes her to places where she gains information about what the Nazis are doing--information that the French Resistance needs.
Freedom Beyond the Sea by Waldtraut Lewin(2001)To escape the Inquisition, Esther Marchadi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a murdered Jewish rabbi, disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew of Christopher Columbus's "Santa Maria."
Freedom's Pen: a Story Based on the Life of Freed Slave and Author Phillis Wheatley by Wendy Lawton(2009)A fictionalized biography of the girl who was brought to America from Gambia as a slave and who later gained fame as an African American poet of great renown, from her time in Africa until she gained her freedom.
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy Hoobler(1999)While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan.
Good Bye Marianne by Irene Watts(1998)
Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian(1981)A battered child learns to embrace life when he is adopted by an old man in the English countryside during the Second World War.
Henry by Nina Bawden(1988)Evacuated to the English countryside during World War II, a fatherless family tries to raise a baby squirrel that also lost its home.
Hiroshima: a Novella by Laurence Yep(1995)Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
The Impossible Journey by Gloria Whelan(2003)In 1934, thirteen-year-old Marya and her younger brother, Georgi, set out alone on a long and arduous journey into Siberia to find their mother after she and their father are exiled for opposing Stalin.
In the Eye of War by Margaret Chang(1990)During the final days of the Japanese occupation of China, Shao-shao celebrates his tenth birthday, observes traditional holidays with his family, and befriends the daughter of a traitor.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick(2007)When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.
Isabel, Jewel of Castilla by Carolyn Meyer(2000)While waiting anxiously for others to choose a husband for her, Isabella, the future Queen of Spain, keeps a diary account of her life as a member of the royal family.
Isabel, Taking Wing by Annie Dalton(2002)In 1592, twelve-year-old Isabel dreams of adventure and finds it, not only on her journey from her London home to her aunt's manor house in Northamptonshire, but also through the healing arts her aunt teaches her.
Kai: a Mission for her Village by Dawn Thomas(1996)In fifteenth-century Africa, Kai and her beautiful but lazy older sister Jamila undertake a perilous four-day journey to another Yoruba village, seeking help for their starving tribe after the blight of the yam crop.
Kathleen: the Celtic Knot by Siobhan Parkinson(2003)Twelve-year-old Dubliner Kathleen Delaney is given the chance to take Irish dancing lessons in 1937 and discovers she has a talent for it.
The Kite Rider: a Novel by Geraldine McCaughrean(2001)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.
The Knight and the Squire by Terry Jones(1997)
The Lacemaker and the Princess by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley(2007)In 1788, eleven-year-old Isabelle, living with her lacemaker grandmother and mother near the palace of Versailles, becomes close friends with Marie Antoinette's daughter, Princess Therese, and finds their relationship complicated not only by their different social class but by the growing political unrest and resentment of the French people.
Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South by Laurence Yep(2001)In 531 A.D., a fifteen-year-old princess of the Hsien tribe in southern China keeps a diary which describes her role as liaison between her own people and the local Chinese colonists, in times of both peace and war.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan(2005)Left an orphan after the influenza epidemic in British East Africa in 1918, 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.
My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins(1994)Living as refugees in Japan in 1947 while trying to locate their missing father, thirteen-year-old Yoko and her older brother and sister must endure a bad fire, injury, and false charges of arson, theft, and murder.
My Guardian Angel by Sylvie Weil(2004)In 11th century Troyes, France, Elvina, the unusual granddaughter of renowned Jewish rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, who prefers studying and writing to activities considered respectable for girls, takes a great risk by helping a young boy who has run away from a group of Christian Crusaders.
The Night of the Burning: Devorah's Story by Linda Press Wulf(2006)Still sad and frightened after living in Poland through World War I and the Russian Revolution, twelve-year-old Devorah Lehrman, her younger sister, and other Jewish orphans travel with Isaac Ochberg to South Africa and make a new start.
Polly's March by Linda Newbery(2004)
Quest for a Maid by Frances Mary Hendry(1990)Aware of her older sister's powers of sorcery, which have been used to help secure the Scottish throne for Robert de Brus, Meg realizes she must try to protect the young Norwegian princess who has been chosen as rightful heir.
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit(2005)When their father is sent away to prison, three London children move to the country where they keep busy preventing accidents on the nearby railway, making many new friends, and generally learning a good deal about themselves.
The Redheaded Princess by Ann Rinaldi(2008)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.
The Robber and Me by Josef Holub(1997)Because he knows that the man accused of robbery is innocent, an eleven-year-old orphan struggles to find courage to reveal the truth to his uncle in their small German village in 1867.
Saba: Under the Hyena's Foot by Jane Kurtz(2003)After being kidnapped and brought to the emperor's palace in Gondar, Ethiopia, twelve-year-old Saba discovers that she and her brother are part of the emperor's desperate attempt to consolidate political power in the mid-1840's.
The Samurai's Tale by Erik Christian Haugaard(1984)In turbulent sixteenth-century Japan, orphaned Taro is taken in by a general serving the great warlord Takeda Shingen and grows up to become a samurai fighting for the enemies of his dead family.
The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood(2000)A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty.
Shakespeare's Scribe by Gary Blackwood(2000)In plague-ridden 1602 England, a fifteen-year-old orphan boy, who has become an apprentice actor, goes on the road with Shakespeare's troupe, and finds out more about his parents along the way.
The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett(2006)In France during World War I, four French children learn about honesty, loyalty, and courage from an English army deserter who tells them a series of stories related to his small, silver donkey charm.
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(2001)Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox(2001)Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen-year-old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo.
So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins(1994)A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.
Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars by Sheri Holman(2002)In a series of messages placed in her grandmother's ancestral jar, a seventh century princess and future ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla vents her frustration at not being permitted to study astronomy because she is a girl.
Spring Pearl: the Last Flower by Laurence Yep(2002)Called boyish by her new family for being able to read and write, twelve-year-old orphaned Spring Pearl's "odd ways" help save the family during the 1857 Opim War in Canton, China.
The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson(2004)After twelve-year-old Annika, a foundling living in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.
The Striped Ships by Eloise Jarvis McGraw(1991)Juliana, an eleven-year-old Saxon girl, loses her home and family when the Normans conquer England in 1066 and seeks to order her life by becoming involved in the creation of the Bayeux tapestry.
Toro! Toro! by Michael Morpurgo(2002)
Touch Wood: a Girlhood in Occupied France by Renee Roth-Hano(1988)In this autobiographical novel set in Nazi-occupied France, Renée, a young Jewish girl, and her family flee their home in Alsace and live a precarious existence in Paris until Renée and her sister escape to the shelter of a convent in Normandy.
The Traitor's Gate by Avi(2007)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.
Tug of War by Joan Lingard(1990)Follows the ordeal of fourteen-year-old twins Astra and Hugo Petersons, as they and their family flee their native Latvia before the advancing Russian armies in late 1944 and find themselves homeless refugees in a war-torn Germany.
Victoria, May Blossom of Britannia by Anna Kirwan(2002)In 1829, nine-year-old Victoria begins a journal chronicling her life as an English princess. Includes information on the reign, marriage, and family life of Queen Victoria and English civilization during that period.
Victory by Susan Cooper(2007)Alternating chapters follow the mysterious connection between a homesick English girl living in present-day America and an eleven-year-old boy serving in the British Royal Navy in 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Victory, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson.
The Wadjet Eye by Jill Rubalcaba(2000)After his mother dies, Damon, a young medical student living in Alexandria, Egypt, in 45 B.C., makes a perilous journey to Spain to locate his father who is serving in the Roman army led by Julius Caesar.
Waiting for Anya by Michael Morpurgo(1991)
When My Name was Keoko by Linda Sue Park(2002)With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
The Winter Hare by Joan Goodman(1996)In 1140, with England divided between the supporters of King Stephen and those of the Empress Matilda, twelve-year-old Will Belet, small for his age but longing to be a knight, comes to his Uncle's castle to be a page and soon finds himself involved in dangerous intrigues and adventures.
