Chains: Seeds of America by Laurie Halse Anderson
After being sold to a cruel family in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War. Read the rest of the Seeds of America series: Forge and Ashes.
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Set in 1947, with her stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever. Winner of the National Book Award.
Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer
Reduced to begging and thievery in the streets of London in the early 1800’s, a thirteen-year-old orphan disguises herself as a boy and connives her way onto a British warship set for high sea adventure in search of pirates. First in a series.
Hush: an Irish Princess’ Tale by Donna Jo Napoli
Melkorka, a princess of ancient Ireland, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders. She not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.
Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen
From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Indians who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes.
Tamar by Mal Peet
A moving wartime romance. Tamar is grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather. She slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Set in Nazi-occupied Warsaw just before the Warsaw ghetto uprising, this novel tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival though the bright eyes of a young orphan.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It is 1939 Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Grave Digger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.
My Name is Not Friday by Jon Walter
Samuel and his younger brother, Joshua, are free black boys living in an orphanage during the Civil War, but when Samuel takes the blame for his brother's prank, he is sent South, given a new name, and sold into slavery--and somehow he must survive both captivity and the war, to find his way back to his brother.
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
In mid-thirteenth century Provence, Dolssa de Stigata is a fervently religious girl who feels the call to preach, condemned by the Inquisition as an "unnatural woman," and hunted by the Dominican Friar Lucien who fears a resurgence of the Albigensian heresy; Botille is a matchmaker trying to protect her sisters from being branded as gypsies or witches--but when she finds the hunted Dolssa dying on a hillside, she feels compelled to protect her, a decision that may cost her everything.
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
China,1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils." Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils" - Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity. Also check out volume 2: Saints.
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina
Nora Lopez is seventeen during the summer of 1977, when New York is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam. Meg Medina transports us to a time when tempers and temperatures ran high to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit.
Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh
Jepp, a teenage dwarf living in 16th century Europe, leaves home to seek his destiny.
Hurricane Dancers by Margarita Engle
Quebrado has been a slave on Captain Bernadino de Talavera's pirate ship for years, but when a hurricane sinks the ship and kills most of the crew, Quebrado escapes to safety and finds acceptance and refuge in a nearby village.
