Historical Literature For Teens

Brion is trapped in a hopeless search for his mentor and friend Redmond, who has disappeared in a kingdom on the brink of civil war. When he falls afoul of the regent Lady Adelaide, Brion finds himself beyond the bounds of the law, pursued by assassins, and accused of kidnapping the boy-king of Morcia. Now, he must pluck Redmond out of a thousand square miles of enemy territory while evading clashing armies and keeping his friends alive.

One year of training in samurai school, and Jack Fletcher is in real trouble. Not only is he struggling to prepare for the Circle of Three, an ancient ritual that tests a samurai's courage, skill and spirit to the limit, he's caught in a running battle with fellow student Kazuki and his gang. But these are the least of Jack's problems. He knows his deadly rival - the ninja Dragon Eye - could strike at any moment. Jack possesses the very thing he will kill for.

Even though he has been king of Britain for four years, Arthur's position is far from secure. Rulers of the island's many small fiefdoms are still reluctant to admit his sovereignty. And the sorceress Morgause, believing her own sons have as much blood right to rule as Arthur, plots openly against his life.

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.

When a mysterious Scotsman suddenly appears in the middle of the road, Klara thinks the biggest problem is whether she hit him with her car. But, as impossible as it sounds, Callum has stepped out of another time, and it’s just the beginning of a deadly adventure. Klara will soon learn that she is the last Pillar of Time—an anchor point in the timeline of the world and a hiding place for a rogue goddess’s magic.

As the realm struggles to maintain an uneasy peace after years of civil war and tyranny, a 12-year-old orphan called Mosca Mye and her loyal companion, a cantankerous goose, are about to become the unlikely heroes of a radical revolution. Mosca is on the run, heading for the city of Mandelion. There she finds herself living by her wits among cut-throat highwaymen, spies and smugglers. With peril at every turn, Mosca uncovers a dark plot to terrorise the people of Mandelion, and soon merry mayhem leads to murder....

When Roberto sneaks off to see a movie in his Italian village, he has no idea that life as he knows it is over. German soldiers raid the theater, round up the boys in the audience, and pack them onto a train. After a terrifying journey, Roberto and his best friend Samuele find themselves in a brutal work camp, where food is scarce and horror is everywhere. The boys vow to stay together no matter what. But Samuele has a dangerous secret, which, if discovered, could get them both killed. Lovers of historical fiction will be captivated by this tragic, triumphant, and deeply moving novel.

Irish fairy tales and legends - full of enchantment, brave deeds and lost loves. The best tales from the Irish tradition, including: 'How Cúchulainn Got His Name', 'The Magic Shoes', 'Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach', 'The King’s Secret', 'The Children of Lir', 'The Giant’s Causeway', 'The Bodach of the Grey Coat', 'The Pot of Gold', 'Tír na n-Óg' and 'The White Gander'. Irish fairy tales and legends are full of enchantment, brave deeds and lost loves. Told from generation to generation, they are as fascinating now as they were to their original listeners.

High in the Samnium Mountains of southern Italy, Chloé, daughter of a Roman patrician and his Greek wife, lives as a slave. The mysterious and tragic story of Chloé's birth is told and retold to her by her fellow-slave Melissa, who served her mother and now cares for the young Chloé. But hatred for the father who abandoned her festers in Chloé's heart as she and Melissa weave for long hours each day in the tiny mountain hut above her father's neglected villa - which he has not visited since before Chloé's birth.

Could you survive in a cave...for a whole year? That's the challenge facing 14-year-old Jacob. Set in Ukraine during the final months of World War II, The Hidden Room is based on the true story of a Jewish family who escapes from the Nazis by taking refuge in a remote cave. Jacob adjusts to the hardships of living underground and the dangers of nighttime adventures outside the cave. Food is scarce. Darkness, bone-chilling cold, and the fear of being captured are constant. But a surprising discovery gives his family reason to hope.

Vasilisa has listened to tales of Old Rus all her life, a fantastical forest realm ruled over by the witch Baba Yaga, home to the mischievous Leshy, the deadly rusalka, and Old Koschei, butcher of hearts. But never would she have dreamed it to be real -- nor imagined that she would go searching for it, accompanied only by Ivan, a mysterious orphan searching for revenge. When her grandmother falls ill and the visions begin, Vasilisa embarks on a journey to the thrice-tenth kingdom, where the secret to Babka's cure and Ivan's revenge lies hidden in the mists.

Of The Lion of St. Mark, G.A. Henty wrote: "I have laid my story in the time not of the triumphs of Venice but of her hardest struggle for existence, when she defended herself successfully against the coalition of Hungary, Padua, and Genoa, for never at any time were the virtues of Venice, her steadfastness, her patriotism, and her willingness to make all sacrifice for her independence more brilliantly shown.

From the moment he and his mother arrived from England, everything about India shouted adventure to 14-year-old John Knight. But John and his mother are not prepared for what they discover when they befriend an Irish missionary named Amy Carmichael. With a heart for justice, John is shocked to learn that a young Indian girl rescued by Carmichael is a "child bride" being legally forced by her wicked uncle to marry an elderly man! Listen to find out more.

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's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger'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.

In the heart of the Great Depression, Rancho Las Moras, like everywhere else in Texas, is gripped by the drought of the Dust Bowl, and resentment is building among white farmers against Mexican Americans. All around town, signs go up proclaiming “No Dogs or Mexicans” and “No Mexicans Allowed.” When Estrella organizes a protest against the treatment of tejanos in their town of Monteseco, Texas, her whole family becomes a target of “repatriation” efforts to send Mexicans “back to Mexico”—whether they were ever Mexican citizens or not.

It’s 1945, and Lorna Anderson’s life on her father’s farm in Scotland consists of endless chores and rationing, knitting Red Cross scarves, and praying for an Allied victory. So when Paul Vogel, a German prisoner of war, is assigned as the new farmhand, Lorna is appalled. But as Lorna reluctantly spends time with Paul, she feels herself changing. The more she learns about him - from his time fighting a war he doesn’t believe in, to his life back home in Germany - the more she sees the boy behind the soldier.

After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent by her mother to live for a year with her aunt and uncle. It is a year which will change her life. The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's big colonial mansion hides many secrets. It also has an unusual occupant in Pochiko, a Pygmy hippopotamus who is the last survivor from a time when the extensive gardens housed a zoo. But it is Tomoko's growing friendship with her cousin Mina which has the most profound effect on her time with the family.

Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and - of course - purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes. But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe.

Winner of the Thomas Alva Edison Annual Children’s Book Award for Excellence in Portraying America’s Past The second book in the Treegate series picks up right where John Treegate’s Musket left off—following both the events of the American War for Independence and 16-year-old Peter’s clash of loyalty to his real father, John Treegate, and to his foster father, the Maclaren of Spey (a Scottish clansman). Peter’s two fathers are both jealous and distrustful of each other as well as worlds apart in thought and philosophy, and Peter struggles to be true to both men while also trying...

His home destroyed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Murph Turner stumbles into the exotic town of Broome, hoping for safe harbor. Instead, the troubled teen discovers a wild and lawless place brimming with espionage, treachery, and romance. An outsider in a bewildering land of red dust and paranoia, Murph is quickly taken under wing by Banjo, a cheeky aboriginal scamp with a passion for pyrotechnics, and Micki, a beautiful teenager on the run from authorities.