Take a Trip Back in Time

Updated with new books at the top!

History's Intrigue

Clandestine meetings, killings and torture, romance, scandal, betrayal, adventures on the high seas...who says history is boring? Meet some of history's feisty women and courageous guys by taking a trip back in time. 
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Between Shades of Gray
By Ruta Sepetys

It's 1941 when Lina, her mother, and her  brother are pulled from their Lithuanian home by Soviet secret police and sent to a freezing work camp in Siberia. Her father is taken away and sentenced to death. Lina clings to the drawings she hopes will find their way to him, if he's still alive--and if she can survive the horrors.





Cross My Heart
By Sasha Gould

When Laura della Scala's older sister drowns, Laura leaves the shelter of the convent where she has spent the last six years. Instead, she enters the upper echelons of the 16th century's Venetian society to search for the truth about what happened to her sister.




Blue Thread
By Ruth Tenzer Feldman

It's 1912. Miriam Josefsohn is being groomed to become a socialite but dreams of working in the family print shop. When her father refuses to train her, Miriam devotes herself to women's suffrage. In the process, she meets the mysterious Serakh, who inquires about a special shawl with a single blue thread.

Cleopatra's Moon
By Vicky Alvear Shecter

Selene has grown up in a palace on the Nile with her parents, Cleopatra and Mark Antony, the most powerful rulers on Earth. But the jealous Roman Emperor Octavianus wants Egypt for himself. When forced to build a new life in Octavianus' household in Rome, Selene finds herself torn between two young men--and two possible destinies.




Cleopatra Confesses
By Carolyn Meyer

Princess Cleopatra, the third (and favorite) daughter of King Ptolemy XII, comes of age in ancient Egypt. Smart, ambitious, and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm that lures two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes that she can rely only on one person--herself.

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic
By Allan Wolf

A millionaire hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride without a media scandal. A beautiful Lebanese refugee discovers the first stirrings of love. And an ancient iceberg glides south, anticipating its fateful encounter. The voices in this re-creation of the Titanic disaster span the classes and stations of those caught in the horrific events.

Jefferson's Sons
By Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson's children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. While they get special treatment--better work, better shoes, even violin lessons--they're still slaves. Then, the lighter-skinned children have a chance to escape into white society. But what about the children who look more like their mother?

Daughter of Xanadu
By Dori Jones Yang

Princess Emmajin is determined to become a warrior in the army of her grandfather, the mighty Khubilai Khan, ruler of most of the known world. The last thing this strong Mongolian teen needs is the distraction of a foreigner, Marco Polo, who challenges her beliefs about war and love.

Ausländer
By Paul Dowswell

When Peter's parents are killed, he is sent to an orphanage in Warsaw, Poland. Peter is of German blood, and with his blond hair and blue eyes, the Nazis decide he is racially valuable. But Peter doesn't want to be a Nazi. Instead, he takes the most dangerous risk possible in 1942 Berlin.




Caleb's Wars
By David Dudley

At 15, Caleb's commitment to justice grows as he faces power struggles with his father, fights to keep his temper and self-respect in dealing with whites, and puzzles over the German prisoners of war brought to his rural Georgia community during World War II.

March Toward the Thunder
By Joseph Bruchac

Louis Nollette, a 15-year-old Abenaki Indian, joins the Irish Brigade in 1864 to fight for the Union in the Civil War. This new book is based on the author's great-grandfather's life.

Small Acts of Amazing Courage
By Gloria Whelan

In 1919, independent-minded Rosalind lives in India with her English parents. When they fear the 15-year-old has fallen in with some rebellious types who believe in Indian self-government, she is sent "home" to London. Rosalind's life is set against hardships the Indian people face and the rise of Ghandi.





Deadly
By Julie Chibbaro

A mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever is sweeping New York. Could the city's future rest with its most unlikely scientist? If Prudence is ever going to get out of the School for Girls, she must secure a job that's appropriate for a young lady. But Prudence isn't like the other girls. She's fascinated by how the human body works--and why it fails.





My Last Skirt: The story of Jennie Hodgers, Union soldier
By Lynda Durrant

Enjoying the freedom afforded her while dressing as a boy to earn higher pay after emigrating from Ireland, Jennie Hodgers serves in the 95th Illinois Infantry as Private Albert Cashier, a Union soldier in the American Civil War.





Annexed
By Sharon Dogar

Everyone knows about Anne Frank and her life hidden in the secret annex during the Holocaust--but what about Peter, the boy who was also trapped there with her?






Mare's War
By Tanita S. Davis

Teens Octavia and Tali learn about strength and courage when they're forced to take a car trip with their grandmother who describes growing up black in 1940s Alabama and serving during World War II in the Women's Army Corps.

The Education of Bet
By Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Bet feels confined in the home of her wealthy benefactor. Will is unhappy with his fate, too. So, Bet pretends she’s a boy and take Will’s place at school -- but the stirrings of attraction for her roommate get Bet into real trouble.






A Wish After Midnight
By Zetta Elliott

At 15, Genna wants out of her tough Brooklyn neighborhood. But she gets more than she bargained for when a wish gone awry transports her back in time. Facing the perilous realities of Civil War–era Brooklyn, Genna must use all her wits to survive.




The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak

Told from the perspective of Death during World War II, this is the story of Liesel, a scrappy young foster girl living with a German couple. Liesel beats up boys, loves her foster dad, and scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing. She also encounters something she can't resist: books.





Belle Boy: A Sister in the Rebel Ranks
By Anne Fuller

When her brother, goes missing in action while fighting for the South, Samantha Anne disguises herself as a man and joins the Confederate Army to search for him.






Chains
By Laurie Halse Anderson

As the Revolutionary War begins, 13-year-old slave Isabel wages her own battle...for freedom. She's owned by a cruel New York City couple who have no sympathy for the colonists -- and even less for their slaves. Then Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots. Sequel: Forge


  

Revolution
By Jennifer Donnelly

An angry 17-year-old musician facing expulsion from her prestigious private school travels to Paris for a school assignment. There, she uncovers a diary written during the French Revolution by a young actress helping a tortured, imprisoned little boy–Louis Charles, the lost king of France.

Bright Young Things
By Anna Godbersen

Cordelia, 18, and her stage-struck friend Letty run away from their small Ohio town to seek their fortunes in New York City. They find themselves drawn into situations and relationships, particularly with the dazzling Astrid, that change their lives forever.
Sequel: Beautiful Days

Vixen
By Jillian Larkin

In 1923 Chicago, Gloria rebels against her upcoming society wedding by visiting a speakeasy, while her Pennsylvania cousin hides similar tastes, and her best friend makes plans of her own.





The Luxe
By Anna Godbersen

In Manhattan in 1899, five teens from different social classes lead dangerously scandalous lives despite the strict rules of society and the best-laid plans of parents and others.

Sequels: Rumors, Envy, Splendor

Strings Attached
By Judy Blundell

It's 1950 when Kit arrives in New York. She's fled her family and broken off her tempestuous relationship with Billy. Yet, help comes from Billy's father, a lawyer involved in the mob who makes a deal: He'll give Kit an apartment and introduce her around. All she has to do is keep him informed about Billy...and do him a favor every now and then.




What I Saw and How I Lied
By Judy Blundell

In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, 15-year-old Evie is smitten by the handsome young ex-GI, Joe. But Evie finds herself caught in a complex web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life--and that of her family--forever.



 

Fever 1793
By Laurie Halse Anderson

Matilda Cook, 14, grumbles while doing chores and flirts with a cute boy--normal stuff. Then, yellow fever strikes Philadelphia in 1793 and turns the hot summer streets into morgues. Matilda suddenly finds herself trapped in a death-filled nightmare.

Climbing the Stairs
By Padma Venkatraman

It's India in 1941 when Vidya's father is badly injured in a non-violent protest march. At 15, Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father’s extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life with highly restrictive roles for women.





The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
By Jacqueline Kelly

In central Texas in 1899, 11-year-old Callie studies the natural world with her grandfather and the help of Charles Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species."
 

The True Adventures of Charley Darwin
By Carolyn Meyer

Young Charley Darwin hated school. He much preferred to study birds' eggs, feathers, and insects. At 21, he boarded the HMS Beagle and spent five thrilling and dangerous years in the 1830s sailing around the world studying plant and animal life. This is his life story as told by a novelist.

Milkweed
By Jerry Spinelli

He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Filthy son of Abraham. He lives on the streets of Warsaw, steals food, and wants to be a Nazi some day. Then, the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, and he realizes it's safest to be nobody.

Two Girls of Gettysburg
By Lisa Klein

When the Civil War breaks out, cousins Lizzie and Rosanna find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict until the war reunites them in the town of Gettysburg.

Revolver
By Marcus Sedgwick

Alone at his family’s cabin in the Arctic Circle in 1910, 15-year-old Sig is held captive by his father’s former business partner. Armed and irate, the man claims he is owed a share of stolen gold about which Sig knows nothing.

The Seer of Shadows
By Avi

Horace, a photographer’s apprentice in 1872 New York, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photograph. But when he accidentally frees the ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn.


 

Wicked Girls: A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials
By Stephanie Hemphill

Written in verse, this is a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials, told from the perspective of three young women whose accusations of witchcraft sent the town of Salem into lethal chaos.
   

The Boy Who Dared
By Susan Campbell Bartoletti

In 1942, 17-year-old Helmuth, 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.






 Just Jane
By William Lavender

Lady Jane Prentice, orphaned daughter of an English earl, arrives in Charlestown, South Carolina (sound familiar?). It's 1776, and Jane finds herself plunged into the middle of a heated war--one not only between her former country and her new home but also between her own family members.




 
Al Capone Does My Shirts
By Gennifer Choldenko

Moose, 12, moves to Alcatraz in 1935 so his father can work as a prison guard and his autistic sister, Natalie, can attend a special school at a time when the prison houses notorious criminals like gangster Al Capone.

Sequel: Al Capone Shines My Shoes

In the Path of Falling Objects
By Andrew Smith

In 1970, after their older brother is shipped off to Vietnam, 16-year-old Jonah and his younger brother, Simon, leave home to find their father, who's being released from an Arizona prison. Yet, they soon find themselves hitching a ride with a violent killer.

The Devil’s Paintbox
By Victoria McKernan

In 1866, 15-year-old Aidan and his younger sister, Maddy, are penniless orphans who leave drought-stricken Kansas on a wagon train hoping for a better life in Seattle. Yet, they find many hardships await.






Mutiny: A Novel of the Bounty
By John Boyne

In 1789, 14-year-old John avoids a prison sentence by accepting a position aboard the Bounty where there is great unrest among the crew.






Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior
By Chris Bradford

Orphaned by a ninja pirate attack off the coast of Japan in 1611, English lad Jack is determined to prove himself, despite the bullying of fellow students. Then, the legendary sword master who rescued him trains him as a samurai warrior.

Sequels: Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword, Young Samurai: The Way of the Dragon



Ivy
By Julie Hearn

In 19th Century London, Ivy is young, mistreated, and destitute. Her main asset is her beautiful red hair, which draws the eye of an aspiring painter of the pre-Raphaelite school of artists who, with the aid of Ivy's unsavory family, is determined to make her his model--and muse.

Check out Julie Hearn's new follow up, Hazel.

The Pale Assassin
By Patricia Elliott

In early 1790s Paris, as the Revolution gains momentum, a sheltered 14-year-old, Eugénie de Boncoeur, finds it hard to tell friend from foe as she and the royalist brother she relies on become the focus of "Le Fantôme," a sinister spymaster with a grudge against their family.




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