Guide to children’s and YA historical novels for 2016

This is our guide to historical novels published in 2016, covering children’s, middle-grade and young adult titles, set in the 1960s and earlier. Details are compiled by Fiona Sheppard using US, CAN & UK catalogues and are based on publisher descriptions. To aid in selection we list the age category the book is aimed at.

For newer titles, check out of lists of forthcoming adult historical novels for 2021 and for children and YA for 2021.

January 2016

Julie Berry, The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow
Place, Square Fish, Ages 10 – 14 (humorous Victorian
romp, full of plot twists, mistaken identities and mysterious
events)

Faye Bird, My Second Life, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR),
Ages 12 – 18 (poses the question – can 15-yr-old Ana be held responsible for something she did in a previous life?)

Cheryl Blackford, Lizzie and the Lost Baby, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 9 – 12 (Yorkshire, W W II: told from dual perspective of Lizzie, a 10-yr-old evacuee and Elijah, a local Gypsy boy)

Alexandra Bracken, Passenger, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 14 +
(fantasy time travel adventure in which violin prodigy Etta Spencer awakens in 1776)

Lena Coakley, World of Ink and Shadow, Amulet Books, Ages 13 + (based on the Brontës’ juvenilia, ‘The Worlds Below’. Brings to life one of history’s most celebrated literary families)

Eric Elliott, Dear Miss Karana, Heyday Kids, Ages 9 – 12
(story unlocks the mystery of the lone woman from the Island of the Blue Dolphins)

Gregory Funaro, Alistair Grim’s Odd Aquaticum, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 8 – 12
(2nd in ‘Odditorium’ series; steampunk fantasy set in 19th –c London)

Ramin Ganeshram, Vanessa Brantley-Newton, A Birthday Cake for George Washington, Scholastic Press, Ages 7 – 10 (enslaved girl’s father bakes a cake for Washington)

Alison Goodman, The Dark Days Club (The Dark Days Trilogy, Book 1), Razorbill Can/Aus/Viking US, Ages 12 + (London April 1812: a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter)

Susan E. Goodman, E.B. Lewis, The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial, Bloomsbury Press, Ages 6 – 9 (set in 1847 Boston, the inspiring story of first girl to fight in court to integrate schools)

Holly Grant, The League of Beastly Dreadfuls, Book 1, Yearling, Ages 8 – 12 (humorous mystery adventure series with orphans, secretive aunties and a creepy Victorian house)

Michael Grant, Front Lines, Katherine Tegen Books, Ages 14 + (WW II, 1942-court decision makes women subject to the draft & 3 daring young women sign up to play their part)

Roger Lancelyn Green, Tales of Ancient Egypt, Puffin Books, Ages 8 +
(collection of stories brings the world of Ancient Egypt to life)

Shannon Hitchcock, Ruby Lee and Me, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (mid 20th-c story of young people coming to terms with prejudice and its effect on the world around them)

Kay Honeyman, The Fire Horse Girl, Scholastic Inc, Ages 12 +
(romantic adventure with insight into Chinese immigration to America in 1920s)

Tomiko Inui, Ginny Tapley Takemori, The Secret of the Blue Glass, Pushkin Children’s Books, Ages 8 – 12 (when Japan is caught up in WW II the shortage of milk becomes key in a Moriyama family tradition)

Catherine Jinks, The Last Bogler, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 9 – 12
(magical fantasy adventure set on the seamy streets of Victorian London; 3rd in series)

Matthew J. Kirby, Infinity Ring Book 5: Cave of Wonders, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (what marvels and dangers await Dak, Sera and Riq in the Golden Age of Baghdad?)

Kate Klimo, Tim Jessell, Dog Diaries #8: Fala, Random House BfYR, Ages 7 – 10
(President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Scottie dog, Fala, helps to run nation during WW II)

Lynne Kositsky, With Fearful Bravery, Dancing Cat, Ages 12 – 16 (fleeing Nazi Germany after her father disappears saves 15-year-old Freda from the Holocaust)

Danny Kravitz, Tony Foti, Tommy McKnight and the Great Election, Stone Arch Books, Ages 8 – 14 (10-yr-old boy with polio is inspired by crippled FDR who is running for president)

Kirby Larson, Audacity Jones to the Rescue, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (adventure of an wayward orphan who winds up in the White House Kitchens to stop a kidnapping plot)

Kathryn Lasky, Horses of the Dawn #3: Wild Blood, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12
(conclusion to the trilogy about Estrella and her herd)

Katherine Marsh, Kelly Murphy, The Door by the Staircase, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 8 – 12 (dark mystery drawn from Russian myth and folklore about 12-yr-old adopted from an orphanage)

Kate Messner, Kelley McMorris, Ranger in Time #3: Long Road to Freedom, Scholastic Press, Ages 7 – 10 (Ranger travels to Maryland plantation during time of American slavery)

Dan Metcalf, The Scroll of Alexandria (A Lottie Lipton Adventure), Bloomsbury Press,
Ages 7 – 9 (Lottie lives in the British Museum and is an investigator extraordinaire)

Dan Metcalf, The Egyptian Enchantment (A Lottie Lipton Adventure), Bloomsbury Press, Ages 7 – 9 (humorous mystery series with a 9-year-old investigator extraordinaire)

Katrina Nannestad, When Mischief Came to Town, HMH Books for Young Readers,
Ages 8 – 12 (10-year-old orphan, Inge brings joy to her grandmother’s island village)

Marilyn Nelson, American Ace, Dial Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (novel in verse about a boy who discovers his real father was African American WW II Tuskegee Airman)

Simon Nicholson, Young Houdini: The Silent Assassin, Oxford, Ages 10 – 13
(adventure series about the imagined life of young Harry)

Michael Northrop, TombQuest Book 4: The Stone Warriors, Scholastic Press,
Ages 8 – 12 (fourth epic adventure filled with the magic of ancient Egypt)

Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca, Magic Tree House #51: High Time for Heroes, Random House BfYR, Ages 7 – 10 (Jack & Annie are off to Thebes to find Florence Nightingale)

Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca, Magic Tree House #54: Balto of the Blue Dawn, Random House BfYR, Ages 7 – 10 (Alaska 1925 and Balto of diphtheria vaccine fame)

William Osborne, Winter’s Bullet, Chicken House, Ages 12 +
(WW II adventure set in Amsterdam)

Annette Oppenlander, Escape from the Past: The Kid (Book 2), Lodestone Books, Age 12 + (time-traveling gamer, Max embarks on a harrowing journey through the Wild West of 1881)

Robert A. Parker, Piano Starts Here : The Young Art Tatum, Dragonfly, Ages 4 – 8
(fictional story of pianist who came from modest background and was almost blind)

Denise Lewis Patrick, Juliana Kolesova, No Ordinary Sound: A Melody Classic, American Girl, Ages 8 – 12, (set during Civil Rights Movement of 1960s)

Willie Perdomo, Bryan Collier, Clemente!, Square Fish, Ages 6 – 10
(a boy named Clemente learns about his namesake – baseball player Roberto Clemente)

David Potter, The Left Behinds: Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union, Crown BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (iTime app sends Mel, Bev & Brandon to Washington, D.C., 1863)

Trent Reedy, Burning Nation (Divided We Fall #2), Arthur A. Levine, Ages 14 +
(provocative alternate history about second American Civil War)

Ransom Riggs, Cassandra Jean, Hollow City: The Graphic Novel, Yen Press, Ages 13 +
(graphic novel fantasy of Miss Peregrine and her children)

Dean Robbins, Sean Qualls, Selina Alko, Two Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, Orchard Books, Ages 4 – 8 (two famous characters chat about their efforts to win rights for women and African Americans)

David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson, Betty, HighWater Press, Ages 14 +
(story of the murder of Helen Betty Osborne. Graphic-novel format)

David Alexander Robertson, Scott B. Henderson, 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga, HighWater Press, Ages 14 + (follows one Plains Cree family from early 19th-c to present day. Graphic-novel format)

Sharon Robinson, The Hero Two Doors Down : A Story of Friendship Between a Boy and a Baseball Legend, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (1948; based on true story of a boy who became friends with Jackie Robinson)

Caroline Starr Rose, Blue Birds, Puffin, Ages 10 + (Alis and her community find themselves at odds with Roanoke tribe after making long journey from England to New World. Novel in verse)

Susan Goldman Rubin, Bill Farnsworth, Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto, Holiday House, Ages 8 – 12 (story of a Polish social work who protected Jewish children)

Diane K. Salerni, The Morrigan’s Curse (Eighth Day Book 3), HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (war over the Eighth Day continues with more at stake than ever before – trilogy final)

Patrick Samphire, Secrets of the Dragon Tomb, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Ages 10 – 14
(steampunk adventure set on British Mars in 1816)

Gavriel Savit, Anna and the Swallow Man, Knopf BfYR, Ages 12 + (debut novel set in Kraków, Poland, 1939 – Anna is 7 when the Germans take her father during their purge of intellectuals)

Dan Scott, Blood & Fire: Book 2 (Gladiator School), Sterling Publishing, Ages 9 +
(2nd in series takes Lucius & Quin on a journey to Pompeii for the gladiatorial games)

Lois Sepahban, Paper Wishes, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), Ages 9 – 12
(a girl and her family are relocated to a Japanese internment camp during WW II)

William Shakespeare, Courtney Carbone, Macbeth #killingit, Random House Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (OMG Shakespeare! retells classics through emojis & texts)

William Shakespeare, Brett Wright, A Midsummer Night #nofilter, Random House Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (OMG Shakespeare! retells classics through emojis & texts)

Geronimo Stilton, Geronimo Stilton #62: Mouse Overboard, Scholastic Inc, Ages 7 – 10
(story retraces the journey of the great explorer Vasco de Gama)

Shawn K. Stout, A Tiny Piece of Sky, Philomel, Ages 9 – 12
(literary middle grade novel about sisters, spies and World War II, set in Maryland)

Jordan Stratford, Kelly Murphy, The Case of the Girl in Grey (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Book 2), Knopf BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (history-mystery series continues)

Jeremy Strong, Romans on the Rampage: Jail Break!, Puffin, Ages 7 – 9
(Perilus & his family are in trouble again in this humorous series for young readers)

Laura L. Sullivan, Love by the Morning Star, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(1938; mix-up of two girls this comedy of errors creates romance, history & philosophy all rolled into one)

Robin Talley, Lies We Tell Ourselves, Harlequin, Ages 14 +  (1959 Virginia – lives of two girls, on opposite sides of the civil rights’ battle, will be changed forever)

Urve Tamberg, The Darkest Corner of the World, Dancing Cat, Ages 12 – 16  (Estonia, 1941. Madli can’t fight the enemy so she is determined to outwit them instead)

Brandon Terrell, Iman Max, Valor and Victory, Stone Arch Books, Ages 8 – 12
(time-traveling cousins watch Jesse Owens succeed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics)

Jon Walter, My Name Is Not Friday, David Fickling Books, Ages 12 + (end of Civil War – orphaned free black boy is arrested and sold into slavery when he takes the blame for his younger brother’s prank)

Katherine Woodfine, The Mystery of the Jewelled Moth, Egmont, Age 9 – 11 (historical mystery adventure with Edwardian period detail. Sequel to The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow)

Sarah Zettel, The Assassin’s Masque (Palace of Spies, Book 3), HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (Peggy Fitzroy- card sharp, house-breaker, forger, thief – is back at King George’s court)

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, Knopf BfYR, Ages 12 +
(first published 2005 – set in 1939 Nazi Germany)

February 2016

E. F. Abbott, Nettie and Nellie Crook: Orphan Train Sisters (Based on a True Story series), Feiwel & Friends, Ages 8 – 12 (twin girls sent from NY to Kansas on an orphan train in 1910)

E. F. Abbott, Sybil Ludington: Revolutionary War Rider, (Based on a True Story series), Feiwel & Friends, Ages 8 – 12 (Sybil gathers troops to fight the British during the American Revolution of 1777)

E. F. Abbott, John Lincoln Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy, (Based on a True Story series), Feiwel & Friends, Ages 8 – 12 (1861: adventure of John Clem, youngest drummer boy of the Civil War)

E. F. Abbott, Mary Jemison: Native American Captive (Based on a True Story series), Feiwel & Friends, Ages 8 – 12 (Mary is kidnapped by the Shawnee and adopted by the Seneca)

Emma Carlson Berne, Juliana Kolesova, The Ghost Wind Stallion : A Kaya Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story with Kaya of the Nez Perce people, 1800s)

Jeanne Birdsall, The Penderwicks in Spring, Yearling, Ages 8 – 12, (neighbour Nick comes home from war, Batty has a new dog-walking business – 4th in series family adventure full of humour and charm)

Joseph Bruchac, Brothers of the Buffalo, Fulcrum, Ages 12 + (In 1874, the U.S. Army sent troops to subdue and move the Native Americans of the southern plains to Indian reservations)

Sarah Masters Buckey, Juliana Kolesova, The Stolen Sapphire : A Samantha Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story set in 1900s)

Cylin Busby, Gerald Kelly, The Nine Lives of Jacob Tibbs, Knopf BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (adventures of a cat that begins life aboard ship in 1837 when the Captain’s daughter convinces her father to take him in)

Lynn Carthage, Betrayed, Kensington, Ages 14 + (gruesome haunted house story with a grotesque villain – for fans of Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculiar Children)

Nicole Castroman, Blackhearts, Simon Pulse, Ages 14 + (debut novel reimagines the origins of Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and the girl who captured and then broke his heart)

Richmal Crompton, Still William, Pan Macmillan, Ages 8 – 12
(adventures of William Brown, a mischievous 11-year-old schoolboy)
Also William in Trouble and William the Conqueror

Carole Estby Dagg, Sweet Home Alaska, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers/Nancy Paulsen Books, Ages 10 + (pioneering adventure based on FDR’s New Deal Colony in 1934)

Jenny Downham, Unbecoming, David Fickling Books, Ages 14 +
(multi-generational novel celebrating family, identity and love)

Esther Ehrlich, Nest, Yearling, Ages 10 +  (debut novel of family, change, love and friendship set in early ‘70s on Cape Cod)

Walter Farley, The Black Stallion, Yearling (c1941), Ages 8 – 12
Also: The Black Stallion Returns, The Black Stallion’s Ghost, The Black Stallion Revolts

Susan Fletcher, Kimberly Bulcken Root, Dadblamed Union Army Cow, Candlewick,
Ages 5 – 8 (a cow follows a union army soldier into the war. Inspirational)

The Hon. Mayann Francis, Tamara Thiébaux-Heikalo, Mayann’s First Train Ride, Nimbus,
Ages 4 – 9  (author’s account pays homage to the train ride which changed her life)

Jenny Goebel, The 39 Clues: Doublecross Book 3 : Mission Hurricane, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (series continues with the powerful Cahill family)

Sharon Gosling, The Sapphire Cutlass, (The Diamond Thief, Book 3), Switch Press,
Ages 14 + (Remy & the Ruby Airship crew travel to Indian jungle  – steampunk)

Holly Grant, The League of Beastly Dreadfuls Book 2: The Dastardly Deed, Random House Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (humorous middle-grade mystery story)

Jacqueline Green, Juliana Kolesova, The Finders Keepers Rule : A Maryellen Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story set in 1950s)

Jacqueline Green, Juliana Kolesova, The Crystal Ball : A Rebecca Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story set in 1900s)

Dan Gutman, Flashback Four #1: The Lincoln Project, Harper Collins, Ages 8 – 12
(new adventure series with four kids who are sent back in time to capture America’s most important moments)

Heidi Heilig, The Girl from Everywhere, Greenwillow, Ages 13 + (from modern NYC to 19th-c Hawaii to places of myth & legend, 16-yr-old Nix has swept through centuries aboard her father’s time-travelling ship)

John Hendrix, Miracle Man : The Story of Jesus, Abrams Books for Young Readers,
Ages 6 – 10 (focuses on biblical accounts of Jesus’ many miracles. Illustrated)

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, The Smell of Other People’s Houses, Wendy Lamb, Ages 12 +
(Alaska 1970, four very different lives are about to become entangled)

Deborah Hopkinson, Charlotte Voake, Beatrix Potter and the Unfortunate Tale of a Borrowed Guinea Pig, Shwartz & Wade, Ages 4 – 8 (take a trip back to Victorian England, home of budding artist, Beatrix)

Jessica Khoury, The Forbidden Wish, Razorbill, Ages 12 + (fantasy adventure inspired by Arabian Nights. A world hundreds of years old filled with ancient shape-shifting magic and forbidden love)

Chris Kientz, Steve Hockensmith, Lee Nielsen, The Wrong Wrights, Smithsonian Books,
Ages 9 – 12 (four spunky middle-schoolers time-travel to return Wright brothers to their proper place in history)

Mary Knight, Saving Wonder, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (inspiring story of friendship, the power of words and the difficult hurdles we must overcome for the people we love)

Kirby Larson, Audacity Jones #1, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (1st in series about Audacity’s adventures which break up the monotony of her life at Miss Maisie’s School for Wayward Girls; mid 20th century)

Peter Lerangis, Seven Wonders Journals: The Promise, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (fast-paced adventure to new place & time reveals history behind the mystery of ‘Seven Wonders’ series)

Kimberley Griffiths Little, Banished, HarperCollins, Ages 14 +
(sequel to Forbidden continues the epic love story of Jayden and Kadesh)

Michelle Modesto, Revenge and the Wild, Balzer + Bray, Ages 14 + (western fantasy adventure with a magical twist: feisty heroine in a two-bit lawless town full of saloon brawls, dark magic and 6-shooters)

Jennifer A Nielsen, Mark of the Thief, #2: Rise of the Wolf, Scholastic Press, Ages 9 – 12
(story of greed, power and destiny and one boy’s courage; set in ancient Rome)

Sara Pennypacker, Jon Klassen, Pax, Balzer + Bray, Ages 8 – 12
(a timeless tale of love and loyalty between a boy and his fox, set during wartime)

Doreen Rappaport, Matt Faulkner, Elizabeth Started All the Trouble, Disney-Hyperion,
Ages 6 – 8   (Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s fight for women’s rights. Illustrated fiction)

Kathryn Reiss, Sergio Giovine, Intruders at Rivermead Manor : A Kit Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story set in 1930s)

Caroline Tung Richmond, The Only Thing to Fear, Scholastic Press, Ages 12 +
(alternate history after Hitler has won WW II and America has been carved up by the victors)

Rick Riordan, John Rocco, Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 8 – 12
(age old stories are freshly irreverent with Percy on the trail)

Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea, Philomel, Ages 12 + (1945, East Prussia – epic WWII era novel that illuminates one of the war’s most devastating maritime tragedies)

Tarun Shanker, Kelly Zekas, These Vicious Masks, Swoon Reads, Ages 12 – 18
(an adventure-filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London)

Michael Shoulders, Crossing the Deadline : Stephen’s Journey Through the Civil War, Sleeping Bear Press, Ages 9 – 12 (based on historical facts and characters, Stephen’s story captures the essence of the era)

Rod Smith, Padraig Pearse and the Easter Rising 1916, Poolbeg Press, Ages 6 +
(2500 Irish Volunteers take on the mighty British Empire)

Jeanne Steig, William Steig, Divine Comedies: A Gift from Zeus and The Old Testament Made Easy, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Ages 12 + (well known classic tales spiced up)

Chris Stevenson, The Drum of Destiny, Stone Arch Books, Ages 9 – 12 (1775 – an orphaned patriot discovers a drum which he sees as his call to join fight for freedom in Boston)

Geronimo Stilton, The Race Against Time: The Third Journey Through Time, Scholastic Inc, Ages 7 – 10 (time travel adventure from Ice Age to ancient Greece & Renaissance period)

Kevin Sylvester, Neil Flambé and the Bard’s Banquet, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (5th in the culinary mystery series)

Kevin Sylvester, Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (6th in the culinary mystery series)

Valerie Tripp, Juliana Kolesova, The Glowing Heart : A Josefina Mystery, American Girl, Ages 8 + (mystery story set in 1820s)

Sharon Biggs Waller, The Forbidden Orchid, Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(girl-powered adventure romance set in England and China just after Second Opium War)

Django Wexler, The Mad Apprentice (The Forbidden Library: Vol. 2), Puffin, Ages 10 +
(a feisty heroine and magical worlds in fantasy adventure set in 1930s Pittsburgh)

Philip Womack, The Double Axe: Blood and Fire 1, Alma, Ages 12 + (young readers become acquainted with the timeless legends of the Classical world)

March 2016

Susannah Appelbaum, Divah, Sky Pony Press, Ages 12 + (part gothic thriller & historical fiction, story straddles Upper East Side and Paris during Reign of Terror, 1789 with Marie Antoinette & Marilyn Monroe)

Stefan Bachmann, A Drop of Night, Greenwillow Books, Ages 13 + (multi period fantasy alternates between contemporary Anouk, and Aurelie who fled during the French Revolution in 1789)

Andrew Brumbach, The Eye of Midnight, Delacorte BfYR, Ages 9 – 12
(classic adventure story with an Arabian twist set in 1920s New York City)

Tony Cliff, Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling, First Second, Ages 12 – 18
(globetrotting Delilah is back in another comical historical adventure – graphic novel)

Marina Cohen, The Inn Between, Roaring Brook Press, Ages 8 – 12
(creepy adventure about two girls stranded in an old Victorian Inn)

Heather Demetrios, Blood Passage (Dark Caravan Cycle Book 2), Balzer + Bray, Ages 13 + (set in Morocco, a dark magical jinni fantasy-adventure exploring issues of class, race & human trafficking)

Margarita Engle, Silver People : Voices from the Panama Canal, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (1914 – celebrating its centenary this YA historical novel in verse tells of the young people who built one of the most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken)

Beth Fantaskey, Isabel Feeeney, Star Reporter, Houghton Mifflin (Juv), Ages 8 – 12
(10-year-old newsgirl aspires to be a reporter in 1920s Chicago)

Janet Fox, The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 10 + (creepy story set in Scottish castle/school where Blitz evacuee Katherine investigates strange occurrences)

Rebecca Gibbon, Margi Preus, Celebritrees: Historic & Famous Trees of the World, Square Fish, Ages 6 – 10  (children’s picture book tells the stories of 14 historic trees)

Andrea Alban Gosline, Anya’s War, Square Fish, Ages 11 – 14
(1937 – a Jewish girl’s world completely changes when her family relocates to Shanghai)

Jeff Gottesfeld, Peter McCarty, The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window, Knopf BfYR, Ages 5 – 8 (Anne’s story unfolds for a young audience –told by the tree outside her window)

Dan Gutman, Willie & Me, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (time-traveling Stosh learns you can’t change one little thing in history without altering or erasing whole lives)

Alwyn Hamilton, Rebel of the Sands, Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(first in trilogy – romantic desert fantasy adventure packed with Djinni magic & train robberies)

Jody Hedlund, A Daring Sacrifice, Zondervan, Ages 13 +
(romantic twist on the Robin Hood legend with a feisty female heroine)

P. J. Hoover, Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life, Starscape, Ages 8 +
(despite being an immortal 14-year-old demigod, King Tut still has to sit through 8th grade)

Julia Lee, Nancy Parker’s Diary of Detection, Oxford, Ages 10 + (London 1920 – funny adventure/mystery series of a young girl who longs to be a detective)

Christy Lenzi, Stone Field, Roaring Brook Press, Ages 14 – 18
(a reimagining of ‘Wuthering Heights’: Missouri on the brink of the Civil War)

Peter Lerangis, Torstein Norstrand, Seven Wonders Book 5: The Legend of the Rift, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (final installment in the series)

Yona Zeldis McDonough, The Dollhouse Magic, Square Fish, Ages 7 – 9
(a story of friendship, loss and the gift of hope during the Great Depression)

Meg Medina, Burn Baby Burn, Candlewick, Ages 14 + (as violence runs rampant in New York a teenage girl faces danger from within her own home)

Angela Misri, No Matter How Improbable: A Portia Adams Mystery 3, Fierce Ink Press,
Ages 12 – 17 (3rd in the adventure mystery series set in 1930s England)

Marissa Moss, Mira’s Diary: California Dreaming, Creston Books, Ages 8 – 13
(last in series, Mira explores the history of San Francisco and meets Mark Twain)

Jennifer A Nielsen, Infinity Ring, Book 6: Behind Enemy Lines, Scholastic Press,
Ages 8 – 12 (WW II – can Dak, Sera and Riq tip the scales in the Allies’ favour?)

Marilyn Nelson, Hadley Hooper, How I Discovered Poetry, Puffin, Ages 12 + (50 poems cover the decade of 1950 to 1960 – addresses racial tension, Cold War fears, Civil Rights, Atom Bomb, women’s empowerment)

S.D. Nelson, Gift Horse : A Lakota Story, Abrams Books for Young Readers, Ages 6 – 9
(illustrated introduction to 19th-c Native American life on the Great Plains)

G. Neri, Tru and Nelle, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12  (fictionalized account of 1930s childhood friendship between Truman Capote and Harper Lee)

Lesa Cline-Ransome, James Ransome, Just a Lucky So and So, Holiday House,
Ages 6 – 10 (story of the young life of Louis Armstrong)

Judith Rossell, Withering-by-Sea, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12
(spine-tingling, darkly funny Victorian fantasy adventure)

Ryukishi07, Soichiro, Rose Guns Days Season 1, Vol. 3, Yen Press, Ages 16 +
(historical tale of romance and political intrigue. Graphic-novel)

Ted Sanders, The Keepers #2: The Harp and the Ravenvine, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12
(sequel to ‘The Keepers: The Box and the Dragonfly’)

Ellen Schwartz, Heart of a Champion, Tundra Books, Ages 9 – 12 (coming-of-age story of baseball-obsessed Kenny whose life changes when war comes to his Vancouver-Japanese community)

Jessica Spotswood (author/editor), A Tyranny of Petticoats, Candlewick, Ages 14 +
(15 stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls)

Robin Stevens, Jolly Foul Play: A Murder Most Unladylike Mystery 4, Puffin, Ages 10 +
(Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong return to Deepdean for a new school term)

Lauren Tarshis, I Survived #13: I Survived the Hindenburg Disaster, 1937, Scholastic Inc, Ages 7 – 10 (May 1937- airship caught fire while attempting to land in New Jersey)

Janet Taylor, Into the Dim, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (15-yr-old Hope travels back to rescue her mother who is trapped in the 12th-c in the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine)

J. D. Vaughn, Second Guard (Second Guard #1), Disney-Hyperion, Ages 10 – 14  (set in an Andean Shangri-La, fantasy loosely based on pre-Columbian South American history)

Guido Visconti, Bimba Landmann, Genius of Leonardo da Vinci, STEAM, Ages 6 – 10 (life and work of da Vinci told through the eyes of his young apprentice)

Holly Webb, Marion Lindsay, The Case of the Vanishing Emerald (Maisie Hitchins Mysteries 2), HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 9 – 12 (Maisie is the pluckiest little detective in Victorian London)

Cat Winters, The Cure for Dreaming, Amulet Paperbacks, Ages 13 + (gothic novel of young suffragist who can see people’s monstrous true natures – 1900 Oregon)

Cat Winters, The Steep and Thorny Way, Amulet Books, Ages 13 +
(historical mystery of a murder most foul, set in 1920s Oregon)

April 2016

Alane Adams, Lauren Gallegos, The Egg Thief, SparkPress, Ages 4 – 8
(adventurous tale of boyhood, set in 1920s Pennsylvania)

Goldie Alexander, My Holocaust Story : Hanna, Scholastic Canada, Ages 9 – 12
(one family’s experience in the Warsaw Ghetto during W W II)

Cindy Anstey, Love, Lies and Spies, Swoon Reads, Ages 12 – 18
(humorous Regency romp with a quirky heroine uninterested in forming attachments)

Julie Berry, The Passion of Dolssa, Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(1241 Provence: tale of young woman accused as a heretic because of her powers to heal)

M.G. Buehrlen, The Untimely Deaths of Alex Wayfare, (Alex Wayfare: Book 2), Diversion Books, Ages 13 + (with fifty-six lifetimes, historical secrets and hidden treasures, going back in time is irresistible to Alex)

Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffey, Laurie Myers, Erik Brooks, Dog Diaries, Secret Writings of the WOOF Society, Square Fish, Ages 7 – 10 (humorous stories of dogs from different periods in history)

Pamela Duncan Edwards, Henry Cole, Boston Tea Party, Puffin, Ages 5 – 8
(story in verse about America’s fight for independence)

Brian Gallagher, Arrivals, O’Brien, Ages 12 + (1920s rural Canada – time-slip novel about teenage relationships, racial tension, respect and loyalty)

Ginger Garrett, Dinara Mirtalipova, The Last Monster, Delacorte BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (through an ancient book that serves as a portal for Xeno, (Greek philosopher) Sofia is chosen to be the next Guardian)

N. J. Gemmell, The Kensington Reptilarium, Random House Australia, Ages 9 – 12 (four urchins from the Australian outback find themselves in London for the first peace-time Christmas after years of war)

Grace Gilmore, The New Kid (Tales From Maple Ridge 6), Little Simon, Ages 5 – 9
(Logan tracks down a stolen book with the help of his new friend)

Susan Vande Griek, Go Home Bay, Groundwood Books, Ages 6 – 9 (biographical fiction told in free verse: 1914 when Tom Thomson spent the summer at family cottage on Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay)

Jane Hardstaff, The Executioner’s Daughter, Carolrhoda Books, Ages 9 – 13 (Moss longs to escape from Tower of London where she lives with father, Henry’s VIII’s chief executioner)

Joel Hedstrom, Mark Van Steenwyk, A Wolf at the Gate, PM Press, Ages 12 + (retelling of legend of St Francis and the Wolf explores themes of survival, hunger, war & violence)

Marguerite Henry, Lynd Ward, Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio, Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12
(an idealistic young man trains a cart horse to race)

Marguerite Henry, Robert Lougheed, Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West, Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12
(story of ‘Wild Horse Annie Bronn’ who saved the wild Mustangs in 1950s Nevada)

Monica Hesse, Girl in the Blue Coat, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(Amsterdam 1943 – a story of bravery, grief and love in impossible times)

Mary Hoffman, Shakespeare’s Ghost, Greystones Press, Ages 13 + (London 1610 – fantasy adventure about a young actor and beautiful woman from world of Faery)

Mark Holtzen, John Skewes, A Ticket to the Pennant : A Tale of Baseball in Seattle, Little Bigfoot, Ages 4 – 8 (historical picture book about baseball & civic pride in 1955)

Deborah Hopkinson, A Bandit’s Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket, Knopf BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (story of survival, crime & adventure on streets of 19th-c New York City)

Elizabeth Jacobs, Rachael Balsaitis, Swan Boat Season in Boston, CurlyQ Press,
Ages 4 – 8 (story of the Paget family and the swan boats they launched in late 1800s)

Lauren James, The Next Together, Walker Books, Ages 13 + (a novel of fate & the timelessness of first love, as Katherine & Matthew are destined to be born again and again)

Oskar Jensen, The Stones of Winter, Piccadilly, Ages 12 + (a Viking tale of myth and magic, based on real-life characters from 10^th -c Scandinavia)

Natalie King, Awakening, Penguin Books New Zealand, Ages 12 + (when Zellie finds a lost necklace she also discovers 17-year-old Tamas whose soul has been trapped there since 1918. Fantasy romance)

Monica Kulling Qin Leng, Happy Birthday, Alice Babette, Groundwood Books, Ages 4 – 8
(fictional story about Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas. LGBT children’s picture book)

Y.S. Lee, The Agency: The Body at the Tower, 2, Candlewick, Ages 12 + (Mary Quinn’s 2nd adventure offers a  window into the fascinating & grimy underbelly of Victorian London)

Y.S. Lee, The Agency: The Traitor in the Tunnel, 3, Candlewick, Ages 12 + (suspense, romance and high Victorian intrigue as Mary goes undercover at Buckingham Palace)

J. Albert Mann, Scar: A Revolutionary War Tale, Calkins Creek, Ages 9 – 12
(coming-of-age of a boy who wants to fight, but a childhood accident has left him maimed)

John Bemelmans Marciano, Sophie Blackall, Mischief Season (The Witches of Benevento Book I), Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 7 – 10 (new series set in 1820s Italy)

John Bemelmans Marciano, Sophie Blackall, The All-Powerful Ring (The Witches of Benevento Book II), Viking Books for Young Readers, Ages 7 – 10 (new series set in 1820s Italy)

Darragh Martin, The Keeper, Little Island Books, Ages 10 – 14
(fantasy adventure mixing Irish myth, magic and contemporary life)

Oisin McGann, Merciless Reason (The Wildenstern Saga 3), Open Road Media Teen & Tween, Ages 12 – 17 (the Wildensterns control what was once the British Empire – steampunk)

Richelle Mead, The Glittering Court, Razorbill, Ages 12 +
(romantic fantasy set in a mix of Elizabethan and frontier worlds)

David Metzenthen, Dreaming the Enemy, Allen & Unwin, Age 14 – 18 (two young Vietnam War veterans who fought on opposing sides return home, struggling to recover from their experience)

L. A. Meyer, Wild Rover No More : Being the Last Recorded Account of the Life & Times of Jacky Faber, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (final installment: Jacky is framed for passing information to British, & forced to flee to Boston)

Susan Lynn Meyer, Skating with the Statue of Liberty, Delacorte BfYR, Ages 8 – 12 (Gustave faces racism and anti-Semitism in New York City during W W II but ultimately finds friendship and hope)

William Meyer, The Secret of the Scarab Beetle (Horace J. Edwards and the Time Keepers, Book 1), Sleeping Bear Press, Ages 9 – 11 (Horace is transported back in time to the Egyptian city of Amarna)

Meredith Moore, Fiona, Razorbill, Ages 12 +
(a grim castle in the Scottish Highlands and a decades-old family feud)

Sally Morgan, Sister Heart, Fremantle Press, Ages 9 – 12 (a young Aboriginal girl is sent to an institution in south Australia – a novel in verse of the stolen generations)

Frank Nappi, Welcome to the Show: A Mickey Tussler Novel, Book 3, Sky Pony Press, Ages 12 + (it’s 1950 & Mickey, the autistic pitching prodigy is back for another season)

Michael Northrop, TombQuest Book Five: The Final Kingdom, Scholastic Press,
Ages 8 – 12 (epic conclusion to the adventures filled with the magic of ancient Egypt)

Michael Oechsle, The Lost Cipher, Albert Whitman & Company, Ages 9 – 12 (adventure story surrounding the lost Beale ciphertexts and the hidden gold buried in Virginia in 1820s)

Andreas Oertel, Prisoner of Warren, Nimbus, Ages 8 – 12 (With a 1940s rural Canadian setting, the inner life of a 13-yr-old boy is captured with humour & frankness)

Shane Peacock, Sophie Casson, The Artist and Me, Owlkids Books, Ages 5 – 9
(fictional confession of a boy who bullied van Gogh for being different – Arles, 1880s)

Marcel Prins, Peter Henk Steenhuis, Laura Watkinson, Hidden Like Anne Frank: 14 True Stories of Survival, Arthur A. Levine Books, Ages 10 – 18 (stories of 14 children hidden throughout the Netherlands)

Alison Rattle, V for Violet, Hot Key Press, Ages 13 + (south London, 1961 – murder mystery)

Trent Reedy, The Last Full Measure (Divided We Fall, Book 3), Arthur A. Levine Books, Ages 14 + (conclusion of provocative alternate history about second American Civil War)

Leila Sales, Once Was a Time, Chronicle Books, Ages 8 – 12 (a classic time-travel tale set in war-torn England, 1940)

Ruth Mindky Sender, The Cage, Simon Pulse, Ages 12 + (Holocaust survival story)

Carol Shields, Patrick Crowe, Selena Goulding, Susanna Moodie: Roughing It In the Bush, Second Story Press, Ages 13 – 18 (graphic-novel adaptation)

John Stephens, The Black Reckoning (Books of Beginning, Book 3), Yearling, Ages 8 – 12
(fantasy adventure filled with time-travel and magic)

Robin Stevens, Poison Is Not Polite: A Wells & Wong Mystery 2, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 10 + (a tea party takes a poisonous turn in this humorous series. (UK – Arsenic for Tea – Puffin)

Emily June Street, The Velocipede Races, Elly Blue Publishing, Ages 13 + (in a world where women lead tightly laced lives, Emmeline longs to ride in the cutthroat velocipede races. Steampunk)

Sabaa Tahir, An Ember in the Ashes II, Razorbill, Ages 14 +
(sequel fantasy adventure inspired by brutal world of ancient Rome)

Mildred D. Taylor, Let the Circle Be Unbroken (c1981), Puffin, Ages 8 – 12  (sequel to 1976 ‘Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry’ set in the turbulent depression-era South)

Mildred D. Taylor, The Land (c2001), Puffin, Ages 12 +
(coming-of-age set in turbulent post-Civil War Georgia)

Mildred D. Taylor, The Road to Memphis (c1990), Puffin, Ages 10 + (as America hovers on the brink of war, 17-year-old Cassie Logan fights a battle closer to home)

Elinor Teele, The Mechanical Mind of John Coggin, Walden Pond Press, Ages 8 + (set in run-down early 20th-c industrial American city, John is a budding inventor-engineer to whom anything can happen)

Sarah L. Thomson, The Eureka Key (Secrets of the Seven), Bloomsbury Press,
Ages 8 – 12 (Sam & Martina follow clues to find seven keys left by Founding Fathers)

Steve Watkins, Ghosts of War #3: AWOL in North Africa, Scholastic Paperbacks,
Ages 8 – 12 (WW II army medic ghost is centre of this mystery for Anderson & friends)

Steve Watkins, Ghosts of War #4: Fallen in Fredericksburg, Scholastic Paperbacks,
Ages 8 – 12 (this time the ghost is a Civil War-era teenage Union soldier)

Holly Webb, Marion Lindsay, The Case of the Feathered Mask (Maisie Hitchins Mysteries, 4) HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 9 – 12 (Maisie is the pluckiest little detective in Victorian London)

Django Wexler, The Palace of Glass (The Forbidden Library: Vol.3), Dial Books for Young Readers/Kathy Dawson, Ages 10 + (3rd in series after ‘The Forbidden Library’ and ‘The Mad Apprentice’)

Kathy Cannon Wiechman, Empty Places, Calkins Creek, Ages 9 – 12
(1932, Harlan County, Kentucky – atmospheric coming-of-age novel)

Michael Williams, Diamond Boy, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 +
(adventure set in the blood-diamond fields of southern Africa)

N. D. Wilson, Outlaws of Time: The Legend of Sam Miracle, Katherine Tegen Books,
Ages 10 + (fantasy series rooted firmly in American culture and history with western showdowns, high-speed locomotive chases, and terrifying adversaries)

Lauren Wolk, Wolf Hollow, Dutton Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12
(a young woman learns to stand against injustice at a crossroads in American history)

Lucy Worsley, Eliza Rose, Bloomsbury Children’s, Ages 12 + (1535: 12-year-old Eliza meets worldly-wise Katherine Howard, and both girls become Maids of Honour to the new queen)

Jane Yolen, Briar Rose, Tor Teen, Ages 12 + (sensitive retelling of the German folktale (aka ‘Sleeping Beauty’) set amid forests patrolled by the German army during WW II)

May 2016

Renée Ahdieh, The Rose and the Dagger, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (2nd installment of young adult retelling of the Arabian Nights. Sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn)

Kathleen Baldwin, Exile for Dreamers : A Stranje House Novel (2), Tor Teen, Ages 13 – 18
(Regency-era romantic alternate history)

Nina Berry, City of Spies (Pagan Jones 2), Harlequin, Ages 14 +
(high stakes adventure spy series set in early 1960s)

Anne Blankman, Traitor Angels, Balzer + Bray, Ages 12 + (historical romance, England 1660s – Milton’s daughter must unlock secrets within ‘Paradise Lost’ to save her father)

Paige Britt, The Lost Track of Time, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 steampunk fantasy about a girl who falls into an unscheduled day and must save herself from the grip of time)

Cate Cain, The Moon Child, Bonnier Publishing Fiction, Ages 9 – 12
(set during reign of Charles II at the lead up to the Great Fire: sequel to The Jade Boy)

Roshani Chokshi, The Star-Touched Queen, St Martin’s Griffin, Ages 14 +
(historical fantasy inspired by Indian folklore)

Sophie Cleverly, The Lost Twin (Scarlet and Ivy, Book 1), Sourcebooks Jabberwocky,
Ages 10 – 14 (mystery adventure set in the creepy Rookwood boarding school)

James Dashner, Infinity Ring Book 7: The Iron Empire, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12
(Dak, Sera & Riq’s new mission is to save the life of the young Alexander the Great)

Frances O’Roark Dowell, Trouble the Water, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Ages 9 – 13
(black girl & white boy overcome prejudices and become friends in segregated Kentucky)

Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker, Knight’s Castle, HMH Books for Young Readers,
Ages 7 – 10 (fantasy adventure in a bygone world of Robin Hood & Ivanhoe)

Louise Erdrich, Makoons, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12
(sequel to Chickadee; a story of an indigenous American family in Dakota Territory, 1866)

D. D. Everest, Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (drawing on historical places & people, a mysterious book has waited more than 400 years to find Archie)

Catherine Fisher, Obsidian Mirror: 04: The Speed of Darkness, Hachette Children’s, Ages 12 + (riddles and mysteries unfold in the conclusion to Obsidian Mirror quartet)

Martin Fournier, Peter McCambridge, The Incredible Escape, Baraka Books, Ages 12 +
(fictional account of the early history of North America)

John K. Fulton, The Wreck of the Argyll, Cargo Publishing, Ages 9 – 12 (Dundee 1915: 12-year-old Nancy suspects her teacher of being a German spy & determines to foil his plans)

Rumer Godden, An Episode of Sparrows, NYRB Kids, Ages 12 + (first published 1955 – reminiscent of The Secret Garden – focuses on teenagers struggling through London’s recovery from the Blitz)

Miriam Halahmy, The Emergency Zoo, Alma Books, Ages 10 + (England 1939 – based on historical events)

Kersten Hamilton, James Hamilton, The Ire of Iron Claw : Gadgets and Gears, Book 2, Clarion Books, Ages 7 – 10 (boy-inventor Wally Kennewickett & his genius family of automatons join forces with Nikola Tesla)

Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, My Lady Jane, HarperTeen, Ages 13 + (historical fantasy adventure featuring Edward VI & Jane Grey and only a passing resemblance to actual history)
(My Lady Jane:The Not Entirely True Story – published by Walker UK, Sept 2016)

Ralph Hardy, Argos : The Story of Odysseus As Told By His Loyal Dog, HarperCollins,
Ages 8 – 12 (a reimagined Odyssey – a tale of loyalty, determination and adventure)

Rosanne Hawke, Lyn White, Shahana, Allen & Unwin, Ages 11 – 14
(a novel about one young girl living in war-torn Kashmir)

Caleb Krisp, Somebody Stop Ivy Pocket (Ivy Pocket 2), Greenwillow Books, Ages 8 – 12
(Ivy Pocket is a funny, completely unreliable Victorian maid of no particular importance)

Andrew Lane, Night Break (Young Sherlock Holmes), Pan Macmillan, Ages 12 + (teenage Sherlock Holmes comes up against a fresh crop of sinister, clever crooks)

Kirby Larson, Dash (Dogs of World War II), Scholastic Paperbacks, Ages 8 – 12
(a Japanese American girl is separated from her dog when she is sent to a WWII camp)

Jessica Lawson, Natalie Andrewson, Nooks & Crannies, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (mystery story set in a haunted English mansion, early 1900s)

Stacey Lee, Outrun the Moon, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (tale of strength and determination in the aftermath of 1906 San Francisco earthquake)

josh Lieb, Ratscalibur, Razorbill, Ages 8 – 12
(witty middle grade reinvention of the Excalibur legend)

Ed Masessa, Wandmaker, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (Henry’s family has a history with magic which dates back to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Fantasy adventure)

Taran Matharu, The Inquisition : Summoner: Book Two, Feiwel & Friends, Ages 12 – 18
(sequel to The Novice. Fletcher is on trial by Inquisition & discovers his tragic origins)

John Matthews, Henry Hunter and the Beast of Snagov, Bonnier Publishing Fiction,
Ages 8 – 12 (middle grade mystery fantasy drawing onhistory, mythology & legend)

Michael Morpurgo, Michael Foreman, Not Bad for a Bad Lad, Bonnier Publishing Fiction, Ages 7 – 9 (a young lad in Borstal prison is given a second chance at a better life)

Andreas Oertel, Panama Pursuit: The Shenanigans, Book 4, Wandering Fox, Ages 8 – 11 (series about three friends with a knack for getting caught up in historical mysteries)

Shane Peacock, The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim, Tundra Books, Ages 12 + (first in edgy thriller trilogy set in Victorian era haunted manor houses, grimy London streets & desolate Scottish moors)

Darrell Pitt, The Lost Sword (A Jack Mason Adventure 3), Text Publishing Company,
Ages 8 – 12 (dark clouds of war loom as Jack & Scarlet travel from grimy London to neon-bright Tokyo – Victorian steampunk)

Joy Preble, It Wasn’t Always Like This, Soho Teen, Ages 14 + (suspense thriller set in 1916 – after sampling an experimental polio vaccine Emma and her family stop aging)

Jewell Parker Rhodes, Bayou Magic, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12
(contemporary historical fiction rich with Southern folklore)

Morgan Rhodes, A Book of Spirits and Thieves (Book 1), Razorbill, Ages 12 + (time-slip fantasy where modern day girl in Toronto discovers deadly magic from an ancient world)

Jael Ealey Richardson, Matt James, The Stone Thrower, Groundwood Books, Ages 5 – 9 (inspirational story of Ealey’s life in ‘60s and the racial discrimination he faced despite his talent and unbroken record)

Faith Ringgold, We Came to America, Knopf Books for YR, Ages 5 – 8 (an ode to every American who came before us & a tribute to children who carry its message into future)

Melinda Salisbury, The Sleeping Prince: A Sin Eater’s Daughter Novel 2, Scholastic Press, Ages 14 + (a seductive, dark fantasy set against an alternate medieval background)

Lisa Schroeder, Sealed with a Secret, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12
(a ‘spell’ from a WWII era letter brings two contemporary sisters closer together)

Adam Shankman, Laura L. Sullivan, Girl About Town, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (a story of the Golden Age of Hollywood inspired by the characters of Nick & Nora Charles)

Judith Silverthorne, Convictions, Coteau, Ages 13 – 15 (1842 – 14-year-old Jennie is found guilty of stealing and finds herself aboard one of the few women-only convict ships bound for Australia)

Evelyn Skye, The Crown’s Game, Balzer + Bray, Ages 13 + (an atmospheric historical fantasy set in Imperial Russia)

Wendy Spinale, Everland, Scholastic Press, Ages 12 + (after London’s destruction in a blitz of bombs and disease, alternate fantasy adventure is a reimagined tale of Peter Pan & the Lost Boys)

Michael P. Spradlin, Into the Killing Seas, Scholastic Inc, Ages 8 – 12 (based on the events of the 1945 sinking of USS Indianapolis during WWII)

Rebecca Stevens, Rose in the Blitz (Valentine Joe Book 2), Chicken House, Ages 10 +
(Rose boards an empty underground train which stops in war-torn London of 1940)

Joanne Sundell, Arctic Will (Watch Eyes 3), Five Star, Ages 12 + (concludes metaphysical saga of sled dog family and their Siberian native owners in early 20^th-c Alaska)

Anne Szabla, Annie Szabla, Bird Boy Volume 1: The Sword of Mali Mani, Dark Horse,
Ages 9 – 12 (‘tho desperate to prove his worth, Bali is banned from ceremony that would make him an adult in his Northern tribe. Graphic-novel)

Eve Titus, Paul Galdone, Basil of Baker Street, Aladdin, Ages 6 – 9 (the famous sleuth of mousedom lives in Sherlock’s cellar and learns his trade from the very best. Humorous mystery series)

Eve Titus, Paul Galdone, Basil and the Cave of Cats, Aladdin, Ages 6 – 9
(Humorous mystery series)

Yana Toboso, Black Butler, Vol. 22, Yen Press, Ages 16 + (graphic-novel series about a Victorian Butler and his master, in service to the Queen)

Janice Warman, The World Beneath, Candlewick, Ages 11 + (1970s South Africa. As riots sweep the country 11-yr-old Joshua becomes aware of the political situation around him and is determined to help bring about change)

Carole Boston Weatherford, Jeffery Boston Weatherford, You Can Fly : The Tuskegee Airmen, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Ages 9 – 12, (stories in verse celebrate the famous African-American airmen of WWII)

Edward Willet, Door Into Fairie (The Shards of Excalibur, Book 5), Coteau, Ages 13 – 15
(to defeat Merlin, Excalibur must be reforged . Series conclusion)

Julia Wills, Fleeced, Bonnier Publishing Fiction, Ages 9 – 12 (filled with humor, magic, and mayhem, this quest pits classic Greek myth and heroism against a modern world full of danger)

Julia Wills, Rampage!, Bonnier Publishing Fiction, Ages 9 – 12 (filled with humor, magic, and mayhem, this quest pits classic Greek myth and heroism against a modern world full of danger)

John Wilson, Battle Scars: The American Civil War, Part 2 (Fields of Conflict), Wandering Fox, Ages 12 – 14 (sequel to The Flags of War)

Frieda Wishinsky, Survival: Hurricane! Scholastic, Ages 9 – 12  (Billy is fascinated by natural disasters until Hurricane Hazel hits Toronto on Oct 15, 1954 and 81 people die)

June 2016

Susan Williams Beckhorn, The Wolf’s Boy, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 8 – 12 (an outcast and a young wolf brave an Ice Age winter together)

Mike Blanc, Cimarron Girl: The Dust Bowl Years of Abigail Brubaker, Vanita Books, Ages 5 – 10 (fictional recollection of Abigail’s experiences of the family’s 1930s Oklahoma prairie farm)

Virginia Boecker, The King Slayer (The Witch Hunter 2), Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (sequel to The Witch Hunter; medieval story of suspense & romance)

John Boyne, The Boy at the Top of the Mountain, Henry Holt & Co, Ages 13 + (1935: orphan Pierrot is sent to live with aunt, a servant in The Berghof, home of Adolph Hitler)

Dave Butler, The Kidnap Plot (Extraordinary Journeys of Clockwork Charlie, #1), Knopf Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (steampunk adventure in which a boy discovers he is one of his father’s clockwork inventions in Victorian England)

Sarwat Chadda, The 39 Clues: Doublecross, Book 4: Mission Atomic, Scholastic Inc, Ages 8 – 12 (further adventures of the powerful Cahill family)

Richmal Crompton, Thomas Henry, William (Just William #10), Pan Macmillan, Ages 8 – 12(classic series about mischievous English schoolboy in early 20th-c)

Also: William the Good (Just William #9), William the Bad (Just William #11), William’s Happy Days (Just William #12)

Terry Deary, Shakespeare Tales: Romeo and Juliet, A & C Black Educational, Ages 7 – 9
Also Twelfth Night and Macbeth

Julie Eshbaugh, Ivory and Bone, HarperTeen, Ages 14 +
(prehistoric fantasy romance adventure with allusions to Pride and Prejudice)

D. Falksen, Nat Iwata, The Transatlantic Conspiracy, Soho Teen, Ages 12 +
(steampunk adventure thriller set in 1908 – underwater, between England and America)

John A. Flanagan, The Ghostfaces: The Brotherband Chronicles, 6, Philomel, Ages 10 +(action fantasy adventures of a group of young Vikings)

Laura Marx Fitzgerald, The Gallery, Dial Books for YR, Ages 9 – 12 (sequel to Under the Egg, historical mystery set in a wealthy great house, ‘Roaring Twenties, England 1929)

N. J. Gemmell, The Icicle Illuminarium (Kensington Reptilarium 2), Random House Australia,
Ages 9 – 12 (humorous adventures of four grubby urchins from the Australian outback)

Kersten Hamilton, James Hamilton, The Tick-Tock Man : Gadgets and Gears, Book 3, Clarion Books, Ages 7 – 10 (steampunk adventure filled with cool machines and technological details)

A. J. Hartley, Steeplejack, Tor Teen, Ages 12 + (17-yr-old Ang repairs chimneys, towers & spires of Bar-Selehm, industrial capital of a land resembling Victorian South Africa. Alternative detective mystery)

Eleanor Herman, Empire of Dust, Harlequin, Ages 14 + (in ancient Macedon war rises like smoke, forbidden romance blooms & ancient magic threatens to turn an empire to dust)

Deborah Hopkinson, Ron Husband, Steamboat School, Jump At The Sun, Ages 3 – 5
(a boy’s first experiences of education in Missouri, 1847)

Marie-Louise Jensen, Night Raider, ReadZone Books, Ages 10 – 14  (dual narrative set in Viking times)

K Kickily, Musnet : The Mouse of Monet, odod books/Uncivilized Books, Ages 8 +
(spring in Giverney, France, mid 1800s – a boy mouse happens upon Monet’s garden)

Hope Larson, Rebecca Mock, Compass South, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR),
Ages 8 – 12 (fantasy action adventure story set in the US in 1860)

Caroline Logue, Sarah Bowie, A Clock or a Crown, Little Island Books, Ages 8 – 11
(historical fact meets fantastic travels through time & space in this funny adventure story)

James Mayhew, The Magic Sword, Orion Children’s, Ages 5 – 7 (early reader edition of the popular Arthurian legend of the sword in the stone)

Geoffrey McSkimming, Phyllis Wong and the Waking of the Wizard, Allen & Unwin,
Ages 8 – 12 (a time twisting tale about a young conjurer with a masterful mind)

Kate Messner, Kelley McMorris, Ranger in Time #4: Race to the South Pole, Scholastic Press, Ages 7 – 10 (Ranger joins an early 20th-c race to Antarctica with Captain Robert Falcon Scott)

Marc Tyler Nobleman, Brave Like My Brother, Scholastic Press, Ages 7 – 10 (the action of WW II is related through a series of letters from Joe to his young brother Charlie)

Yvan Pommaux, Richard Kutner, Oedipus: Trapped by Destiny : A TOON Graphic, TOON Books, Ages 8 – 12 (a reimagining of the enduring and terrifying story of Oedipus)

Delia Ray, Ghost Girl : A Blue Ridge Mountain Story (c2003), Clarion Books, Ages 10 – 12 (Depression-era story of 11-year-old April who is eager to attend school)

Morgan Rhodes, The Darkest Magic (A Book of Spirits and Thieves, 2), Razorbill, Ages 12 + (time-slip fantasy set in contemporary Toronto and Ancient Mytica as warring evils vie for possession of a powerful book)

Whitaker Ringwald, The Secret Fire (A Secret Box Book #2), Katherine Tegen Books,
Ages 8 – 12 (opening a birthday present leads to a kidnapping by an evil Greek God in this humorous historical fantasy)

Whitaker Ringwald, The Secret Cipher (A Secret Box Book #3), Katherine Tegen Books, Ages 8 – 12 (an urn belonging to Pandora’s daughter is the catalyst in this humorous historical fantasy)

Dan Scott, Blood & Sand: Book 3 (Gladiator School), Scribo, Ages 9 + (third title in the Gladiator Series set in ancient Rome)

Ryukishi07, Soichiro, Rose Guns Days Season 1, Vol. 4, Yen Press, Ages 16 +
(historical tale of romance and political intrigue. Graphic-novel)

Michael P. Spradlin, The Enemy Above, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12  (a cat-and-mouse game set during the round up of the Jews in Ukraine during WW II)

S. S. Taylor, Katherine Roy, The Expeditioners and the Secret of King Triton’s Lair, McSweeney’s McMullens, Ages 10 – 14 (action adventure in the steampunk genre)

Jules Verne, adpt by Alexis Nesme, The Children of Captain Grant, Super Genius,
Ages 10 + (graphic-format telling of classic in which entire cast is transformed into anthropomorphic animals)

Dan Walker, Secondhand Summer, Alaska Northwest Books, Ages 8 – 12 (story of a 1965 summer when a boy explores a wilderness of crowded poverty in Anchorage after the 1964 earthquake)

Robert Westall, Collins Modern Classics – The Kingdom by the Sea, Ages 9 – 12 (when a bomb destroys his home, Harry goes on the run across the war-battered land of N.E. England)

Kiersten White, And I Darken, Delacorte Press, Ages 12 + (medieval fantasy adventure rife with political intrigue and a dark, atmospheric setting in Transylvania and Wallachia (present day Romania)

Eugene Yelchin, The Haunting of Falcon House, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Ages 8 – 12
(when 12-yr-old Prince Lev Lvov goes to live with his aunt he takes his rightful place as heir)

July 2016

Louis Bayard, Lucky Strikes, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Ages 8 – 12 (left in charge of young siblings, 14-yr-old Amelia has to take over until she can come of age – Depression-era)

Jennifer Bradbury, River Runs Deep, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Ages 9 – 13 (sent to Mammoth cave to fight a case of consumption, 12-yr-old Elias fights for lives of escaped slaves who live there)

Terry Deary, Shakespeare Tales: Twelfth Night, A & C Black, Ages 8 – 12 (take a trip back to Queen Elizabeth’s court where everyone is up to something!)

Alison DeCamp, My Near-Death Adventures: I Almost Died. Again, Crown Books for YR,
Ages 8 – 12 (2^nd in series humorous adventure series set in 1895 Michigan)

Matt de la Pena, Infinity Ring Book 8: Eternity, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (action, humour, adventure and history combine in this next in series)

Kathleen Duey, Karen A. Bale, Swamp : Louisiana, 1851 (Survivors 7), Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12
(two friends struggle to survive a journey across the Louisiana bayou)

Brian Falkner, Battlesaurus: Invasion England, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Ages 12 +
(conclusion to the alternate history action adventure. Sequel to Rampage at Waterloo)

Alan Gratz, The Monster War: A League of Seven Novel, Starscape, Ages 8 – 12
(inventive alternative historical fantasy set in 1870s America)

William Grill, The Wolves of Currumpaw, Nobrow Ltd, Ages 7 – 14 (modern re-telling of the epic wilderness tale Lobo, The King of Currumpaw. New Mexico in the dying days of the old west)

S. E. Grove, The Crimson Skew (The Mapmakers Trilogy, Book 3), Viking Books for YR, Ages 10 + (final installment of adventure fantasy based in Boston)

Marguerite Henry, Wesley Dennis, Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin, Aladdin,
Ages 8 – 12 (the father of American painting who learned his art from local Native Americans)

Marguerite Henry, Robert Lougheed, San Domingo, Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12 (story of a boy and his beloved Stallion)

Marguerite Henry, Wesley Dennis, Black Gold, Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12 (story of the legendary Thoroughbred and his determined jockey)

Oskar Jensen, The Wild Hunt, Bonnier Publishing, Ages 9 – 12 (a Viking princess and a poet have been banished from Denmark and try to escape to Sweden)

Kate Klimo, Ruth Sanderson, Cinders, Random House Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12 (a horse with a bad reputation meets his match in a no-nonsense fire dog in 1800s Chicago)

Kate Klimo, Ruth Sanderson, Sparky, Random House Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12 (a no-nonsense fire dog meets her match in a horse with a bad reputation 1800s Chicago)

John Matthews, Henry Hunter and the Cursed Pirates, Bonnier Publishing Fiction,
Ages 8 – 12 (middle grade mystery fantasy series incorporating history, mythology & legend)

Dan Metcalf, The Catacombs of Chaos (A Lottie Lipton Adventure), A & C Black Children’s Educational, Ages 7 – 9 (meet Lottie, a 9-year-old sleuth who lives in the British Museum)

Dan Metcalf, The Eagle of Rome (A Lottie Lipton Adventure), A & C Black Children’s Educational, Ages 7 – 9 (can Lottie break the code of the Ninth Legion’s Eagle and find the treasure?)

Dan Metcalf, The Curse of the Cairo Cat (A Lottie Lipton Adventure), A & C Black Children’s Educational, Ages 7 – 9 (humorous middle-grade mystery series)

B. R. Myers, Diadem of Death: A Nefertari Hughes Mystery 2, Fierce Ink Press,
Ages 12 + (sabotage & a deadly accident puts everyone on high alert in this new sequel)

Norah Olson, What the Dead Want, Katherine Tegen Books, Ages 13 +
(dark thriller centering on a Civil War-era murder)

Beth Revis, A World Without You, Razorbill, Ages 12 + (a boy suffering from delusions is convinced he has witnessed both the sinking of Titanic & a Civil War battlefield)

Caroline Tung Richmond, The Darkest Hour, Scholastic Press, Ages 12 + (alternate history: the Clandestine Operations Agency deploys girls to remove Hitler and the Nazi threat)

Laura Amy Schlitz, The Hired Girl, Walker UK, Ages 12 + (humorous coming-of-age. Pennsylvania 1911)

John Smelcer, Stealing Indians, Leapfrog Press, Ages 12 + (four Native American teenagers are irrevocably changed by the institution designed to eradicate their identity)

Nicholas O.Time, Going, Going, Gone (In Due Time #1), Simon Spotlight, Ages 8 – 12
(using their school library literary time-travel portal, ‘The Book of Memories’, the kids can go anywhere)

Nicholas O. Time, Stay A Spell (In Due Time #2), Simon Spotlight, Ages 8 – 12 (the school librarian sends Jada and her friends back a few decades to learn a valuable lesson)

August 2016

Mac Barnett, Chris Van Dusen, President Taft Is Stuck in the Bath, Candlewick, Ages 4 – 8 (the most famous bathtub misadventure in US presidential history – children’s picture book)

Robert Beatty, Serafina and the Twisted Staff (A Serafina Novel II), Disney-Hyperion,
Ages 8 – 12 (fantasy mystery set in 19th-c about a girl who lives secretly on the grand Biltmore Estate)

Martina Boone, Persuasion (The Heirs of Watson Island 2), Simon Pulse, Ages 14 + (2nd novel in trilogy blending folklore, mystery, adventure, and an old family curse)

Jeffrey Brown, Lucy & Andy Neanderthal, Crown Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12
(humorous graphic format adventure with two cave kids living 40,000 years ago)

Joseph Bruchac, Talking Leaves, Dial Books for YR, Ages 10 +
(fictional account of the Sequoyah and the creation of the Cherokee alphabet)

Kathleen Burkinshaw, The Last Cherry Blossom, Sky Pony Press, Ages 9 – 12 (a poignant story exploring Japanese culture and how Japanese children lived during WWII)

Philippa Dowding, Carter and the Curious Maze (Weird Stories Gone Wrong 3), Dundurn, Ages 9 – 12 (as Carter begins his travels through time all manner of weird things happen)

Sarah Fine, Of Dreams and Rust, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Ages 14 + (unique romantic steampunk retelling of Gaston LeRoux’s Phantom of the Opera)

Karen Foxlee, A Most Magical Girl, Knopf Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12
(magical fantasy about friendship between two girls in Victorian England )

Paul Fleischman, Bagram Ibatoulline, The Matchbox Diary, Candlewick, Ages 6 – 9
(a little girl uncovers an immigration tale about her great-grandfather)

N. J. Gemmell, The Luna Laboratorium (Kensington Reptilarium 3), Random House Australia, Ages 9 – 12 (humorous adventures of four grubby urchins from the Australian outback)

Colleen Gleason, The Chess Queen Enigma : A Stoker & Holmes Novel, Chronicle Books, Ages 12 – 18 (further adventures in the steampunk series)

Lucinda Gray, The Gilded Cage, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Ages 12 + (16-yr-old Katherine Randolph begins a new life in upper class England in the 1820s)

Tim Hehir, Julius and the Soulcatcher (The Watchmaker Novels 2), Text Publishing Company, Ages 11 – 14 (alternate worlds, time travel, mechanical horror & the demi-monde of Victorian England)

Jennifer L. Holm, Full of Beans, Random House Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12
(witty middle-grade adventure set in Florida 1934, during the Great Depression)

Jennifer L. Holm, Turtle in Paradise, Yearling, Ages 8 – 12 (sequel to Full of Beans – humorous middle grade historical family drama set in Key West, Florida in 1935)

Colleen Houck, Reawakened, Ember, Ages 14 + (Egyptian-inspired adventure about two star-crossed teens who must battle mythical forces and ancient curses)

Colleen Houck, Recreated (Reawakened, Book 2), Delacorte Press, Ages 14 + (Egyptian inspired adventure – a 17-year-old must literally go to hell to save the love of her life)

Matthew J. Kirby, Last Descendants: An Assassin’s Creed Novel Series, Scholastic Inc,
Ages 12 +  (Owen and a group teenagers access a shared memory – the 1863 NYC Draft Riots – and find themselves severely tested on the violent streets)

Taylor Kitchings, Yard War, Yearling, Ages 8 – 12
(story about standing up for your values and your friends in 1964 Mississippi)

Elizabeth Laird, Crusade, Pan Macmillan, Ages 12 + (after his mother dies unconfessed, Adam joins the crusade to reclaim Jerusalem and finds himself in Saladin’s camp)

Kate Milford, Eliza Wheeler, The Left-Handed Fate, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Ages 8 – 12
(mission to find pieces of a strange engine might stop war between England & Boney’s France)

Michael Morpurgo, Private Peaceful, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Ages 9 – 12 (a soldier looks back on his life from the trenches of WW I France)

John Moss, The Girl in a Coma, The Poisoned Pencil, Ages 8 – 12 (a 15yr-old in a coma lives vicariously through her pioneer ancestors, experiencing their adventures through their eyes)

Mal Peet, Meg Rosoff, Beck, Walker UK, Ages 14 + (coming-of-age adventure of a mixed race boy transported to North America in early 1900s)

Sally Prue, Land of the Gods, Bloomsbury Education, Age 7 – 11 (join Lucan, a Roman slave, for a humorous adventure in ancient Rome)

William Ritter, Ghostly Echoes : A Jackaby Novel, Algonquin Young Readers, Ages 12 + (paranormal mystery series set in 19^th –c New England: sequel to Beastly Bones)

Dave Rudden, Knights of the Borrowed Dark (Book 1), Random House Books for YR,
Ages 10 + (first in fantasy adventure trilogy featuring an orphan and an ancient order of knights)

Augusta Scattergood, Making Friends with Billy Wong, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (story set in small-town Arkansas, 1955, illuminates the arrival of Chinese immigrants in segregated South)

Ally Sherrick, Black Powder, Chicken House, Age 10 + (England 1605 – 12-year-old Tom must save his father from hanging and discover the identity of the mysterious stranger who threatens to blow up Parliament)

Ruby Slipperjack, Dear Canada: These Are My Words, Scholastic Canada, Age 9 – 12 (the Residential School diary of Violet Pesheens)

Anne Szabla, Bird Boy Volume 2: The Liminal Wood, Dark Horse Books, Ages 8 – 12
(graphic novel format – 2nd in series after The Sword of Mali Mani)

Sabaa Tahir, A Torch Against the Night, Razorbill, Ages 14 +
(sequel to An Ember in the Ashes. Setting inspired by Ancient Rome)

Yoshiki Tanaka, The Heroic Legend of Arslan 5, Kodansha Comics, Ages 14 +
(graphic novel)

Sandi Toksvig, A Slice of the Moon, Doubleday, Ages 8 + (adventure shows the strength and versatility of the human spirit to survive the devastation that greed and ignorance can cause)

Peter Vegas, The Iron Tomb (Pyramid Hunters 1), Aladdin, Ages 10 – 14 (fast paced contemporary adventure – Sam must use ancient history and culture to find his uncle)

Hannah Voskuil, Horus and the Curse of Everlasting Regret, Knopf Books for YR, Ages 8 – 12 (a boy, a girl, a pet bat and a mummy embark on a mission to reverse an ancient Egyptian curse)

Alana White, Come Next Spring (c1990), Open Road Distribution, Age 8 – 12 (1949 Smoky Mountains: twelve-year-old Salina’s struggles to accept change)

John Wilson, A Dangerous Game, Doubleday Canada, Ages 10 + (WW I – Manon works at a local hospital but is a spy who gathers information to send to the British to aid in ending the war)

September 2016

Jane Austen, Shiei, Pride and Prejudice, Seven Seas, Ages 12 +
(Austen’s most famous story brought to life in Manga graphic format)

Tom Bradman, Tony Bradman, Short Histories: Mr Fawkes, the King and the Gunpowder Plot, Wayland, Ages 6 – 8 (brings history to life for young readers)

Tom and Tony Bradman, Short Histories: The Baker’s Boy and the Great Fire of London, Wayland, Age 6 – 8 (London, 1666)

Ann E. Burg, Unbound: A Novel in Verse, Scholastic Press, Ages 9 – 12
(a transcendent story about a little-known piece of slave history)

Rae Carson, Walk on Earth a Stranger, Greenwillow Books, Ages 13 + (1^st in series, a woman who can sense gold makes a dangerous journey across Gold Rush-era America)

Rae Carson, Like a River Glorious, Greenwillow Books, Ages 13 + (book 2 – California gold-rush adventure elucidating an era of American history through a distinctive heroine who can sense gold)

Kent Davis, A Riddle in Ruby, Greenwillow Books, Ages 8 – 12 (an alternate colonial America –  witty, inventive adventure with Ruby Teach – smuggler’s daughter and picklock extraordinaire)

Kent Davis, Riddle in Ruby 2: The Changer’s Key, Greenwillow Books, Ages 8 – 12 (2^nd in fantasy adventure trilogy taking place in an alternate version of colonial America)

Dr Jenny Kay Dupuis, Kathy Kacer, I Am Not a Number, Second Story Press, Ages 7 – 11
(recounting of a First Nations girl’s experience in the Residential School System)

Kieran Fanning, The Black Lotus : The Samurai Wars, Chicken House, Ages 8 – 12 (when a powerful sword is stolen the Black Lotus kids go back to 16th-c Japan to retrieve it)

Bryn Fleming, Cassie and Jasper : Kidnapped Cattle, Westwinds Press, Ages 8 – 12
(3^rd in ‘Range Riders Series’ – the kids outwit rustlers and rope & ride like never before)

Zana Fraillon, The Bone Sparrow, Orion Children’s, Ages 12 – 16 (story of a refugee boy who has spent his entire life living in a detention centre)

Susan Green, Diamonds and Deception: A Verity Sparks Mystery, Walker UK, Ages 9 +
(new VictoriaN mystery series; London 1878)

Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Complete Missing Collection : Found; Sent; Sabotaged; Torn; Caught; Risked; Revealed; Redeemed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (time-travel adventure series)

Erin Hagar, Jen Hill, Doing Her Bit : A Story About the Woman’s Land Army of America, Charlesbridge, Ages 6 – 9 (fiction based on true events during W W II)

Adam Hancher, The Little Pioneer, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, Age 4 – 8
(US in 19^th –c, story of one wagon train heading to the West)

Stuart Hill, Shield Maiden, Bloomsbury, Age 10 + (Alfred’s escape to the marshes, defeat of Ubba & peace settlement with Guthrum –shown from Aethelflaed’s, (Lady of Mercia) point of view)

Andy Hirsch, Varmints, First Second, Ages 8 – 12
(humorous middle-grade adventure set in the Old West – graphic novel format)

Rosamund Hodge, Bright Smoke, Cold Fire, Balzer + Bray, Ages 13 + (Romeo-&-Juliet-inspired mythological fantasy with feuding families, doomed lovers – and necromancers)

Rosamund Hodge, Crimson Bound, Balzer + Bray, Ages 13 + (a tale of darkness & redemption based on “Little Red Riding Hood”, featuring the opulent setting and intrigue of Versailles)

Matthew J. Kirby, A Taste for Monsters, Scholastic Press, Ages 12 + (story of a young woman in 1888 Victorian London who is haunted by the ghosts of Jack the Ripper’s victims)

Jean Little, Hand in Hand, Scholastic Canada, Age 7 – 10 (inspired by the real-life stories of Helen Keller and Martha Washington)

C. Alexander London, Outbreak (The 39 Clues: Super Special, Book 1), Scholastic Inc.,
Ages 8 – 12 (the Cahill gang is called to investigate one of their own)

Cameron McAllister, The Demon Undertaker, Corgi Childrens, Age 10 + (set in London,1749, a kidnapper stalks streets in a horse-drawn hearse)

Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Shame the Stars, Tu Books, Ages 12 – 18 (Texas-Mexico border war, 1915 – reimagining of the Romeo and Juliet love story)

Yona Zeldis McDonough, The Bicycle Spy, Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (Marcel dreams of entering the Tour de France, but realises in 1940 that there are far worse things than a cancelled race)

Mindy McGinnis, A Madness So Discreet, Katherine Tegen Books, Ages 14 + (thrown in a Boston insane asylum, Grace is banished to the cellars where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor dabbling in the new art of criminal psychology)

Joshua McHenry Miller, Tyrants and Traitors (The Lion’s Dynasty, Book 1), Blue Ink Press, Age 14 + (“Find the traitor hiding within Israel,” the seer warns a 15-yr-old shepherd, “or our nation will be enslaved”)

Kaoru Mori, A Bride’s Story, Vol. 8, Yen Press, Ages 15 +
(a slice-of-life story on the 19^th century Silk Road. Graphic novel format)

Michael Morpurgo, An Eagle in the Snow, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Ages 9 +
(inspired by true story of one man who might have stopped WW II)

Miriam Moss, Girl on a Plane, HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (Bahrain, 1970; after a summer spent with family 15 yr old Anna’s plane to UK is hijacked by Palestinian terrorists)

Colleen Oakes, Wendy Darling : Volume 2: Seas, SparkPress, Ages 14 + (takes Wendy into a much darker game with infamous Captain Hook)

Joe O’Neill, Thieves of the Black Sea (Red Hand Adventures 4), Black Ship Publishing, Ages 9 – 12 (adventure taking places in Constantinople, 1914 and all over the globe)

Ridley Pearson, Lock and Key: The Initiation, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12 (first in trilogy reimagines the origins of rivalry between Sherlock Holmes & his arch-nemesis James Moriarty)

Nicola Pierce, Kings of the Boyne, O’Brien Press, Ages 12 + (1690: two kings, three young soldiers. One battle to end all battles)

Caroline Pignat, Unspeakable : Book 1, Razorbill, Ages 12 +
(based on a forgotten maritime tragedy – the sinking of the Empress of Ireland)

Margi Preus, The Bamboo Sword, Amulet Paperbacks, Ages 10 – 14 (in 1853 Japan, a young boy of the serving class dreams of one day becoming a samurai)

Megan Rix, The Great Fire Dogs: Book 8, Puffin, Ages 4 – 7, (London 1666 – a loveable stray from palace kitchens & King Charles’ pet spaniel become friends)

Kevin Sands, Mark of the Plague, Aladdin, Ages 10 – 14 (the Black Death has returned to London in this follow-up to The Blackthorn Key)

J. Scott Savage, Gears of Revolution (Mysteries of Cove, 2), Shadow Mountain, Ages 8 – 11 (steampunk adventure with mechanical dragons and steam-powered jousting motorcycles. Sequel to Fires of Invention)

Caroline Stellings, Freedom’s Just Another Word, Second Story Press, Ages 12 – 17 (the year ‘Easy’ meets Janis Joplin in the small town of Saskatoon, is the year everything changes)

Nicholas O. Time, Wrong Place, (Really) Wrong Time, Simon Spotlight, Ages 8 – 12, (Luis plans to go back to 1696, find & rebury Captain Kidd’s treasure, then come back and find it in the present)

Various: The Dragon’s Hoard : Stories from the Viking Sagas, Frances Lincoln Children’s Bks, Ages 8 – 12 (eleven stories packed with warriors and battles)

Holly Webb, Marion Lindsay, The Case of the Secret Tunnel (Maisie Hitchins), HMH Books for Young Readers, Ages 7 – 10 (more adventures with the intrepid Victorian girl-sleuth)

Ronald Welch, (Tank Commander (c1972), Slightly Foxed, Ages 10 + (summer of 1914)

Ronald Welch, Ensign Carey (c1976), Slightly Foxed, Ages 10 + (mid 19^th –c London)

John Wilson, A Dangerous Game, Doubleday Canada, Ages 9 – 12
(World War One saga set in Belgium in 1916)

Eva Wiseman, Another Me, Tundra Books, Ages 12 + (based on the 14^th-c Strasbourg Massacre, when hundreds of Jewish citizens, accused of bringing the plague, were burned alive)

Alex Woolf, Dread Eagle ( Iron Sky Book 1), Scribo, Ages 11 + (1845; war rages between France and Britain & Napoleon fights for power – steampunk)

David Zeltser, Lug #2: Blast from the North, Carolrhoda Books, Ages 8 – 12
(adventures of Lug, the hero caveboy)

October 2016

Laurie Halse Anderson, Seeds of America Boxed Set : Chains; Forge; Ashes, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Ages 10 – 14 (sequel stories based on Colonial and Revolutionary periods in the US)

Laurence Anholt, The Hypnotist, Corgi Children’s, Ages 10 + (1960s American South where race defines you and overshadows everything)

Rona Arato, The Ship to Nowhere: On Board the Exodus, Second Story Press, Ages 9 – 13 (Rachel Fletcher is 11 years old when she, her mother and sister are crammed on board a dilapidated vessel smuggling 4500 Jewish refugees to Palestine)

Becky Birtha, Colin Bootman, Grandmama’s Pride, Albert Whitman & Company, Ages 4 – 8
( 6-yr-old Sarah Marie & her family travel south in summer of 1956)

Martina Boone, Illusion, Simon Pulse, Ages 14 +
(conclusion to the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy)

Anna Carey, The Making of Mollie, O’Brien Press, Ages 10 + (14-year-old Mollie writes to her friend at boarding school. Set in Dublin, 1912)

Scott Chantler, The Iron Hand (Three Thieves Book 7), Kids Can Press, Ages 8 – 12
(graphic novel format medieval adventure)

Melanie Dickerson, The Silent Songbird, Thomas Nelson, Ages 13 + (a ward of Richard II must make a choice between chasing her freedom and doing what’s right)

Natasha Farrant, The Secret Diary of Lydia Bennet, The Chicken House, Ages 12 + (a funny reimagining of Jane Austen’s classic brings the voice of the wildest Bennet sister to life

M.C. Finotti, Paintbrushes and Arrows : A Story of St. Augustine, Pineapple Press, Ages 9 – 14 (1875 – two worlds collide in 1875 when 14-yr-old Callie meets an imprisoned Plains Indian girl)

Robyn Gioia, Under Siege!, Pineapple Press, Ages 10 – 14 (when the English attack Castillo de San Marcos fort in 1702, two boys are thrown into the adventure of a lifetime)

Alan Gratz, Projekt 1065: A Novel of World War II, Scholastic Press, Ages 9 – 12 (young Michael plays a dangerous game as a member of the Hitler Youth and a spy for the British Secret Service)

Daniel Harmon, Julian Hanshaw, The Young Ben Franklin : Future American, Zest Books, Ages 14 +  (graphic novel tells story of Ben Franklin’s quest for moral perfection)

Lauren James, The Last Beginning, Walker UK, Ages 12 + (a mystery to be solved in the past; a love to be uncovered in the future. Sequel to The Next Together)

Catherine Johnson, Blade and Bone, Walker UK, Ages  12 + (a forensic crime thriller set in Revolutionary Paris)

Kickliy, Musnet 2 : Impressions of the Master, Uncivilized Books, Ages 9 + (Musnet is drawn to the fresh, new art of his human master, Monet)

Daniel Kraus, The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (a murdered teen is resurrected to walk the earth for more than a century)

A LaFaye, Keith D. Shepherd, Walking Home to Rosie Lee, Cinco Puntos Press, Ages 4 – 7 (account of a freed slave boy’s search for his mother)

Kirby Larson, Liberty (Dogs of World War II), Scholastic Press, Ages 8 – 12 (as Fish enlists friends & allies to rescue a dog, he finds his perceptions of race, war, family and friendship transformed)

Claire Legrand, Jaime Zollars, Foxheart, Greenwillow Books, Ages 8 – 12 (magical time-travel adventure with 12-yr-old ‘orphan/thief/witch’ Quicksilver and her dog, Fox)

Julie Leung, A Tail of Camelot, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12, (new middle-grade series based on Arthurian legend and told from the perspective of the Camelot mice)

Michaela MacColl, Secrets in the Snow : A Novel of Intrigue and Romance, Chronicle Books, Ages 12 – 18 (Jane Austen’s family is eager to secure her future and marry her off but Jane would rather write novels)

Kerri Maniscalco, Stalking the Ripper, Jimmy Patterson, Ages 14 + (creepy horror novel with storyline inspired by the Ripper murders, London 1880s)

Patricia McKissack, Cozbi A. Cabrera, Stitchin’ and Pullin’ : A Gee’s Bend Quilt, Dragonfly Books, Ages 5 – 9 (lyrical collection of poems weaves familial, cultural and historical strands of the community together)

Cathy McSporran, The Few, Freight Books, Ages 14 + (supernatural fantasy set during the evacuation of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain)

Bryan Methods, The Thief’s Apprentice (Master Diplexito and Mr Scant), Carolrhoda Books, Ages 10 – 14 (adventure series takes place after Industrial Revolution & will end at WW I)

Marissa Moss, Caravaggio: Painter on the Run, Creston Books, Ages 12 + (condemned for a murder he didn’t commit, the young rebel painter goes on the run)

Belinda Murrell, The Lost Sapphire, Random House Australia, Ages 9 – 12 (a crumbling abandoned Melbourne mansion releases its secrets from 1922 in this coming-of-age family drama)

Richard O’Neill, Katherine Quarmby, Ossiri and the Bala Mengro, Child’s Play, Ages 5 – 9
(a tale of the ‘traveller’ people of Britain; detail of Romani culture and way of life)
Also: Yokki and the Parno Guy

Matthew Olshan, Sophie Blackall, A Voyage in the Clouds, The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785, Farrar Straus and Giroux (BYR), Ages 8 – 12

Kenneth Oppel, Every Hidden Thing, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (the hunt for a dinosaur, bitter rivalries & forbidden romance in the 19^th-c Badlands)

Shelley Pearsall, The Seventh Most Important Thing, Yearling, Ages 10 + (1960s Washington, D.C. – an exploration of how there is often so much more to life than meets the eye)

Oliver Pötzsch (trans. Lee Chadeayne), Book of the Night: The Black Musketeers, AmazonCrossing, Ages 14 + (thirteen-year-old Lukas has been trained as a swordsman by his father, a nobleman who was once a famed Musketeer)

David A. Poulsen, And Then the Sky Exploded, Dundurn Teen, Ages 12 – 15 (a story of making amends for the Manhattan Project bombs  dropped on Hiroshima during World War II)

Katherine Rundell, Rooftoppers, Faber & Faber, Ages 9 – 12 (join Sophie and her orphan allies on the rooftops of Victorian Paris)

Julian Sedgwick, Ghosts of Shanghai: 02: Shadow of the Yangtze, Hachette Children’s, Ages 9 – 12 (historical action adventure set during China’s civil war)

Marcus Sedgwick, The Ghosts of Heaven, Square Fish, Ages 12 – 18 (genre-bending epic that chronicles madness, obsession & creation from Paleolithic era through witch hunts and into the space-bound future)

Marcus Sedgwick, Blood Red, Snow White : A Novel, Roaring Brook Press, Ages 12 – 18
(part thriller/part fairy tale – fictionalized account of Arthur Ransome’s romance and betrayal in war-torn Russia)

Megan Shepherd, The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, Walker UK, Ages 8 + (1941 – Emmaline discovers a secret in Shropshire, after her evacuation from the Blitz)

Shonna Slayton, Spindle, Entangled: Teen, Ages 12 +
(the re-told story of Sleeping Beauty, set during the Industrial Revolution)

Lindsay Smith, A Darkly Beating Heart, Roaring Brook Press, Ages 12 – 18 (a troubled girl confronts her personal demons in a time-travel thriller alternating between the present and 19^th-c Japan)

Destiny Soria, Iron Cast, Amulet, Ages 13 + (two illusionist friends use their magic to con patrons of a Prohibition-era nightclub in Boston, 1919)

John Owen Theobalk, These Dark Wings, Head of Zeus, Ages 8 – 12 (sent to live with the Ravenmaster at the Tower, during the Blitz, Anna takes on the fate of Britain as the ravens begin to disappear)

Tim Tingle, When a Ghost Talks, Listen: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story, Roadrunner,
Ages 12 + (from the Trail of Tears in 1831 to the rebuilding of Washington in 1824)

Eve Titus, Paul Galdone, Basil in Mexico, Aladdin, Ages 6 – 9 (a mouse detective learns his trade from the best! – after all, he lives in Sherlock Holmes’ cellar)

Danny Weston, The Haunting of Jessop Rise, Andersen Press, Ages 12 +
(ghostly horror story set in North Wales 1800s)

Jacqueline Wilson, Clover Moon, Doubleday, Ages 9 + (Clover Moon’s imagination is her best escape from a life of hardship in poverty-stricken Victorian London)

Jonah Winter, Terry Widener, My Name is James Madison Hemings, Schwartz & Wade,
Ages 5 – 9 (fictional account of early life of James, the child of Thomas Jefferson & enslaved Sally Hemings)

AB Yehoshua, Stuart Schoffman, The Story of Crime and Punishment (Save the Story), Pushkin Children’s Books, Ages 8 – 12 (St Petersburg, Russia, Raskolnikov is a poor student desperate to escape poverty)

November 2016

Tony Abbott, The Copernicus Legacy: The Crown of Fire, Katherine Tegen Books, Ages 8 – 12 (final book in the middle grade fantasy adventure series)

Alane Adams, The Santa Thief, SparkPress, Ages 4 – 8
(heartwarming Christmas story set in 1920s Pennsylvannia)

Sam Angus, Anna Roerto, Captain, Feiwel & Friends, Ages 9 – 12 (1915 wartime adventure about a boy and his donkey)

Alessandro Baricco, Ann Goldstein, The Story of Don Juan (Save the Story), Pushkin Children’s Books, Ages 8 – 12 (the crazy life and courageous death of a man who loved women too much)

Alex Bell, Frozen Charlotte, Scholastic Press, Ages 12 + (a former academy for girls shut down long ago, reveals its unsettling history)

Kate A. Boorman, Heartfire : A Winterkill Novel, Amulet Books, Ages 12 + (3rd in series after Winterkill and Darkthaw, a teen holds a powerful weapon in the war for an alternate early North America)

Molly Booth, Saving Hamlet, Disney-Hyperion, Ages 12 – 18 (after falling through a stage trap door, Emma finds herself in the Globe theatre in London, 1601)

Isaiah Campbell, AbrakaPOW, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (based on true WW II story – a charming mystery about a mishap at a magic show at a POW camp)

Kay Crabbe, The Pearl-shell Diver : A Story of Adventure from the Torres Strait, Allen & Unwin, Ages 9 – 13 (in 1898 13-year-old Sario wrestles with constant danger as a diver for the worst pearling ship in the fleet)

Andrea Cremer, The Turncoat’s Gambit (Inventor’s Secret 3), Philomel, Ages 12+ (set in alternate steampunk America where Revolutionary war never happened & British Empire is bent on crushing colonies’ rebellion)

Kathleen Duey, Karen A. Bale, Train Wreck : Kansas, 1892, Aladdin, Ages 8 – 12
(8^th book in the Survivors series)

D. D. Everest, Archie Greene and the Alchemists’ Curse, HarperCollins, Ages 8 – 12
(magical fantasy adventure which draws on real life historical figures and places)

Ryan Graudin, Blood for Blood,  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Ages 14 + (for the resistance in 1950s Germany the war may be over, but the fight has just begun)

Luke Healy, How to Survive in the North, Nobrow Ltd, Ages 10 + (weaves together a true life historical expedition in early 1900s with a contemporary fictional story)

Dean Hughes, Four-Four-Two, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Ages 12 + (with his family interred at start of WW II, Yuki enlists for the allies but comes face to face with persistent prejudice)

Una Leavy, illus. Fergal O’Connor, Magical Celtic Tales, O’Brien Press, Ages 8+ (nine tales from Brittany, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland and Ireland)

Annette Oppenlander, Escape from the Past: At Witches End (Book 3), Lodestone Books, Ages 12 + (time-traveling gamer, Max, faces evil forces when he returns to 1473 medieval Germany to rescue a friend)

David A. Poulsen, And Then the Sky Exploded, Dundurn, Ages 12 – 18 (Christian learns his great grandfather was part of the team who built the atomic bombs dropped in WW II)

Laurie Salzler, After a Time, Bedazzled Ink, Ages 12 + (late 1800s: teenager Mayme Watson disguises herself as a boy & gets hired as a post rider for the US postal service)

Tara Sim, Timekeeper, Sky Pony Press, Ages 12 + (alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers. A damaged clock can fracture time; a destroyed one can stop it completely. Lgbt)

Andrea Simon, Esfir Is Alive, Bedazzled Ink, Ages 12 + (a Polish girl’s coming of age during her country’s occupation and the Holocaust; based on real people and events)

Nicholas O. Time, Houston, We Have A Klutz (In Due Time 4), Simon Spotlight, Age 8 – 12 (Grace sneaks onto the Apollo 11)

P L Travers, I Go by Sea, I Go by Land, Virago, Ages 9 + (fictional diary of 11-year-old Sabrina Lind, who, because of war, is sent with her brother to aunt in US)

Shirley Reva Vernick, The Blood Lie, Cinco Puntos Press, Ages 12 + (Sept 1928 – tackles issue of anti-Semitism and is a reminder that one person cannot live freely until all people can live freely)

Barry Wolverton, Dave Stevenson, The Dragon’s Gate (Chronicles of the Black Tulip, 2), Walden Pond Press, Ages 8 – 12,  (part high-seas adventure, part alternate history epic, pieced together with bits of mythology, history & folklore)

December 2016

Eva Howard, League of Archers, Aladdin, Ages 9 – 13 (on the run after being accused of killing Robin Hood, 12-yr-old Ellie Dray learns what it really means to be a hero)

Matthew J. Kirby, Tomb of the Khan (Last Descendants: An Assassin’s Creed Novel #2), Scholastic Inc, Ages 12 + (the twins have to find the lost tomb of Genghis Khan)

Elizabeth Laird, Crusade, Pan Macmillan, Ages 9 – 12 (when Adam’s mother dies unconfessed, he grabs the chance to join the Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem)

Yiyun Li, Marco Lorenzetti, The Story of Gilgamesh (Save the Story), Pushkin Children’s Books, Ages 8 – 12 (semi-mythic king Gilgamesh was a terrible tyrant to his people)

Lisa Martin, Valerie Martin, Anton and Cecil, Book 3 : Cats Aloft, Algonquin Young Readers, Ages 8 – 12 (Anton & Cecil’s search takes them to the 1893 Chicago World Fair)

Melania G. Mazzucco, Virginia Jewiss, The Story of King Lear (Save the Story), Pushkin Children’s Books, Ages 8 – 12 (the classic story retold for younger readers)

Kate Messmer, Kelley McMorris, Journey through Ash and Smoke (Ranger I Time #5), Scholastic Press, Ages 7 – 10 (the time-traveling gold retriever, goes to Viking Iceland)

Jennifer A. Nielsen, Wrath of the Storm (Mark of the Thief #3), Scholastic Press, Ages 9 – 12 (all the powers of Rome are circling around Nic – can he keep friends & family safe?)