Forthcoming children’s and YA historical novels for 2023
The Historical Novel Society lists mainstream and small press titles for readers aged 4 – 18. Books are set in eras up to the early 1970s. Details are compiled by Fiona Sheppard using publisher descriptions and recommended age suitability.
Other than short excerpts, please remember to link to this page rather than copying the entries – thank you!
See our guide to children’s and YA historical novels for 2022 for the previous year’s releases, and our guide to forthcoming children’s and YA historical novels for 2024 for next year’s titles.
We also have a guide to Forthcoming Historical Novels for 2023 and for 2024.
Last updated; January 9, 2024
January 2023
Patience Agbabi, The Circle Breakers, Canongate, YA (14-yr-old Elle and her friends end up in 1880, face-to-face with the criminal mastermind of The Vicious Circle – Millennia’s Leapling ancestor)
Kwame Alexander, illus. Dare Coulter, An American Story, Little, Brown BfYR, Age 4-8 (picture book that tells the story of American slavery through the voice of a teacher struggling to help her students understand its harrowing history)
Glenda Armand, illus. Keisha Morris, All Aboard the Schooltrain: A Little Story from the Great Migration, Scholastic, Age 4-8 (picture book of one young girl caught in racially tense times)
Gwendolyn Battle-Lavert, illus. Colin Bootman, Papa’s Mark, Holiday House, Age 4-8 (a father and son help their community claim the right to vote in the post Civil-War South)
Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo, The Roan Stallion, 7th Generation, YA (adventure set on a Dakota prairie farm in 1929)
Rachel Bithell, illus Eric Freeberg, Brave Bird at Wounded Knee: A Story of Protest on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Jolly Fish, Age 8-12 (during the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a Lakota girl reconnects with her heritage, and determines who she wants to be)
Tameka Fryer Brown, illus. Nikkolas Smith, That Flag, Age 6-10 (fictional picture book challenges the meaning behind the still-waving Confederate flag through the friendship of two young girls)
Brittany Cavallaro, Manifest, Katherine Tegen, YA (conclusion to YA duology set in an alternate history American monarchy)
Tami Charles, illus. Bryan Collier, We Are Here, Orchard Books, Age 4-8 (picture book that celebrates the rich history of Black and brown men and women)
Lesa Cline-Ransome, Loud and Proud, Paula Wiseman, Age 4-8 (inspirational picture book story of Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman in Congress)
Lisa Cline-Ransome, For Lamb, Holiday House, YA (an interracial friendship between two teenaged girls goes tragically wrong in this novel set in the Jim Crow South)
Joy Michael Ellison, illus: Francesca Ficorilli, Flor Fights Back: A Stonewall Riots Survival Story, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (after Flor’s mother dies in early 1969, she is left with her grandmother who refuses to accept Flor’s identity as a trans girl)
Brian Falkner, Blitzkrieg, Scholastic Inc, YA (WWII novel inspired by real events)
Susan Griner, illus. Wendy Tan Shiau Wei, Fumiko and a Tokyo Tragedy, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (survival story of the Great Kanto Earthquake which struck Tokyo on September 1, 1923)
Antonio Iturbe (trans. Lilit Thwaites), adap. Salva Rubio, illus. Loreto Aroca, The Librarian of Auschwitz: The Graphic Novel, Henry Holt BYR, YA (inspired by the true story of Dita Kraus who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. Adapted for young readers)
Stephen Krensky, Daniel Boone, Crabtree Crown, Age 10-12 (fictional fantasy stories featuring science & nature in the Great Explorers series)
Also in series: Henry Hudson; John Wesley Powell; Kit Carson; Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Iszi Lawrence, illus. Elisa Paganelli, Blackbeard’s Treasure, Bloomsbury Education, Age 9-11 (a pirate tale set in the eighteenth century during the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean)
Krystal Marquis, The Davenports, Dial, YA (series set in 1910 Chicago offers a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked)
Katherine Marsh, The Lost Year, Roaring Brook, Age 8-12 (middle-grade survival story that traces a harrowing family secret back to the Holodomor, a terrible famine that devastated Soviet Ukraine in the 1930s)
Kyrie McCauley, All the Dead Lie Down, Katherine Tegen, YA (queer gothic romance in which a newly orphaned teen girl accepts a nanny position only to discover that the estate is drowning in its history)
DoanPhuong Nguyen, Méo and Bé, Tu Books, Age 8-12 (historical novel about a girl who, after being sold by her stepmother, follows a precocious kitten through the war-torn streets of Vietnam)
Richard O’Neill, A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (a football-filled adventure based in the Romani community of 19th-century Sheffield)
Jean E. Pendziwol, illus. Nicolas Debon, The Red Sash, Groundwood, Age 5-8 (story of a young Metis boy who lives near the fur trading post of Fort William, on Lake Superior, nearly 200 years ago)
Corinne Purtill, illus. Marina Muun, Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code, Rebel Girls, Age 8-12 (story based on the real-life adventures of Ada Lovelace, one of the world’s first computer programmers)
Matt Ralphs, Little Sure Shot, Andersen Press, Age 10-12 (novel based on the life of sharpshooting star Annie Oakley)
Virginia Frances Schwartz, Among the Fallen, Holiday House, YA (historical novel, full of real characters, celebrates the strength and resilience of young women throughout history)
Lucy Strange, Sister of the Lost Marsh, Chicken House, Age 8-12 (story of six sisters who must fight against circumstance and fate)
Kim Taylor, A Flag for Juneteenth, Neal Porter, Age 5-8 (story depicts a close-knit community of enslaved African Americans on a plantation in Texas, the day before the 1865 announcement is made that all enslaved people are free)
Sarah Todd Taylor, illus. Beatriz Castro, A Spoonful of Spying, Nosy Crow, Age 8-12 (second book in the Alice Éclair, Spy Extraordinaire series)
Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. E.B. Lewis, You Are My Pride, Astra YR, Age 4-8 (historical picture book written in the voice of Mother Africa, who speaks to all her children)
Laura Wood, The Agency for Scandal, Scholastic, YA (an all-female detective agency rights wrongs at the end of the nineteenth century by infiltrating a scandalous upper-class world)
February 2023
Charnelle Pinkney Barlow, Little Rosetta and the Talking Guitar, Doubleday, Age 4-7 (picture book biography of guitarist and musical prodigy Rosetta Tharpe)
Kalynn Bayron, My Dear Henry: A Jekyll & Hyde Remix, Feiwel & Friends, YA (London 1885 — a teen boy tries to discover the reason behind his best friend’s disappearance and the arrival of a mysterious and magnetic stranger)
Miya T. Beck, The Pearl Hunter, Balzer + Bray, Age 8-12 (debut fantasy novel about pearl divers in pre-Shogun era Japan)
Debra Amirault Camelin, Nathalie: An Acadian’s Tale of Tragedy and Triumph, Ronsdale, YA (1755, Nova Scotia; a heroic coming-of-age story for 13-year-old Acadian Nathalie Belliveau)
Anna Ciddor, The Boy Who Stepped Through Time, A & U Children, Age 8-12 (an accidental trip back to the Roman Empire sets off a race against time to save a friendship)
James Klise, I’ll Take Everything You Have, Algonquin YR, YA (follows the life-changing summer of sixteen-year-old Joe Garbe as he discovers queer community in 1930s Chicago)
Lois Lowry, The Windeby Puzzle, Clarion, Age 10+ (blend of fiction and history, transporting readers to the Iron Age and exploring the mystery and life of the 2,000-year-old Windeby bog body)
Krystal Marquis, The Davenports, Penguin, YA (follows four young Black women as they discover the courage to steer their own path in life-and love)
Denene Millner, illus. Salini Perera, Madam C. J. Walker Builds a Business, Rebel Girls, Age 8-12 (story based on the life of America’s first female self-made millionaire)
Daniel Nayeri, illus. Daniel Miyares, The Many Assassinations of Samir the Seller of Dreams, Levine Querido, Age 8-12 (middle grade adventure through the Silk Road narrated a boy whose only protector, Samir, has many mortal enemies)
Jerdine Nolen, Hope’s Path to Glory, S & S Paula Wiseman, Age 8-12 (adventure about an enslaved girl’s journey on the Overland Trail to California during the Gold Rush, and how she took the chance to fight for freedom)
Gabe Cole Novoa, The Wicked Bargain, Random House BfYR, YA (Latinx pirate fantasy starring a transmasculine nonbinary teen with a mission of revenge, redemption, and revolution)
Nancy Ohlin, illus. Montse Galbany, Junko Tabei Masters the Mountains, Rebel Girls, Age 8-12 (historical novel based on the life of the first female climber to summit Mount Everest)
Richard Panchyk, Escape ’56, Triangle Square, YA (a novel of escape during occupation and wartime and of starting life over in a new country)
Victoria Princewill, The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Scholastic, YA (retelling of the life of an orphaned African princess who was gifted to Queen Victoria)
Corinne Purtill, illus. Josefina Preumayr, Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage, Rebel Girls, Age 8-12 (historical novel based on the life of a world-renowned prima ballerina from Cuba)
Lyssa Mia Smith, Revelle, Balzer + Bray, YA (inspired by Moulin Rouge and set on an island in a magical version of Prohibition-era New York)
Ora Smith, Trading Thomas: Jamestown’s Boy Interpreter, Lighten Press, YA (biographical novel, set in 1606, of a boy who longs to be a great explorer)
Sasha Peyton Smith, The Witch Hunt, Simon & Schuster BfYR, YA (sequel to The Witch Haven follows Frances and her fellow witches to the streets of Paris)
Lee Renwick Steele, Griselda Rella, The Wild Rose Press, YA (a reimagining of the Cinderella story)
Caren Stelson, illus. Selina Alko, Stars of the Night, Carolrhoda Books, Age 7-11 (story of the Czech Kindertransport, which rescued 669 children from Nazi persecution on the eve of World War II)
Gretchen Woelfle, illus. Rebecca Gibbon, A Take-Charge Girl Blazes a Trail to Congress, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (picture book biography of Jeannette Rankin, the first US congresswoman)
March 2023
Jeff Alt, illus. Hannah Tuohy, The Adventures of Bubba Jones: Time Traveling Through Yellowstone National Park, Beaufort Books, Age 9-12 (a brother and sister duo travel back hundreds of years on a mission to preserve and protect our national parks)
Julie Berry, Burglars and Bluestockings, Sourcebooks YR, Age 8-11 (Maeve Merritt and her friends visit Oxford University and encounter an astounding scientific discovery)
Elisa Boxer, illus. Amy June Bates, Hidden Hope, Abrams BfYR, Age 4-8 (picture book true story of how a toy duck smuggled forged identity papers for Jewish refugees during WWII)
Jairo Buitrago, illus. Rafael Yockteng, Afterward, Everything Was Different: A Tale of the Pleistocene, Greystone Kids, Age 4-8 (almost wordless picture book set in the dawn of human life imagines how art and storytelling were born from the power of one young girl’s observation)
Dominic Carrillo, Acts of Resistance, Santa Monica Press, YA (based on the true story of a heroic effort by the citizens of Bulgaria to save almost 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust in 1943 and 1944)
Tziporah Cohen, illus. Yaara Eshet, Afikomen, Groundwood, Age 4-6 (wordless picture book in which three children at a Passover seder visit ancient Egypt to help baby Moses find his way safely to Pharaoh’s daughter)
Lindsay Eagar, The Family Fortuna, Candlewick, YA (debut welcomes us backstage at the Family Fortuna circus to challenge our every notion of what it means to be different)
L. M. Elliott, Bea and the New Deal Horse, Katherine Tegen, Age 10+ (novel, set during the Great Depression, is a tale of the spirit of American persistence, found family, and the magical partnership between girl and horse)
Bonnie Farmer, illus. Marie Lafrance, Oscar Lives Next Door, Owlkids, Age 4-8 (set in Oscar Peterson’s childhood neighborhood of St-Henri, picture book provides a strong sense of this 1930s neighborhood where much of Montreal’s Black working class population lived)
Kristen Mai Giang, illus. Dow Phumiruk, Last Flight, Age 4-8 (picture book story of a family’s escape from Saigon, Vietnam, just before its fall)
Candy Gourlay, Wild Song, David Fickling Books, YA (a companion novel to Bone Talk, the history of the Bontok, an Igorot people in the Philippines)
Kimberly Annece Henderson and Ciara LeRoy, Dear Yesteryear, Dial, Age 4-7 (a picture book letter connecting Black history with the present)
Ysabelle Lacamp (trans. Emma Ramadan), George Sand: No to Prejudice, Triangle Square, YA (tells the story of George Sand’s courageous fight for women’s rights in the 19th century)
Margaret Littman, illus. by Sara Luna, It’s Her Story: Irena Sendler, Sunbird, (graphic novel of Sendler, who worked with the Polish resistance during WWII to smuggle Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto)
Joy McCullough, Enter the Body, Dutton BfYR, YA (in the room beneath a stage’s trapdoor, all of Shakespeare’s tragically dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives)
Mireille Messier, illus. Anna Bron, No Horses in the House!, Orca, Age 6-8 (picture book biography based on the life of the pioneering, feminist and queer artist Rosa Bonheur)
Jennifer A. Nielsen, Iceberg, Scholastic Press, Age 8-12 (story of a girl who stows away on the Titanic)
Nimrod (trans. Emma Ramadan), Aimé Césaire: No to Humiliation, Triangle Square, YA (tells the story of Aimé Césaire and the crusade for Black African and Caribbean independence from colonial rule)
Aida Salazar, illus. Molly Mendoza, Jovita Wore Pants, Scholastic Press, Age 6-9 (a true story of Jovita Valdovinos, a Mexican revolutionary who disguised herself as a man to fight for her rights!)
Dana Schwartz, Immortality: A Love Story, Wednesday Books, YA (Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message says she has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, daughter of King George IV. Sequel to Anatomy: A Love Story)
Matt Tavares, Hoops, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (novel dramatizes the historic struggle for gender equality in high school sports)
Alan Titley, illus. Eoin Coveney, The Tain: The Great Irish Battle Epic, Little Island Books, Age 8-12 (new translation of Ireland’s national epic myth)
Rhian Tracey, I, Spy, Piccadilly Press, Age 8-12 (twelve-year-old Robyn has grown up in Bletchley Park. Then the war begins and everything at Bletchley changes)
Sarah Underwood, Lies We Sing to the Sea, Harper Teen/Electric Monkey, YA (historical fantasy romance reinvents an ancient story of Ithaca))
Andrew Varga, The Last Saxon King, Imbrifex Books, YA (sixteen-year-old Dan accidentally transports himself to England in 1066 & must battle a band of malevolent time jumpers whose lust for wealth and power)
Elizabeth Wein, Stateless, Penguin Teen/Little Brown BfYR/Bloomsbury Children’s, YA (1937; a spectacular air race around Europe seeks to promote unity among a group of young pilots, but distrust and animosity are rife)
Diane Zahler, Wild Bird, Roaring Brook Press, Age 8-12 (middle-grade adventure following Rype, an abandoned girl in 14th-century Europe, as she walks from Norway to England looking for safety from the plague)
April 2023
Robert Beatty, Serafina and the Black Cloak, Disney Hyperion, Age 8-12 (gothic fantasy about an unforgettable heroine now in graphic novel format)
M. A. Bennett, The Mona Lisa Mystery, Welbeck, Age 8-12 (third book in the Butterfly Club time-traveler series)
Hanh Bui, illus. Minnie Phan, The Yellow Áo Dài, Feiwel & Friends, Age 4-6 (picture book about a little girl who connects to her Vietnamese heritage when she accidentally rips her late grandmother’s ceremonial dress)
Anne Bustard, Far Out!, Simon & Schuster BfYR, Age 8-12 (middle grade novel about a young, alien-loving girl trying to clear her grandmother’s name in this mystery set in 1964)
Jason Cockcroft, A Song of Sun and Sky, Henry Holt BYR, Ages 4-8 (picture book about an imaginary chance meeting between a little girl and the artist Georgia O’Keeffe)
Kevin Crossley-Holland, illus. Chris Riddell, Arthur, the Always King, Candlewick Studio, Age 10+ (Carnegie Medalist Kevin Crossley-Holland and former British Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell welcome another generation to Camelot)
Melissa de la Cruz, Snow and Poison, Putnam BfYR, YA (retelling of “Snow White” set in 17th-century Bavaria)
DK, The Timekeepers: First Flight, DK Children, Age 7-9 (adventure in which the Timekeepers are whirled back in time to 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where Orville and Wilbur Wright are trying to fix their airplane)
Also: The Timekeepers: Ancient Olympics
Arthur Conan Doyle, adapt. & illus. Hannes Binder (trans. David Henry Wilson), Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem, North South, Age 10+ (Sherlock Holmes’ most famous adventure, now in a graphic novel format)
Fabrice Erre, Magical History Tour #12: The Samurai, Papercutz, Age 7-12 (Annie and Nico will peel back the curtains on the Samurai mystery and explain their origins)
Rosalyn Eves, An Improbable Season, FSG BfYR, YA (Regency Romance)
J. M. Farkas and Emily Vizzo, illus. Jasmin Dwyer, Starflower, Cameron Kids, Age 4-8 (lyrical picture book biography about American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay’s childhood and the two sisters who inspired her)
Michael Foley, The Children of Croke Park: Bloody Sunday 1920, The O’Brien Press, YA (the story of Bloody Sunday, when a gaelic football match in Croke Park was the scene of slaughter by British forces and three children died)
Melissa Geissinger, Nothing Left But Dust, Arken Press, YA (tale of love, loss, and hope set against the backdrop of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake)
Margaret Peterson Haddix, Running Out of Time (c.1995), Katherine Tegen, Age 8-12 (time-bending adventure set in Clifton, Indiana, 1840)
Amalie Howard, Queen Bee, Joy Revolution/Random House, YA (Ela disguises herself as an heiress to infiltrate the ton and get back at her backstabbing bestie)
Peggy Janicki, illus. Carrielynn Victor, The Secret Pocket, Orca, Age 6-8 (true story of how Indigenous girls at a Canadian residential school sewed secret pockets into their dresses to hide food and survive)
Matthew Lasley, illus. Jacob Souva, Max and Ed Bike to Nome, Alaska Northwest Books, Age 5-8 (picture book inspired by the true story of Ed Jesson’s famous bike ride during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1900)
Martine Leavitt, Buffalo Flats, Margaret Ferguson, YA (based on true-life histories, novel shares the coming of age of Rebecca Leavitt as she searches for her identity in the Northwest Territories of Canada during the late 1800s)
Camilo Moncada Lozano, Codex Black, IDW, YA (graphic novel series set in 15th-century Mesoamerica where a Zapotec girl goes on a harrowing journey to find her father)
Heather B. Moore, Allison Hong Merrill, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown, Shadow Mountain, Age 10+ (adapted for young readers; based on the true story of two friends who unite to help rescue immigrant women in the most dangerous corners of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1890s)
Susan Lynn Meyer, A Sky Full of Song, Union Square, Age 8-12 (North Dakota, 1905; after fleeing persecution in the Russian Empire, a family of Jewish immigrants, starts a new life on the prairie)
Jessica S. Olson, A Forgery of Roses, Inkyard Press, YA (Gothic fantasy based in magic, romance and murder)
Karyn Parsons, Clouds over California, Little, Brown BfYR, Age 8-12 (novel about how one girl’s family and friendships are turned upside down, just as the world is changing in 1970s Los Angeles)
Rebecca Ross, Divine Rivals, Wednesday Books, YA (World War I-inspired fantasy in which two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection)
Gavriel Savit, Come See the Fair, Knopf BfYR, Age 10-12 (story of magic, mediums, and séances set during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893)
Joan Schoettler, The Honey Jar, Bushel & Peck, Age 8-12 (based on a true story, only some members of a family escape the Armenian genocide and one boy must return to find a sister who was left behind)
Brittany N. Williams, That Self-Same Metal, Amulet, YA (fantasy debut about a Black girl, and sword expert, fighting a Fae uprising in Shakespearean London)
Jane Yolen, illus. Alexandra Badiu, The Horseback Librarians, Albert Whitman, Age 4-8 (picture book story of the real-life horseback librarians who helped keep the love of books alive in Appalachia during the Great Depression)
May 2023
John Agard, illus. Sophie Bass, Windrush Child: The Tale of a Caribbean Child Who Faced a New Horizon, Candlewick, Age 4-7 (recalls the journey made by the thousands of Caribbean children and their families who traveled to Britain between 1948 and 1971 as part of the Windrush generation)
Stéphane Anquetil, illus. Marie Capriata, Moriarty’s Trap, Sky Pony, Age 11-15 (an escape room adventure book based on one of the greatest detectives of all time—Sherlock Holmes!)
Rona Arato, illus. Isabel Muñoz, Nothing Could Stop Her, Kar-Ben, Age 8-12 (showcasing Jewish American Ruth Gruber whose career as a renowned journalist spanned seven decades, reporting on places like Nazi Germany)
Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein, illus. James E. Ransome, Northbound: A Train Ride Out of Segregation, Candlewick, Age 6-9 (offering both a hopeful tale of friendship and a window into a dark period of history that still resonates today)
David Bowles and Guadalupe García McCall, Secret of the Moon Conch, Bloomsbury, YA (connected by a magical conch, Sitlali and Calizto can communicate across centuries, between 1521 and present day Mexico)
Emma Carroll, Escape to the River Sea, Macmillan, Age 9-11 (inspired by Journey to the River Sea, new story tells of the next generation and the growing threats to the Amazon rainforest)
Mary Kay Carson, Escape From……….the 1916 Shark Attacks, little bee, Age 7-10 (during the summer of 1916, the “Jersey man-eater”-a great white shark-terrorized the coast of New Jersey)
Afua Cooper, My Name is Henry Bibb: A Story of Slavery and Freedom, Kids Can, Age 10-14 (based on historical facts and Bibb’s own writings, the story of a young slave’s perilous journey to freedom)
ALSO: My Name Is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom
Cathy Faulkner, Digging for Victory, Firefly Press, Age 8-12 (set in Devon in 1941; the story of twelve-year-old Bonnie Roberts who is desperate to play a valuable part in the war effort)
Joyce Efia Harmer, How Far We’ve Come, Simon & Schuster Children’s UK, YA (story of friendship and freedom that crosses continents and centuries, in a timeslip novel exploring the legacy of slavery)
Tom Holland, illus. Jason Cockcroft, The Wolf-Girl, The Greeks and The Gods, Walker Books, Age 9-12 (fictional retelling of the Persian Wars)
Julie Lee, In the Tunnel, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (a fourteen-year-old boy is sent to the front lines of the Korean War in this story of survival, loss, and hope)
Karen McCombie, illus. Anneli Bray, The Boy Who Stole the Pharaoh’s Lunch, Barrington Stoke, Age 7-11 (time-travel adventure in which a young prankster is whisked back to Ancient Egypt)
Jessica Outram, Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold, Second Story, Age 9-14 (in 1914, Bernice finds a treasure map and sets out in a rowboat with the dream of changing her family’s fortunes forever)
Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You (c. 2022), Philomel, YA (historical thriller about communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation)
Lauren Tarshis, illus. Cassie Anderson, I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871, Scholastic Graphix, Age 8-12 (graphic format of 2015 novel)
Sheena Wilkinson, Hope Against Hope, Little Island Books, Age 10-14 (1921; when Polly’s brother returns from war and turns violent, Polly runs away to Helen’s Hope hostel in Belfast, where Catholic and Protestant girls live and work together)
June 2023
Michael January, The Boy King’s Tale As Told by Geoffrey Chaucer, Winged Lion, YA (untold adventure of the early days of England’s Edward III)
J. Anderson Coats, A Season Most Unfair, Atheneum BfYR, Age 10+ (coming-of-age story set in medieval times follows a strong-minded girl determined to prove she’s just as good a candlemaker as any boy)
Phil Earle, Until the Road Ends, Andersen Press, Age 9-12 (a story of love and friendship in a time of war, based on true events)
Anita Heiss, illus. Samantha Campbell, Bidhi Galing, Simon & Schuster AU, Age 4-7 (the story of the Great Flood of Gundagai in 1852 and the Wiradyuri heroes, Yarri and Jacky Jacky, who paddled bark canoes through raging floodwaters, risking their lives to save countless others)
Josh Lacey, illus. Garry Parsons, The Viking Attack: Time Travel Twins, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (young Tom is catapulted onto a Viking long ship and his twin sister Scarlett lands in a Saxon village)
Tami Lehman-Wilzig, illus. Oliver Averill, Luis de Torres Sails to Freedom, Kar-Ben, Age 5-10 (when Jews are forced from Spain in 1492, Luis de Torres sets sail for new lands with his faith, his wits, and a silver hamsa for protection)
Julie Mathison, The Starlet Letter, Starr Creek Press, YA (a tongue-in-cheek historical mystery series– when a washed-up Ziegfeld Follies star goes missing, can the Van der Beeck twins crack the case?)
E. L. Norry, Fablehouse, Bloomsbury Children’s, Age 9-11 (Heather and friends must use the talents they’ve been given to save Fablehouse, and all the children who have found shelter there)
Eden Royce, Conjure Island, Walden Pond, Age 8-12 (novel returns to the folklore of Gullah-Geechee culture to weave a tale of magic, mystery, and belonging)
Manon Textoris, author & illustrator, The Good Girl, Europe Comics, YA (in mid-16th century France, at the royal court, the queen’s spies use their charms and talents to disarm her enemies and learn their secrets)
July 2023
Toni Buzzeo, Light Comes to Shadow Mountain, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (1937; Cora Mae Tipton is determined to light up her Appalachian community in this historical fiction novel)
Keely Hutton, Secret Soldiers, Square Fish, Age 8-12 (middle-grade historical adventure about a crew of young British soldiers on a deadly underground mission during World War I)
Hiba Noor Khan, Safiyyah’s War, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (WWII; when her father is arrested, can Safiyyah find the courage to enter the catacombs under Paris and lead the Jews to safety?)
Jamie Lilac, Bellegarde, HarperTeen, YA (historical rom-com with a modern twist)
Helen Peters, Friends and Traitors, Nosy Crow, Age 8-12 (middle-graders can step back in time with this World War II tale with soaring Spitfires and daring liars)
Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, illus. Michael G. Montgomery, First Dog Fala (c.2008), Peachtree, Age 4-8 (story of the Scottish terrier who won the hearts of a U.S. president and the American people. Picture book dog’s-eye view of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration)
August 2023
Autumn Allen, All You Have to Do, Kokila, YA (dual timeline novel set in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 and around the Million Man March in 1995)
Sasha Alsberg, Fracturing Fate, Inkyard Press, YA (final part of historical fantasy takes Klara back in time to 1560s Scotland, where she must navigate gods, humans, traitors)
Avi, The Secret Sisters, Clarion, Age 8-12 (a girl determined to define her own place graduates from a rural one-room schoolhouse to a small town’s bustling school. Sequel to The Secret School)
Jennifer Bohnhoff, The Worst Enemy, Kinkajou Press, Age 9-12 (adventure set during the Civil War)
J. G. Bryan, Ventura + Winnetka, Santa Monica, YA (stand-alone sequel that furthers the adventures of Douglas and his friends as they come of age in Southern California in the late 1970s)
Anitra Butler-Ngugi, illus. Wendy Tan Shiau Wei, Essie and the March on Selma, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (twelve-year-old Essie believes that Black people should be allowed to vote, and on Sunday, March 7, 1965, she joins the protesters)
Sophie Cleverly, A Case of High Stakes, HarperCollins Childrens Books, Age 9-12 (3rd in a Victorian mystery series)
Ailynn Collins, illus. Francesca Ficorilli, Ting and the Deadly Waters, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (after a summer of nine typhoons in 1931, the dams on the Yangtze River in China break and Ting wakes to a house full of water)
Benjamin Dickson, Rachael Smith, The Queen’s Favorite Witch: The Lost King, Papercutz, Age 7-12 (Daisy, now the court’s witch, is back for another fact-based adventure alongside Queen Elizabeth I)
Judith Eagle, The Stolen Songbird, Faber & Faber Children’s, Age 9-12 (1950s London and Caro Monday and her friends have become embroiled in a dangerous art heist)
Julie Gilbert, illus. Dan Freitas, Gemma and the Great Flu, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (with two brothers fighting in the Great War, the Dorgan family faces their own battle at home, when the Spanish Flu hits Philadelphia)
Janice N. Harrington, illus Theodore Taylor III, Rooting for Plants, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (fictional biography of Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist and Collector, in 1882)
Andrew Larsen, illus. Katty Maurey, The Man Who Loved Libraries, Owlkids, Age 4-8 (picture book biography of American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie)
Amanda West Lewis, Focus. Click. Wind., Groundwood, YA (Billie becomes involved in activism when her family moves from New York to Toronto and she discovers it is home to draft evaders and radicals against the Vietnam war)
Rachael Lippincott, Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh, S&S BfYR, YA (time-slip in which a girl from the present is transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine)
Barbara Perez Marquez, illus. Markia Jenai, Paulina and the Disaster at Pompeii, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (story about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius)
Amanda McCrina, I’ll Tell You No Lies, Farrar, Straus & Giroux BfYR, YA (novel of the Cold War era about a girl in post-World War II America who becomes entangled with an escaped Soviet pilot)
Gregory Mone, Sea of Gold, Abrams, Age 8-12 (an unlikely young pirate races a band of rogues to a hidden fortune)
Emily Bain Murphy, Splinters of Scarlet, Clarion, YA (historical fantasy set in nineteenth-century Denmark, where secrets can kill and magic is a deadly gift)
Claudia Oviedo, On the Home Front With Valentina: A Diary from 1940 to 1943, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (in diary format, the Nuestras Voces series profiles inspiring characters and honors the joys, challenges, and outcomes of Latino experiences)
Rosanne Parry, illus. Kirbi Fagan, A Horse Named Sky, Greenwillow, Age 8-12 (a young wild horse must find his way to rejoin his family after being captured for the Pony Express)
Jaguar Prince, Madagascar, Vol. 1, Black Sands Entertainment, YA (story of a young woman’s defiance, as well as her triumph in taking a nation into her own hands. Manga graphic)
William Ritter, The Dire King: A Jackaby Novel, Algonquin YR, YA (1890s — Jackaby, supernatural detective, and his indispensable assistant, Abigail Rook, are plunged into the heart of an apocalyptic war between magical worlds in the fourth book in series)
Adriana Erin Rivera, Paloma’s Song for Puerto Rico: A Diary from 1898, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (a story in diary format about twelve-year-old Paloma who lives in Puerto Rico in 1898)
Caleb Roehrig, Teach the Torches to Burn: A Romeo & Juliet Remix, Feiwel & Friends, YA (a teen boy discovers first love amid a bloody, centuries-old feud. LGBTQ+)
Amy Rubinate, illus. Alessia Trunfio, Kate and the City of Fire, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (in 1666, when Grandfather is forced to be part of a fire brigade, Kate is left alone to keep Lizzie and their horse and buggy safe as fire sweeps the city)
Johan Rundberg (trans. A. A. Prime), The Night Raven, Amazon Crossing Kids, Age 10-14 (1880, Stockholm; the notorious serial killer the Night Raven is finally off the streets…or is he?)
Ralph Shayne, illus. Tatiana Goldberg, Hour of Need: The Daring Escape of the Danish Jews during World War II, little bee, Age 8-12 (graphic novel telling the true story of the Nazi Resistance in Denmark during World War II and the heroes that saved the Danish Jews by helping them evacuate to Sweden)
Lucy Strange, illus. Pam Smy, The Storm and the Minotaur, Barrington Stoke, Age 9+ (story interweaves the Industrial Revolution with Greek mythology)
September 2023
Kate Albus, Nothing Else But Miracles, Margaret Ferguson, Age 9-12 (World War II story about three siblings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan)
David Bowles, illus. Amanda Mijangos, The Prince and the Coyote, Levine Querido, YA (1418 – pre-Columbian Mexico; story about crown prince Acolmiztli, renamed Nezahualcoyotl, or “fasting coyote”, one of the greatest minds of the Americas)
Stuart H. Brody, Humphrey and Me, Santa Monica Press, YA (portrays the often highly emotional journey that comes with embracing our heroes, while set against the backdrop of the tempestuous political eras of the 1960s and ’70s)
Emma Carroll, The Little Match Girl Strikes Back, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (illustrated feminist reworking of the classic tale set in Victorian London)
Alexandra Diaz, Farewell Cuba, Mi Isla, Paula Wiseman, Age 8-12 (it’s 1960 in Cuba, and as the political situation grows more dangerous, Victoria, her parents, and her two younger siblings are forced to seek refuge in America)
Cherie Dimaline, Into the Bright Open, Feiwel & Friends, YA (queer YA reimagining of The Secret Garden, in the Remixed Classics series)
Alda P. Dobbs, The Other Side of the River, Soucebooks YR, Age 8-12 (novel about a twelve-year-old girl who builds a new life in America after escaping the Mexican Revolution)
Alice Faye Duncan, illus. R. Gregory Christie, Coretta’s Journey, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (introduces readers to Coretta Scott Young, a girl full of spunk and pluck, bravery and grit)
Sachi Ediriweera, Enlightened, Atheneum BfYR, YA (graphic novel retelling of the life of Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism)
Caroline Fernandez, illus. Dharmali Patel, Asha and Baz Meet Elizebeth Friedman, Common Deer Press, Age 10+ (in another dive into the past―this time to learn about famous code breaker Elizebeth Friedman)
Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Ghostly Photos, Katherine Tegen, Age 8-12 (returns to the Mysteries of Trash and Treasure series as Colin and Nevaeh unravel a mystery from the 1930s)
Anna Rose Johnson, The Star That Always Stays, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (a bright and spirited Ojibwe girl moves from the country to the city in 1914)
Monica Kulling, illus. Melissa Castrillon, Mary Anning’s Curiosity, Groundwood, Age 9-12 (story of how the world’s greatest fossil hunter found her first huge find at the age of twelve)
Josh Lacey, illus. Garry Parsons, The Roman Invasion: Time Travel Twins, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (Scarlett finds herself in a Roman camp and is chosen as a slave and Thomas joins a rabble of local kids whose leader is a small red-headed girl called Boudicca)
Julie Lawson, Out of the Dark, Nimbus, Age 9-12 (focusing on the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion and the onset of the Great Influenza Pandemic)
Bruce Lindsay, illus. Dan Burr, The Christmas List of Richard Lindsay, Shadow Mountain, Age 4-7 (picture book based on a true story of a boy who helps bring Christmas to his family despite the hard times of the early 1930s)
Erica Lyons, illus. Renia Metallinou, Zhen Yu and the Snake, Kar-Ben, Age 4-8 (re-telling of a Talmudic tale set in ancient China about a father, a daughter, and a warning from a fortune teller)
Trish MacEnulty, Cinnamon Girl, Livingston Press, YA (when her step-grandmother dies of cancer, 15-year-old Eli Burnes runs away with a draft-dodger, thinking she’s on the road to adventure and romance)
Andy Marino, Escape from Stalingrad, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (historical thriller about a city caught between an enemy army and their own brutal government)
Karen McCombie, illus. Anneli Bray, The Boy Who Stole the Pharaoh’s Lunch, Barrington Stoke, Age 7+ (Seth learns some important life lessons when he’s transported back to Ancient Egypt in this time-slip adventure)
Sally Nicholls, Yours from the Tower, Andersen Press, YA (about three best friends in late-Victorian London sharing their lives through a series of letters)
Marta Palazzesi (trans. Christopher Turner), Mist, Red Comet Press, Age 9-12 (story of a boy’s quest to give the gift of freedom to a caged wild animal in 1880)
Ava Reid, A Study in Drowning, Harper Teen, YA (Part historical fantasy, part rivals-to-lovers romance, part Gothic mystery—an indictment of institutions that sacrifice young girls on the altar of men’s “genius,”)
Lois Ruby, Gallows Hill, Carolrhoda Lab, YA (Salem, Massachusetts, 1692; to protect those they love two young people question their faith, their loyalties, and their places in Salem)
Amy Sparkes, illus. Katie Hickey, The Christmas Doll, Candlewick, Age 7-9 (a little girl in wartime England finds that a simple act of generosity and kindness changes her life forever)
Nancy Springer, Enola Holmes and the Mark of the Mongoose, Wednesday Books, YA (when Wolcott Balestier, the representative of an American book publisher, disappears on the streets of London, his great friend – Rudyard Kipling – bursts into Enola’s office looking for help in finding him)
Ali Standish, The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (poses the question, what if young Arthur Conan Doyle really went to a secret school for gifted children called Baskerville Hall?)
Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (the largest and most powerful recorded earthquake in US history)
Nikos Tsouknidas, Portraits, Europe Comics, YA (1838; goes beyond the origins of photography to explore the pain of migration and the attachment to one’s homeland)
Dana Vanderlugt, Enemies in the Orchard: A World War 2 Novel in Verse, Zonderkidz, Age 9+ (set against WWII, novel based on American history presents dual perspectives of Claire, a Midwestern girl and Karl, a German POW who works on Claire’s family farm)
Andrew Varga, The Celtic Deception, Imbrifex, YA (Dan and his time-jumping partner Sam have no choice but to jump back into history again, this time landing on the celtic island of Anglesey in 60 CE)
Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. Jeffery Boston Weatherford, Kin: Rooted in Hope, Atheneum BfYR, Age 10+ (portrait of a Black family tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in poems)
Nancy Werlin, Healer and Witch, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (medieval fantasy set in France)
Andrew Joseph White, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, Peachtree Teen, YA (set in London, 1883, novel features an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting)
Jane Yolen, John Patrick Pazdziora, illus. Lyndsay Roberts Rayne, Smout and the Lighthouse, Albert Whitman, Age 4-8 (picture book fictional biography of Robert Louis Stevenson as a child with dreams of becoming a writer)
October 2023
Kwame Alexander, illus. Dare Coulter, Unspoken, Andersen Press, Age 5-7 (picture book exploration of the story of slavery)
Elana K. Arnold, The Blood Years, Balzer + Bray, YA (story of a young woman’s coming-of-age during the Holocaust in Romania)
Kylie Lee Baker, The Scarlet Alchemist, Inkyard Press, YA (dark YA fantasy set in an alternate Tang Dynasty China, where alchemy has flourished, and a poor biracial girl gets caught up in the dangerous political games of the royal family)
Holly Black, Kaliis Smith, illus. Ebony Glenn, Sir Morien, Little, Brown BfYR, Age 4-8 (picture book retelling of a little-known figure of Arthurian Legend)
Janis Bridger, Lara Jean Okihiro, Obaasan’s Boots, Second Story Press, Age 9-12 (a grandmother shares her experience as a Japanese Canadian during WWII, revealing the painful story of Japanese internment)
Asha Ashanti Bromfield, Songs of Irie, Wednesday Books, YA (coming-of-age novel about a friendship struggling to survive amidst the Jamaican civil unrest of the 1970s)
Elizabeth C. Bunce, Myrtle, Means, and Opportunity, Algonquin YR, Age 10+ (Myrtle Hardcastle finds a haunted brooch, breaks an ancient curse, and catches a murderer)
Kate Chenli, A Bright Heart, Union Square Kids, YA (historical fantasy tale of vengeance, court intrigue, and romance, inspired by classic Chinese tropes)
Brandy Colbert, The Blackwoods, Balzer + Bray, YA (the story of a famous Black Hollywood family—an unforgettable tale of ambition, fame, struggle, loss, and love in America)
Erin Cotter, By Any Other Name, Simon & Schuster BfYR, YA (a down-on-his-luck actor and an English lord reluctantly team up to solve the murder of Christopher Marlowe in 1593)
Katie Cotton, The Secret of Splint Hall, Andersen Press, Age 9-11 (1945; two girls must unearth an ancient myth hidden deep beneath the mysterious Splint Hall)
Lindsay Eagar, The Patron Thief of Bread, Candlewick, Age 10-14 (a roving band of street urchins infiltrate an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and decide to set down roots)
Judith Eagle, The Stolen Songbird, Faber & Faber Childrens, Age 8-12 (in 1950s London, Caro Monday and her friends become embroiled in a dangerous art heist!)
Deborah Hopkinson, The Plot to Kill a Queen, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (mystery about an intrepid young girl’s quest to foil a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I)
Sue Houser, Walter Steps Up to the Plate, Kinkajou Press, Age 9-12 (1927; a boy becomes errand boy for Al Capone, to help pay expenses for his mother’s illness)
Antony Barone Kolenc, Murder at Penwood Manor, Loyola Press, Age 10-13 (next installment in the Christian inspirational Harwood Mysteries children’s series)
Autumn Krause, Before the Devil Knows You’re Here, Peachtree Teen, Y&A (nineteenth century mixture of American tales and Faustian elements set in Wisconsin, 1836)
Catherine Little, illus. Sean Huang, Endgame: The Secret Force 136, Plumleaf press, Age 7-10 (as he plays Chinese chess with his great-grandfather, Tai Gong, Alex learns the important strategies that guided Tai Gong in an anti-Asian era in Canada, and learns about Force 136 and the sacrifices its members made to show their loyalty)
Radhika Natarajan, Chao Tayiana, illus. Alexander Mostov, Hear Our Voices, Wide-Eyed Editions, Age 8-12 (stories of resistance, community, struggle, hope and the impacts of colonialism)
Jordi Ortiz and Miguel Ángel Saura, illus. Miguel Ángel Saura, The Legions of Rome, Editorial el Pirata, Age 9-12 (first book in The Time Explorers collection which mixes comic book dialogues with a historical novel for children)
Also: The Expeditions of the Vikings
Tho Pham, Sandra McTavish, The Cricket War, Kids Can Press, Age 9-12 (story of a boy’s escape from Communist Vietnam by boat)
Aden Polydoros, Wrath Becomes Her, Inkyard Press, YA (Jewish historical horror novel about a fierce golem created to enact vengeance upon the Nazis)
Sara Raasch, Beth Revis, Night of the Witch, Sourcebooks Fire, YA (a witch hunter and a witch realize that they’re stronger as allies than as enemies in this YA fantasy set in medieval Germany)
Wilson Edward Reed, Junebug, Morgan James Kids, Age 10-12 (story of growing up Black in the South during the 1950’s and 60’s shows how to move beyond hardship, while living under Jim Crow)
Sonoko Sakai, illus. Keiko Brodeur, Mai and the Missing Melon, Bala Kids, Age 4-7 (picture book story takes young readers on a journey through rural 1960s Japan)
Eliot Schrefer, Charming Young Man, Katherine Tegen, YA (coming-of-age novel about a rising star French pianist, navigating his way into high society as he explores his sexuality)
Neal Shusterman, illus. Andrés Vera Martínez, Courage to Dream, Graphix, YA (presents a graphic novel exploring the Holocaust through surreal visions and a textured canvas of heroism and hope)
Ora Smith, The Peace of Pocahontas, Lighten Press, YA (book two in the Jamestown’s Boy Interpreter series)
Randi Sonenshine, illus. Gina Capaldi, The Inside Name, Apples & Honey, Age 6-9 (1500s; during the Portuguese Inquisition a boy and his family are forced to hide their Jewish identities until a secret message sets them on a course to freedom)
Tammar Stein, illus. Dodo Maeder, The Giant, the Slingshot, and the Future King, Apples & Honey, Age 6-8 (the early years of the biblical David; a tale of bravery and empathy)
Suzanne Supplee, Sweetness All Around, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (brings a small Tennessee town and its memorable residents to life. Set in 1974)
Lauren Tarshis, illus. Leo Trinidad, I Survived the American Revolution 1776, Graphix, Age 8-12 (graphic novel adaptation)
Sara Truuvert, illus. Michelle Theodore, Mira and Baku, Annick Press, Age 4-8 (with the help of a magical friend, a young girl searches for her missing father during Japanese internment in World War II)
Jasmine Walls, illus. Teo DuVall, Brooms, Levine Querido, YA (a magical tale set in 1930s Mississippi)
Cat Weldon, illus. Katie Kear, How to Be a Hero, Macmillan Children’s, Age 8-12 (first in a trilogy about how to be brave, what it means to be a hero and just how confusing the Norse Gods really are)
Laura E. Weymouth, The Voice Upstairs, Margaret K. McElderry, YA (in 1920s England, a working-class girl who can see spirits works with a lord’s son to solve mysterious deaths at the local manor home)
Frieda Wishinsky, illus. Ruth Ohi, We Belong Here, North Winds Press, Age 4-8 (a story of friendship between a Japanese boy and a Jewish girl in Canada soon after the end of World War II)
November 2023
Bret Baier, illus. Marvin Sianipar, Duel Across Time: The History Club, Aladdin, Age 8-12 (new time-bending graphic novel series about kids who use their love of history to thwart an evil time traveler’s scheme to change the past)
Sharon Cameron, Artifice, Scholastic Press, YA (a story of duplicity and resistance, betrayal and loyalty, set against the backdrop of World War II)
Michael J. Cooper, Wages of Empire, Koehler Books, YA (1914; follows 16-year-old Evan through the killing fields of the Western Front where he will help turn the tide of a war that is just beginning)
Lex Croucher, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, Wednesday Books, YA (queer medieval rom com debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history)
Matthew Fox, The Sky Over Rebecca, Union Square Kids, Age 8-12 (two worlds collide when ten-year-old Kara discovers mysterious footprints in the snow that lead her to another place entirely)
Aya Ghanameh, These Olive Trees, Viking BfYR, Age 3-6 (story of a Palestinian family’s ties to the land in 1967, and how one young girl finds a way to care for her home, even as she says goodbye)
Isabel Ibañez, What the River Knows, Wednesday Books, YA (historical fantasy set in 19th-century Egypt filled with adventure and a rivals-to-lovers romance)
Linda Williams Jackson, The Lucky Ones, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (story set in the Mississippi Delta, 1967; an 11-year-old dreams of a real house, food enough for the whole family—and to be someone)
Jackie Johnson, Bladestay, CamCat Books, YA (when a violent, decades-long feud between two powerful men comes to a head in Bladestay, Colorado, Creed must use her wits to stay alive and save her town)
Ann Clare LeZotte, Sail Me Away Home, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (adventure filled with cunning characters, chance encounters, and new friendships will enrich children’s understanding of Deaf history and culture, and ability and disability)
Cédric Mayen & Jandro González, The Dyatlov Pass Mystery, Europe Comics, Age 15+ (an investigation of what really happened on the slopes of Dyatlov Pass on the night of February 1, 1959, that resulted in the deaths of nine experienced mountaineers)
Helen Moss, Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska, Godwin Books, Age 8-12 (story set in winter of 1924 when a diptheria outbreak threatens the population of Nome, Alaska)
Anne Nesbet, V Is For Victorine, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (1915; a young heiress in hiding and her film star best friend go on a caper through early Hollywood)
Jacob Sager Weinstein, illus. Eliza Wheeler, What Rosa Brought, Katherine Tegen, Age 4-8 (a Jewish girl flees Nazi occupation with her family)
Robert Skead, The Batboy and the Unbreakable Record, Kinkajou Press, Age 9-12 (a young boy lands a dream job for the Cincinnati Reds where he becomes witness to a baseball record that is unbreakable)
Steve Watkins, Stolen By Night, Scholastic Press, YA (1940; as the Third Reich tightens its hold on France Nicolette is drawn into a growing resistance movement, determined to do her part to fight back)
December 2023
Anne Blanchard (trans. Rosie Eyre), Rosa Luxemburg: No to Borders, Triangle Square, YA (fictionalized biography of the great Polish-German revolutionary and anti-war activist. They Said No historical fiction series)
Barbara Krasner, Facing the Enemy, Calkins Creek, YA (novel-in-verse reveals the long history of American right-wing extremism, and its impact on the lives of two ordinary teens)
Mark Stay, The Holly King, Simon & Schuster UK, Age 8-12 (wartime fantasy adventure set in December, 1940)
