Forthcoming Children’s and YA Historical Novels for 2024
The Historical Novel Society lists mainstream and small press titles for readers aged 4 – 18, set in eras from ancient times to the mid 1970s. Details are compiled by Fiona Sheppard (US, CAN, UK, ANZ) using publisher descriptions and recommended age suitability.
Other than short excerpts, please link to this page rather than copying the entries – thank you!
See our guide to Forthcoming Children’s and YA Historical Novels for 2025 for next year’s releases.
For adult titles see our guides to Forthcoming Historical Novels for 2024 and for 2025.
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. Please visit us again soon!
Last update: July 26, 2024
January 2024
Lucille Abendanon, The Songbird and the Rambutan Tree, Jolly Fish, Age 8-12 (historical coming-of-age set in Asia)
H. F. Askwith, A Cruel Twist of Fate, Penguin YR, YA (a gothic mystery-thriller with an eccentric family hiding secrets)
Laura Bates, Sisters of Sword and Shadow, Simon & Schuster Children’s, YA (what if the Knights of the Round Table had a female counterpart? Arthurian historical fantasy)
Crystal J. Bell, The Lamplighter, Flux, YA (19th century historical horror)
Libba Bray, Under the Same Stars, FSG BfYR, YA (a mystery surrounding the disappearance of two teen girls during World War II, that unfurls across three time periods)
Linda Crotta Brennan, The Selkie’s Daughter, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (an imaginative fantasy, steeped in Celtic mythology)
Anitra Butler-Ngugi, illus. Jane Pica, Nina Under Arrest, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (a Girls Survive graphic novel of the 1963 Birmingham children’s crusade survival story)
Judi Curtin, Sally in the City of Dreams, The O’Brien Press, Age 8-12 (it’s 1911 and young sisters Sally and Bridget are sailing to New York to find work, leaving behind everything they know in Ireland)
Linda DeMeulemeester, Ephemia Rimaldi: Circus Performer Extraordinaire, Red Deer Press, Age 9-12 (suffragist movement and early circus life serve as a backdrop for a feisty heroine in early 20th-century)
Hayley Dennings, Bittersweet Poison, Sourcebooks Fire, YA (first book in historical fantasy duology set in a darkly twisted 1920s Harlem)
Fabrice Erre, illus. Sylvain Savoia, Magical History Tour: Gladiators, Papercutz, Age 7-12 (graphic novel series takes young readers on a journey to meet the gladiators of Ancient Rome)
Francesca Ficorilli, illus. Julie Gilbert, Cora and the Terrible Twister, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (a Girls Survive graphic novel of the 1925 tri-state tornado)
Gary Golio, illus. E. B. Lewis, Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (picture book biography of photographer Roy DeCarava)
Lydia Gregovic, The Monstrous Kind, Delacorte BfYR, YA (fantasy inspired by Sense and Sensibility and set in an alternate England)
Miriam Halahmy, A Boy from Baghdad, Green Bean Books, Age 8+ (a tale about the power of perseverance, friendship and family in the face of hardship, set in 1951)
Ritu Hemnani, Three Colors of Hope, Balzer + Bray, Age 8-12 (a coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Raj’s journey during the 1947 Partition of India)
Veera Hiranandani, Amil and the After, Kokila, Age 8-12 (at the turn of the new year in 1948, Amil and his family are trying to make a home in India, now independent of British rule)
Kelly Hollman, Charlotte Sherman, This Opening Sky, Milk + Cookies, Age 8-12 (novel in verse, about an unlikely friendship in the aftermath of the American Civil War)
Liz Kessler, Code Name Kingfisher, Simon & Schuster Children’s UK, Age 9-12 (when Liv finds a secret box from her grandmother’s childhood she uncovers an war-time story of bravery, betrayal and daring defiance)
Susan Kusel, illus. Sean Rubin, The Passover Guest, Neal Porter Books, Age 4-8 (a story to introduce the holiday traditions to young readers, set in Washington, D.C., in spring 1933)
Yi Shun Lai, A Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic, Atheneum BfYR, YA (1914; a teen’s fight for suffrage turns into a fight for survival, when her crew’s Antarctic expedition ship gets stuck in the ice)
Iszi Lawrence, illus. Elisa Paganelli, City of Spies, Bloomsbury Education, Age 9-11 (spy adventure set in New York during the American revolution, 1780)
Lina Maslo (author & illustrator), Threads: Zlata’s Ukrainian Shirt, FS&G BfYR, Age 4-7 (picture book about a girl’s survival during the Ukrainian Genocide of the 1930s carrying a message for the future)
L. L. McKinney, Escaping Mr. Rochester, HarperTeen, YA (reimagining of Jane Eyre in which Jane and Bertha Mason must save each other from the machinations of Mr. Rochester in this Black queer young adult romance)
George Myerson, illus. Daniel Duncan, My Brother Plato, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (say hello to Potone who lives in Athens with her mum, her stepdad and her incredibly annoying brother, Plato)
Sally Nicholls, Yours from the Tower, Walker US, YA (1896; a story of three best friends who share very different lives)
Gabe Cole Novoa, Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix, Feiwel & Friends, YA (a gender bending romance set in London, 1812)
Deborah Noyes, illus. Melissa Duffy, We Walked in Clouds, Little, Brown Ink, YA (a graphic history of the 1600s Salem witch trials)
Sajni Patel, A Drop of Venom, Rick Riordan Presents, YA (feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology)
Randy Ribay, Everything We Never Had, Kokila, YA (spans four time periods and four generations of Filipino American boys as they grapple with identity, assimilation, and masculinity)
Hayley Rocco, illus. John Rocco, Wild Places, Putnam BfYR, Age 4-7 (picture book biography of the naturalist, broadcaster, and documentarian, David Attenborough)
Danielle Smith-Llera, illus. Juan M. Moreno, Cocuyo Lights the Way, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (a diary from 1493 to 1496 about how life changes with the arrival of Europeans on the island of Quisqueya)
Linda Leopold Strauss, illus. Tim Smart, Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, Age 4-8 (a picture book story from inquisition Spain, to Nazi treasure stealing, to 1990s Bosnia)
Robin Talley, Everything Glittered, Little, Brown, YA (sapphic YA thriller set at an elite boarding school in Washington, D.C., circa 1927)
Mindy Nichols Wendell, Light and Air, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (set in the fully realized world of a 1930s hospital, during a tuberculosis outbreak, novel offers a tender glimpse into a historical epidemic and its treatment)
February 2024
Sufiya Ahmed, The Time Travellers: Adventure Calling, Little Tiger, Age 8-12 (Suhana, Mia and Ayaan are transported back to 1911)
Ruth Behar, Across So Many Seas, Nancy Paulsen, Age 10-12 (tells the stories of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family)
Anna Bright, The Hedgewitch of Foxhall, HarperTeen, YA (fantasy romance in which a rebellious witch undertakes a last-ditch quest to restore magic to medieval Wales)
Anna Ciddor, A Message Through Time, A & U Children’s, Age 8-13 (time-slip adventure that carries step-siblings Felix and Zoe back to Ancient Roman times and accidentally, drags a Roman girl into the present)
Melanie Dickerson, Lady of Disguise, Thomas Nelson, YA (romantic fairytale of buried treasure, set in England and Scotland in 1388)
Caroline Fernandez, illus. Dharmali Patel, Asha and Baz Meet Katia Kraft, Common Deer Press, Age 6-9 (fourth book in the Asha and Baz series, where the duo time-travel to 1973)
Adam Gidwitz, Max in the House of Spies, Dutton BfYR, Age 8-12 (humorous WWII story with a dash of magic and a lot of heart)
Alan Gratz, Heroes: A Novel of Pearl Harbor, Scholastic Press, Age 8-12 (WWII story with themes of bravery, prejudice, and what it means to stand up for what’s right)
Jarrett Keene, Decide and Survive: Attack on Pearl Harbor, Milk + Cookies, Age 8-10 (story of the surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941)
Joanna Lapati, Guts for Glory, Eerdmans BfYR, Age 7-12 (illustrated story introduces young readers to Civil War soldier, Rosetta Wakeman, who was determined to claim her own place in history)
Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod, illus. Jaimie MacGibbon, The Peacock, Orca, Age 6+ (post-WWII novel where young Barbara’s dad’s company has a plan to give Jewish refugees jobs as tailors so they can immigrate to Canada with their families)
Richard Michelson, illus. Sarah Green, One of a Kind, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (picture book biography of Sarah Brenner, a girl from New York City’s Lower East Side, who became Sydney Taylor — dancer, actress, & children’s book author)
Pip Murphy, To Halt a Heist, Sweet Cherry, Age 8-12 (a cosy historical crime mystery in the Christie and Agatha Detective Agency series)
Estelle Nadel with Sammy Savos, illus. Bethany Strout, The Girl Who Sang, Roaring Brook, Age 10-14 (a graphic memoir about a young Jewish girl’s fight for survival in Nazi-occupied Poland)
Jamie Pacton, The Absinthe Underground, Peachtree Teen, YA (a sapphic friends-to-lovers romantic fantasy set in a Belle Époque-inspired city)
NoNieqa Ramos, illus. by Nicole Medina, Best Believe: The Tres Hermanas, a Sisterhood for the Common Good, Carolrhoda, Age 6-10 (picture book story of three woman from Puerto Rico who grew up to become leaders in their Bronx community)
Rhian Tracey, Hide and Seek, Piccadilly Press, Age 9+ (mystery adventure based on true historical events. Part of the Bletchley Park Mystery series)
Ryan G. Van Cleave, Decide and Survive: Agent 355, Milk + Cookies, Age 8-10 (young readers can imagine themselves as the intrepid and brave spy and American patriot during the American Revolution)
Sylvia Whitman, Decide and Survive: Destruction of Pompeii, Milk + Cookies, Age 8-10 (interactive series featuring great moments in history – starting with the destruction of Pompeii)
Tsuyoshi Yasuda, The Blue Wolves of Mibu, Kodansha Comics, YA (1863; Samurai series manga spotlights the founding of the Shinsengumi by men fighting for justice)
March 2024
K. Ancrum, Icarus, HarperTeen, YA (retelling of the Greek myth)
Leila Boukarim, illus. Sona Avedikian, Lost Words, Chronicle Books, Age 5-8 (picture book follows an Armenian boy as he flees the Armenian Genocide)
Ann E. Burg, illus. Sophie Blackall, Force of Nature, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (story of how a young impassioned naturalist grows up to change the world)
Eileen Charbonneau and Jude Pittman, Spectral Evidence, BWL Publishing, YA (a Canadian Indigenous mystery story set in 1692, around the Salem Witch trials)
Sophie Cleverly, The Violet Veil Mysteries: A Case of High Stakes, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Age 9-12 (third title in a new Victorian gothic detective series)
Lesa Cline-Ransome, One Big Open Sky, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (three women narrate a perilous wagon journey westward in this intergenerational verse novel that explores the history of the Black homesteader movement)
Piu DasGupta, Secrets of the Snakestone, Nosy Crow, Age 8-12 (an adventure, set in 19th-century Paris, filled with magic and steeped in legends from colonial India)
M. M. Downing & S. J. Waugh, The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Treasonous Tycoon, Regal House, Age 8-12 (fast paced humorous gangster adventure set in Pittsburgh)
Rosalyn Eves, An Unlikely Proposition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR, YA (Regency drama that captures the sparkle of London, thrill of friendship, and swoon of new love)
Candace Fleming, The Enigma Girls, Scholastic Focus, Age 8-12 (story of the brave young women who helped turn the tides of World War II at Bletchley Park)
Sundee Frazier, Might Inside, Levine Querido, Age 8-12 (a book about racism in the South in the 1960s and being as strong on the outside as on the inside, in standing firm on what is right)
Brooke Hartman, illus. John Joseph, All Aboard the Alaska Train, Red Comet Press, Age 4-7 (picture book about the legendary train journey from Seward to Fairbanks with Alaskan animal passengers that join en route)
Sandra W. Headen, Warrior on the Mound, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (a story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams)
June Hur, A Crane Among Wolves, Feiwel & Friends, YA (novel based on a true story from Korean history; set in Joseon, 1506)
Anna Rose Johnson, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (a spirited French-Ojibwe orphan is sent to the stormy waters of Lake Superior to live with a mysterious family of lighthouse-keepers)
Erica Lyons, illus. Siona Benjamin, On a Chariot of Fire, Levine Querido, Age 5-8 (a picture book story of the legendary origin of the Bene Israel Jews of India)
Michael Morpurgo, When Fishes Flew: The Story of Elena’s War, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Age 9-12 (journey back in time to the Second World War)
Jennifer A. Nielsen, Uprising, Scholastic Press, Age 8-12 (thriller based on the true story of a young Polish girl who participated in the Warsaw city uprising, and took a stand in the name of freedom)
Claire Annette Noland, illus. Angela C. Hawkins, Nancy Bess had a Dress, Gnome Road, Age 4-8 (story set in the late 1930’s featuring a crafty girl with a gift for repurposing her favorite daisy print)
Johan Rundberg (trans. A. A. Prime), The Queen of Thieves, Amazon Crossing Kids, Age 10-14 (1880 Stockholm: Mika will do what it takes to uncover a string of thefts in the city—and keep her fellow orphans safe)
Kate Saunders, A Drop of Golden Sun, Faber & Faber, Age 9-12 (it’s 1973 and 12-year-old Jenny is about to experience a life-changing summer in the spotlight)
Tim Walker, The Prisoner of Bhopal, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (finding a secret WWI journal, Amil and the journal’s author – his great-grandfather, Sanjiv – share a magical gift)
April 2024
Ann Bausum, illus. Marta Sevilla, The Bard and the Book, Peachtree, Age 8-12 (the unlikely true story of why we know the name William Shakespeare and the four-hundred-year-old book that made it possible)
Dustin Brady illus. Dave Bardin, World’s Worse Time Machine: Treasure in the White City, Andrews McMeel, Age 7-11 (2nd installment where Elsa and Liam follow the legend that says an eccentric millionaire hid a treasure somewhere inside the “White City” at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago)
Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, The Night War, Dial, Age 8-12 (set in World War II France, where a Jewish girl who has lost everything but her life, must decide whether to risk even that to bring others to freedom)
Jacqueline Chio-Lauri, illus. Kristin Sorra, Mami King: How Ma Mon Luk Found Love, Riches, and the Perfect Bowl of Soup, Millbrook Press, Age 7-11 (rejected by the parents of the girl he loves, Ma Mon Luk strikes out from China and boards a steamship headed for the Philippines in 1918)
Leon Erickson, illus. Michelle Simpson, Mai and the Strangers, Orca, Age 6-8 (historical-fiction picture book celebrating Dakelh culture and language)
Brian Gallagher, illus. Dermot Flynn, The Case of the Vanishing Painting, The O’Brien Press, Age 8-12 (when friends Deirdre, Tim, and Joe try to unmask a thief they come up against a dangerous, powerful enemy)
Sue Ganz-Schmitt, illus. Iacopo Bruno, Skybound, Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (picture book biography of an aeronaut and inventor whose work improved our understanding of flight)
Cambria Gordon, Trajectory, Scholastic Press, YA (WWII story of one young woman who must find a way to overcome her deepest fears to unlock the secret that will help America and the Allies to victory)
Joshua M. Greene, The Girl Who Fought Back, Scholastic Focus, Age 8-12 (the true story of a young Jewish woman who was instrumental in the uprising as a smuggler of messages and weapons into and out of the Warsaw Ghetto)
Kerisa Greene, I am Both: A Vietnamese Refugee Story, Feiwel & Friends, Age 4 – 8 (picture book inspired by the author’s family’s journey on the last flight out of Saigon)
Robin Ha (author & illustrator), The Fox Maidens, Balzer + Bray, YA (set in 16th century Korea and infused with Korean folklore; a story about fighting for your place in the world, even when it seems impossible)
Kathy Kacer, illus. Gabrielle Grimard, Two Pieces of Chocolate, Second Story Press, Age 9-12 (picture book story about kindness set in Bergen-Belsen Nazi prison camp in 1945)
Deborah Lakritz, Things That Summer, Kar-Ben, Age 8-12 (two friends bond over their parents’ struggles with PTSD in spring, 1973)
Lois Lowry, Tree. Table. Books, Clarion, Age 8-12 (a young girl hears stories of war, hunger, cruelty, and ultimately love from an elderly friend who is beginning to have trouble with her memory)
Makiia Lucier, Dragonfruit, Clarion Books, YA (an historical romantic fantasy researched and inspired by Pacific Island mythology)
Skye Melki-Wegner, The Deadlands: Survival, Henry Holt BfYR, Age 8-12 (finale of the middle-grade action-adventure series about five outcasts who are their warring dinosaur kingdoms only hope)
Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Eyes Open, Carolrhoda Lab, YA (a young woman fights for justice in Portugal, 1967, when all her plans for her future are upended)
E. L. Norry, Fablehouse: Heart of Fire, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Age 8-12 (fantasy story about children finding their power with the guidance of the Black Knight from King Arthur’s Round Table)
Kim Michele Richardson, illus. David Gardner, Junia, The Book Mule of Troublesome Creek, Sleeping Bear, Age 6-9 (Richardson reimagines her own adult novel from the perspective of Junia, the brave mule of a Kentucky packhorse librarian)
Heather Stemp, Beyond Amelia, Nimbus, YA (story about the sacrifices so many young people made to turn the tide in a terrifying war)
Terrill Sullivan, Endurance: The Frozen Keep, Black Rose Writing, YA (first of a two-volume series weaving Ernest Shackleton’s voyage in Antarctica: a teenager’s fight for environmental justice; and an adventure on the high seas; set against World War I waging in Europe)
Lauren Tarshis, illus. by Brian Churilla, I Survived the Battle of D-Day, 1944, Scholastic Graphix, Age 8-12 (a boy, whose mother is in the French Resistance, finds himself in the middle of the battle of D-Day. Presented in new graphic format)
Jenni L. Walsh, Operation: Happy, Zonderkidz, Age 8-12 (featuring a dog’s POV and inspired by real-life WWII experiences of a young Pearl Harbor survivor)
Andrea Wang, illus. Youa Vang, The Brave and Capable Life of Joseph Pierce, Levine Querido, Age 8-12 (based on a true story of a Chinese boy who was sold into slavery, worked to free himself, and became a corporal during the American Civil War)
Cedar Wang (author & illustrator), Codebreaker Charlotte, Clavis, Age 6-11 (Charlotte discovers important details about the role her great-grandmother played in the Second World War)
Brittany N. Williams, Saint-Seducing Gold, Amulet, YA (second book in a YA historical fantasy trilogy set in London in Elizabethan times)
May 2024
Miya T. Beck, Through a Clouded Mirror, Balzer + Bray, Abe 8-12 (time-travel fantasy set in a magical imperial Japan)
Crystal J. Bell, The Lamplighter, Flux, YA (as villagers vanish under her watch as lamplighter, Tempe discovers unsettling truths about the village and her own beloved father. Set in 19th-century)
Jasbinder Bilan, Nush and the Stolen Emerald, Chicken House, Age 9-12 (when her father, the Maharaja, decides to visit Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, Nush goes too – determined to bring back the gem that can heal her country)
Lauren Blackwood, The Dangerous Ones, Wednesday Books, YA (romantic historical fantasy set in the American Civil War with vampires and people with demigod-like abilities)
Elise Broach, illus. Ziyue Chen, Duet, Christy Ottaviano Books, Age 8-12 (a history-rich mystery that links composer Frederic Chopin, author George Sand, and painter Eugene Delacroix)
Vera Brosgol, Plain Jane and the Mermaid, First Second, YA (a 13-year-old girl’s quest to rescue a friend who is kidnapped from their 18th-century maritime village)
Lydia Corry, Wildflower Emily, Laura Godwin Books, YA (graphic novel based on the childhood of poet Emily Dickinson)
Jillian Dobson, illus. Genevieve Simms, Girl Takes Drastic Step!, Nimbus, Age 4-8 (an inspiring picture book biography of the pioneering mid-century female visual artist)
Sarah Beth Durst, Spy Ring, Clarion Books, Age 8-12 (a blend of Revolutionary War history and contemporary storytelling)
Caroline Fernandez, Plague Thieves, DCB, Age 9-12 (1665; Rose and Lem hope to protect themselves against the sickness, but as word about their special oil blend spreads, they must protect themselves against thieves)
Rosena Fung, Age 16, Annick Press, YA (coming-of-age graphic novel exploring how adolescence affects three women in the same family, from Guangdong in 1954 to Hong Kong in 1972, and Toronto in 2000)
Brian Gallagher, illus. Dermot Flynn, The Case of the Vanishing Painting, The O’Brien Press, Age 8-12 (when friends Deirdre, Tim, and Joe try to unmask a thief they come up against a dangerous, powerful enemy)
Ritu Hemnani, Lion of the Sky, Balzer + Bray, Age 8-12 (historical debut novel in verse about a boy and his family who are forced to flee their home and become refugees after the British Partition of India)
Monica Hesse, The Brightwood Code, Little, Brown BfYR, YA (sheds light on hidden history and the brutality of being a woman in a war built by men)
Dianne Hofmeyr, illus. Simona Mulazzani, The Most Famous Rhinoceros, Otter-Barry Books, Age 5-7 (picture book story inspired by Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut print of the rhinoceros sent from India to Portugal in 1515)
Traci Huahn, illus. Michelle Jing Chan, Mamie Fights to Go to School, Crown BfYR, Age 8-12 (inspired by the real-life story of Mamie Tape, an 8-year-old Chinese American girl who fought to attend the all-white school in her San Francisco neighborhood in the 1880s)
Hiba Noor Khan, Safiyyah’s War, Clarion/Allida, 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?)
Josh Lacey, illus. Garry Parsons, The Stone Age Clash, Andersen Press, Age 8-11 (the time-travel twins will need to keep their wits about them to survive their visits to the Stone Age!)
Elizabeth Laird, The Misunderstandings of Charity Brown, Macmillan, Age 9-11 (witty coming-of-age story set in post WWII Britain)
Erica Lyons, illus. Yinon Ptahia, Saliman and the Memory Stone, Apples & Honey, Age 4-8 (a fictionalization of the real 1881 emigration of hundreds of Yemeni Jews to Jerusalem)
Robyn McGrath, illus. Liz Wong, A Mind of Her Own, Beach Lane, Age 5-8 (inspiring and mysterious true story of world-renowned detective novelist Agatha Christie’s journey to authorship)
Anna-Marie McLemore, Flawless Girls, Feiwel & Friends, YA (novel about a young woman who discovers a terrifying history at her prestigious finishing school, which won’t give up its secrets easily)
Michael Boulware Moore, illus. Bryan Collier, Freedom on the Sea, Henry Holt BYR, Age 4-8 (story of Robert Smalls and the Confederate ship he used to liberate himself, his family, and others from enslavement in 1862)
Michael Morpurgo, Twist of Gold (c.2007), Farshore, Age 8-12 (two children have one chance to escape the potato famine and plague in Ireland)
Tom Palmet, Angel of Grasmere, Barrington Stoke, Age 9-13 (1940; Tarn grapples with the loss of her brother at Dunkirk as she faces the threat of Nazi invasion in the Cumbrian countryside)
Nazneen Ahmed Pathak, City of Stolen Magic, Puffin, Age 9-14 (an historical fantasy set in India, 1855)
James Persichetti, illus. L. Biehler, A Tale of Two Knights: Tristan and Lancelot, HarperAlley, YA (a queer reimagining of Arthurian legend in which Lancelot and Tristan set out on a quest to find the missing magician Merlin)
Pat Lamondin Skene, illus. Sabrina Gendron, Lights Along the River, Orca, Age 6-8 (1952, Patsy Lamondin wakes to the day electricity will finally be connected to her small town along the Magnetawan River)
Tammar Stein, illus. Barbara Bongini, The Treasure of Tel Maresha, Apples & Honey, Age 8-10 (story of two similar girls and their struggle to reckon with the changes in their lives on the same spot, 2,000 years apart)
Cheyenne M. Stone and Glenda Armand, illus. by Katie Dorame, Toypurina: Tongva Leader, Medicine Woman, Rebel, Little Bee, Age 4-8 (picture book story about Toypurina, who organized a rebellion in 1785 against the Spanish rule in Tongva)
Sylvia Maultash Warsh, The Orphan, Auctus Publishing, YA (set in 1844 against the backdrop of slavery and an important presidential election, the novel stars 15-year-old Samuel whose life is saved by an experimental drug)
June 2024
Kimberly Ashley, The Seven Stones, Anamacara Press, YA (in this pre-historic adventure, teenagers Kadya and Ruark search for their family after their village is attacked)
Emma Carlson Berne, illus. Markia Jenai, Prudence Under Suspicion, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (1692 Salem Witch Trial graphic novel)
Matthew Cody, Colleen AF Venable, Marcie Colleen, illus. Chad Thomas, Time Buddies, Andrews McMeel, Age 8-12 (graphic time-travel adventure to ancient Egypt, the Wild West and the Renaissance)
Julie Kathleen Gilbert, illus. Wendy Tan Shiau Wei, Bonnie and the Fiery Crash, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (1937 story of the Hindenburg disaster)
Dan Gutman, The (Mostly True) Story of Cleopatra’s Needle, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (follows five kids from different historical periods involved in creating Cleopatra’s Needle in ancient Alexandria and its move to New York’s Central Park in the 19th century)
Natasha Hastings, The Sea Queen, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (sequel to The Frost Fair follows Thomasina and her friend Anne as they face a new threat to London)
Deron R. Hicks, The Dark Skies Mystery, Clarion Books, Age 8-12 (WWII-era mystery full of art and military history, spies and intrigue, in which a young journalist uncovers a secret at a famous mansion)
Kim Johnson, The Color of a Lie, Random House BfYR, YA (in 1955, caught between two worlds, a teen boy puts his family at risk as he uncovers racist secrets about his suburb)
Stacey Lee, Kill Her Twice, Putnam BfYR, YA (in 1930s Los Angeles’ Chinatown three Chinese American sisters investigate the murder of their neighborhood friend)
Natasha Mac a’Bháird, illus. Lauren O’Neill, The Tower Ghost, The O’Brien Press, Age 8-12 (a Sycamore Hill mystery set in Donegal, 1963)
Keith Negley, author and illus., The Running Machine, Balzer + Bray, Age 4-8 (story of pluck and determination inspired by the real events of 1815–17, when a young man named Karl Drais invented the first bicycle)
Deborah Noyes, illus. M. Duffy, An Outbreak of Witchcraft, Little, Brown Ink, YA (graphic novel visually imagines the haunting details behind the Salem witch trials)
Eden Royce, The Creepening of Dogwood House, Walden Pond, Age 8-12 (a middle grade Southern Gothic story based on the hoodoo practice of hair burning, about a boy’s adoption by a kind couple with an enormous, creepy house)
Amy Rubinate, illus. Isabelle Duffy, Annie and the Unsinkable Ship, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (April, 1912; a peaceful journey across the sea comes to an end when Irish orphan Annie is awakened to discover the ship is sinking)
Caitlin Schneiderhan, Medici Heist, Feiwel & Friends, YA (in 1517 Florence Italy, a sharp-witted teenage thief leads a team of misfits, including the artist Michelangelo, in a plot to rob a dangerous and corrupt Medici Pope)
Judd Shaw, Sterling the Knight and the Slonefall Tournament, Morgan James Kids, Age 4-6 (picture book series of medieval adventures)
Sherri L. Smith and Christine Norrie, Pearl, Scholastic Graphix, YA (a Japanese American girl questions her loyalty when she is enlisted to translate English radio transmissions for the Japanese military after the attack on Pearl Harbor)
Lauren Tarshis, illus. David Shepherd, I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79, Scholastic Graphix, Age 8-12 (a new graphic novel adaptation)
July 2024
Tina Athaide, Wings to Soar, Charlesbridge Moves, Age 8-12 (told in verse, story follows a resilient girl and the friendships she forges during the early 70s)
Andrew Beattie, The Angel Player, Sweet Cherry, Age 8-12 (part of the Tales From the Middle Ages series)
Ying Chang Compestine, illus. by Xinmei Liu, Growing Up Under a Red Flag, Rocky Pond, Age 8-12 (inspired by the author’s story of her childhood during the Cultural Revolution in China)
Sally Denmead, illlus. Alleanna Harris, A Song for August, Levine Querido, Age 4-8 (a picture book ode to one of America’s foremost Black playwrights)
Anna Fargher, Delta and the Lost City, Macmillan Childrens, Age 8-12 (historical adventure drawing on the legend of the Hero dog of Pompeii)
Bea Fitzgerald, The End Crowns All, Penguin, YA (YA Greek myth re-imagining about Cassandra and Helen)
Rosena Fung, Age 16, Annick Press, YA (coming-of-age graphic novel set in Guangdong, 1954, Hong Kong, 1972, and Toronto, 2000)
Kelly Hollman, Charlotte Watson Sherman, This Opening Sky, Milk + Cookies, Age 8-12 (novel in verse, following an unlikely friendship in the aftermath of the American Civil War)
Hayley Hoskins, The Whisperling Twins, Puffin, Age 9-12 (fantasy adventure set in Gloucestershire, 1918)
Wade Hudson, illus. Don Tate, The Day Madear Voted, Nancy Paulsen, Age 4-7 (inspired by the author’s mother voting for the first time as a Black American in 1969)
S. J. King, The Timekeepers: The Tesla Trap, DK Children, Age 7-9 (history-themed adventure stories to discover people and events that shaped our world)
Catherine Norton, Hester Hitchins and the Falling Stars, HarperCollins, Age 10+ (in 1866, eleven-year-old Hester wins a place at Addington’s Nautical Navigation Academy, where she will learn to navigate by the stars)
Gita Ralleigh, The Voyage of Sam Singh, Zephyr, Age 9+ (second magical middle grade adventure set in a parallel colonial India)
Sarah Webb, The Weather Girls, The O’Brien Press, Age 9-12 (tale of bravery, adventure and friendship, inspired by true events from World War II)
August 2024
Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, illus. Stacey Dressen McQueen, An Etrog From Across the Sea, Kar-Ben, Age 4-10 (in Colonial times, Papa brings home the perfect etrog for his children from across the sea)
Hayley Dennings, This Ravenous Fate, Sourcebooks Fire, YA (first book in fantasy duology set in 1926 Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life—and death waits in the dark)
Gayle Forman, Not Nothing, Aladdin, Age 8-12 (a boy who has been assigned to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility learns unexpected lessons when he meets a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor)
Erica George, Witty in Pink, Entangled: Teen, YA (a sexy historical rom-com with a modern voice)
Adalyn Grace, Wisteria, Little, Brown BfYR, YA (the conclusion of the Gothic-infused historical Belladonna fantasy series)
Alexis Kossiakoff, Scott Forbes Crawford, The Phoenix and the Firebird, Earnshaw Books, Age 8-12 (historical fantasy melds the turmoil of 1920s China with Slavic and Chinese myth)
Barbara Lowell, illus. Antonio Marinoni, A Fine Little Bad Boy, Creative Editions, Age 4-7 (Quentin may be the “littlest Roosevelt,” but he soon rivals his father, the famous Teddy, as the biggest personality in the White House of the early 1900s)
Dionna L. Mann, Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings, Margaret Ferguson, Age 8-12 (growing up in segregated 1930’s Charlottesville, ten-year-old Allie is determined to find a man for her mama to marry)
Freeman Ng, Bridge Across the Sky, Atheneum BfYR, YA (novel in verse about a Chinese teen who immigrates to the United States with his family and endures mistreatment at the Angel Island Immigration Station)
Trinka Hakes Noble, illus. Amanda Calatzis, Just One Girl: A Fight for Equal Rights, Sleeping Bear Press, Age 7-8 (early 70s America; after hearing about the discrimination experienced by her mother, Jillian steps up to help. Tales of Young Americans series)
William Ritter, Rook, Algonquin YR, YA (standalone adventure set in the world of the historical Jackaby series)
Caitlin Schneiderhan, Medici Heist, Feiwel & Friends/Atom, YA (1517; a teenage thief leads a team of misfits in a daring heist for fortune, freedom and revenge against a corrupt Pope in Renaissance Italy)
Sherri L. Smith, illus. Christine Norrie, Pearl, Scholastic Graphix, Age 8-12 (a Japanese-American girl must survive years of uncertainty and questions of loyalty in Hiroshima during World War II)
Jonah Winter, illus. by Brad Holland, It Happened in Salem, Creative Editions, Age 9—12 (presenting a modern retelling of the Salem Witch trials)
September 2024
Kwame Alexander, Black Star, Little, Brown BfYR, Age 10+ (a story of struggle, determination, and the faith of an American family, set during the turbulent segregation era and the beginning of The Great Migration)
Marcie Flinchum Atkins, One Step Forward, Versify, YA (novel in verse about Matilda Young—the youngest suffragist to be arrested and imprisoned for lawful protests during the time leading up to the passage of the nineteenth amendment)
Bret Baier, illus. Marvin Sianipar, Duel Across Time, Aladdin, Age 8-12 (series about kids who use their love of history to thwart an evil time traveler’s scheme to change the past–what would have happened if Alexander Hamilton had lived and Aaron Burr had died?)
Ann Brashares, Ben Brashares, Westfallen, Simon & Schuster BfYR, Age 8-12 (alternate history thriller that asks what it would be like to wake up in present-day America if Germany had won World War I)
Alena Bruzas, To the Bone, Rocky Pond, YA (love story is an honest look at Colonial America, set during the “Starving Time” in Jamestown, 1609)
Veronica Chambers, Ida, in Love and in Trouble, Little, Brown BfYR, YA (story about courageous Ida B. Wells as she navigates society parties and society prejudices to become a civil rights crusader)
Nancy Churnin, illus. Bethany Stancliffe, A Teddy Bear for Emily ―and President Roosevelt, Too, Albert Whitman, Age 4-8 (a historically inspired story of a girl who helps her immigrant parents create the original teddy bear to honor a kind president)
Lesa Cline-Ransome, illus. James E. Ransome, They Call Me Teach, Candlewick, Age 5-8 (picture book story in which an enslaved young man uses his ability to read and write to educate others in the pursuit of freedom)
Monique Duncan, illus. Oboh Moses, Freedom Braids, Lantana, Age 6-8 (picture book of love, liberation, and legacy inspired by the true story of enslaved African women in Colombia)
Margarita Engle, Eloísa’s Musical Window, Atheneum BfYR, Age 4-7 (a picture book about a music-loving girl in 1930s Cuba who discovers the melodies in the world outside her window)
Louise Erdrich, The Birchbark House, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (first installment in a planned nine-book series chronicling one hundred years in the life of one Ojibwe family)
Gabriele Goldstone, Waltraut, Heritage House/Wandering Fox, Age 8-12 (story of a first-generation-Canadian girl growing up in the shadows of the Second World War)
Annelise Gray, Circus Maximus: Return of the Champion, Zephyr, Age 8-12 (conclusion of the Circus Maximus series set in Ancient Rome full of adventures and an unforgettable heroine called Dido)
Alice Hoffman, When We Flew Away, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (fictionalized account of the increasingly desperate years that preceded the famous Anne Frank diary)
Michele C. Hollow, Jurassic Girl, Ulysses BfYR, Age 4+ (discover the fascinating life of 12-year-old Mary Anning, a fossil hunter who would grow up to be a famous paleontologist)
Anna James, illus. David Wyatt, The Age of Enchantment: Chronicles of Whetherwhy, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Age 9-12 (first in a fantasy series beginning post-war in 1924)
Gordon Korman, illus. Hannah Templer, 39 Clues: One False Note, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (39 Clues series now in graphic format)
Sidura Ludwig, Swan, Nimbus, Age 8-12 (reimagines the childhood of Nova Scotia giantess Anna Swan)
Erica Lyons, illus. Siona Benjamin, On a Chariot of Fire: The Story of India’s Bene Israel, Levine Querido, Age 4-8 (featuring the other side of the Hanukkah story, this follows the Bene Israel community, as they flee Israel to find a new home in India)
Andy Marino, Escape from Alcatraz, Scholastic, (historical thriller about a daring prison break from Alcatraz Island in 1962)
Jennifer Maruno, The Go-Between, Red Deer Press, Age 9-12 (a Japanese Canadian girl living in Vancouver in 1926, takes her older sister’s place so that Yoshi can go to summer school to become a dressmaker)
Namita Moolani Mehra, illus. Beena Mistry, Veena and the Red Roti, Kids Can Press, Age 4-8 (set during the Partition of India, a story about a girl who helps others by cooking up a small taste of home)
James Patterson, Tad Safran, The Time Travel Twins, jimmy patterson, Age 8-12 (all that stands between an evil villain and world domination is a pair of twelve-year-olds who just learned they’re time travelers. What could go wrong!)
Cathie Pelletier, Evangeline’s Journey, Down East Books, YA (prose retelling of Longfellow’s poem tells the fictional story of a girl who searches for her lost love amid the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians from maritime Canada)
Anna Rosner, Eyes on the Ice, Groundwood, Age 9-12 (Czechoslovakia, 1963; hockey-crazy Lukas must make decisions that may endanger his family and his friends, as he faces tough questions about what loyalty really means)
Samantha San Miguel, Fathomless, Union Square Kids, Age 8-12 (full of hijinks, mystery, sequel to Spineless brings readers into the world of nineteenth century Gilded Age Florida)
Michael P. Spradlin, Rise of the Spider, Margaret K. McElderry, Age 8-12 (witness the rise of Hitler’s Germany through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy)
Sam Subity, Valor Wings, Scholastic Press, Age 8-12 (fantasy WWII adventure that reimagines the evacuation of Dunkirk… with dragons)
Robin Talley, Everything Glittered, Little, Brown BfYR, YA (1927; society girls try to find a murderer in a city filled with secrets and stunted by shame, in this queer historical thriller)
S. J. Taylor, Madsi the True, Atheneum BfYR, Age 8-12 (fantasy adventure set in 1700s Norway)
Andrew Varga, The Mongol Ascension, Imbrifex Books, Age 8-12 (Mongolia, 1179; timeslip novel in which Dan lands on the Mongolian steppes, and encounters a brave Mongol teen on a daring mission to rescue his kidnapped wife)
A.R. Vishny, Night Owls, HarperCollins, YA (paranormal fantasy which brings to life history, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Jewish immigration, and Yiddish theatre)
Lee Wind, illus. Jieting Chen, Love of the Half-Eaten Peach, Reycraft Books, Age 8-12 (lyrical take on Yuan, Duke Ling of Wei, and his beloved, Mi Zi Xia, who shared a peach circa 500 BCE, inspiring people to use the expression to describe romantic love between men)
Jane Yolen, illus. Felishia Henditirto, The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah, Apples & Honey, Age 4-7 (19th-century Russia; once upon a time girls were not allowed to learn to read. This is the story of a girl who decided to change that)
Jane Yolen, illus. Laura Barella, Rebecca’s Prayer for President Lincoln, Kar-Ben, Age 8-12 (when President Lincoln, who brought an end to American slavery is shot, a Jewish girl in New York City mourns with her country)
Suzy Zail, Inkflower, Walker, YA (a Holocaust story of love, loss and hope, inspired by a true story)
October 2024
Avi, Lost in the Empire City, Quill Tree, Age 8-12 (young Santo gets separated from his family at Ellis Island & falls in with a group of boy thieves)
Nuria Gómez Benet (trans. Elisa Amado), illus. Santiago Solís Montes de Oca, Montezuma’s Tantrum, Greystone Kids, Age 9-13 (Emperor Montezuma’s court tries everything to cure his bad mood in this humourous story that sheds light on life in the Aztec empire)
Rachelle Burk, illus. Chiara Fedele, A Mitzvah for George Washington, Creston Books, Age 7-11 (Bella’s father has an important role to play when President George Washington comes to visit the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island)
Jessie Burton, Hidden Treasure, Bloomsbury Children’s, Age 9+ (Bo, whose dad is dead, and Billy, an orphan, are both from poor families and have never met, but now they have each found half of a priceless treasure, given up by the river Thames)
Hari Connor, I Shall Never Fall in Love, HarperAlley, YA (LGBT graphic format Regency romance)
Lydia Corry, author and illus., Wildflower Emily, Godwin Books, Age 7-10 (delves into Emily Dickinson’s childhood exploring her hometown of Amherst, Mass)
Loni Crittenden, The Ancient’s Game, HarperCollins, YA (historical fantasy with 1920s World’s Fair–inspired setting and inspiration from African Diasporic folklore)
Kevin Crossley-Holland, illus. Chris Riddell, King Alfred and the Ice Coffin, Candlewick Studio, Age 10+ (tale within a tale, focused on a heroic West Saxon king who championed the power of storytelling)
Adi Denner, The Kiss of the Nightingale, Tundra Books, YA (a stolen magical gem transforms an orphan’s destiny in a romantasy novel set in an alternative 1890 historical Paris)
Dr. Edith Eva Eger, The Ballerina of Auschwitz, Atheneum BfYR, YA (Edie is a talented dancer and a skilled gymnast with hopes of making the Olympic team. But life in Hungary in 1943 is dangerous for a Jewish girl)
David Ferraro, A Vile Season, Page Street, YA (supernatural Regency romance set in a world where race and sexual identity are not at issue)
Megan Hill, illus. Chiara Fedele, Fritz and the Midnight Meetup, B&H Kids, Age 4-8 (picture book retelling of the true story of a children’s prayer meeting during the German revival of 1860)
Marjolijn Hof (trans. Bill Nagelkerke), illus. Annette Fienieg, The Curse of Madame Petrova, Levine Querido, Age 9-11 (historical middle grade novel in which it is predicted that twins will one day be the cause of each other’s demise)
Mavasta Honyouti, Coming Home: A Hopi Resistance Story, Levine Querido, Age 7-9 (the story of the author’s grandfather’s experience at a residential boarding school and how he returned home to pass their traditions down to future generations)
Susan Hood, Lifeboat 5, Simon & Schuster BfYR, Age 8-12 (a World War II novel-in-verse about two very real girls who clung together for dear life when their evacuee ship was torpedoed)
Deborah Hopkinson, They Saved the Stallions, Scholastic Focus, Age 8-12 (true story of the fight to save the world-famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna and its Lipizzaner horses during World War II)
J. Kasper Kramer, Eyes on the Sky, Atheneum BfYR, Age 8-12 (middle grade novel about a budding young scientist in 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, who fears her weather balloon experiment has been mistaken for a flying saucer)
Sacha Lamb, Sorel, Levine Querido, YA (set against a backdrop of literary censorship and growing Jewish political consciousness, in 1870, novel is an exploration of identity, survival, and hope)
Karen Levine, Sheila Baslaw, illus. Alice Priestley, The Light Keeper, Second Story Press, Age 6-8 (an enterprising boy helps bring light to his shtetl and help his family in 1900s Eastern Europe)
Meagan Mahoney, The Time Keeper, Cormorant YR, Age 9-12 (Edinburgh, 1902; a clockmaker’s apprentice races against time to solve the puzzle of the broken watch and to save his loved ones)
Amber McBride, Onyx & Beyond, Feiwel & Friends, Age 8-12 (based in part on the author’s father’s story of growing up during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s)
Tanisia Moore, illus. Robert Paul, When Black Girls Dream Big, Scholastic, Age 4-8 (a young child discovers her place in her heritage, as she meets twelve extraordinary Black women)
Sean O’Brien, illus. Karyn Lee, White House on Fire!, Norton YR, Age 8-12 (latest White House Clubhouse time-traveling series, in which Marissa and Clara find themselves in James Madison’s presidency, with the White House and capital city set on fire by invading British troops)
Ayo Oyeku, illus. Lydia Mba, What Happened on Thursday?, Amazon Crossing Kids, Age 7-9 (told from a child’s pov, follows a family through the Nigerian Civil War as they lose their home, travel the country, and settle in a refugee camp)
Randi Pink, Under the Heron’s Light, Feiwel & Friends, YA (dual timeline novel follows a 21st century college student as she learns of her family’s deep supernatural roots in the Great Dismal Swamp and her grandmother as a former enslaved girl in the 1700s)
Mélisande Potter, illus. by Giselle Potter, Togo to the Rescue, Christy Ottaviano, Age 4-8 (retelling the story of Togo and the fellow sled dogs that transported life-saving serum to the community of Nome, Alaska in 1925)
Trina Rathgeber, illus. Alina Pete, Lost at Windy River, Orca, Age 9-12 (1944; story of 13-year-old Ilse Schweder who got lost in a snowstorm in northern Canada and endured nine days alone in the unforgiving barrens)
Gloria Respress-Churchwell, illus. Laura Freeman, Follow Chester!, Charlesbridge, Age 6—9 (story of civil rights hero Chester Pierce’s game-changing role as the first Black college football player to compete south of the Mason-Dixon Line)
J. P. Rose, Birdie, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (a story about the magic of animals, set in 1950s Leeds)
Ellen Schwartz, illus. Alison Mutton, Friends to the Rescue, Age 8-12 (inspired by a true story, dual timeline narrative takes place in Fossa, Italy, a small mountain village that offered refuge to Jews during World War II)
Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin, The Bletchley Riddle, Viking BfYR/Rock the Boat, Age 10+ (historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death)
Eliot Schrefer, Charming Young Man, HarperCollins, YA (historical coming-of-age novel about a rising star French pianist navigating his way into high society as he explores his sexuality)
Ali Standish, The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall: The Sign of the Five, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (in Book 2 Arthur battles new foes and journeys to find answers to save a poisoned Sherlock Holmes and others before it’s too late)
Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Black Death, 1348, Scholastic Inc, Age 8-12 (travels to medieval England when the deadliest disease in world history sweeps across Europe and parts of Asia and Africa)
Chris Vick, Shadow Creatures, Zephyr, YA (middle grade story of bravery, resilience, rivalries and shadow creatures in the night during WWII in Norway)
November 2024
Kevin Crossley-Holland, illus. Chris Riddell, King Alfred and the Ice Coffin, Candlewick Studio, Age 8-12 (tale focused on a heroic West Saxon king who championed the power of storytelling)
Lex Croucher, Not For the Faint of Heart, Wednesday Books, YA (a queer historical romance, with all you’d expect from a story about the granddaughter of Robin Hood and the girl she’s accidentally kidnapped)
Tom Holland, illus. by Jason Cockcroft, The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks, and the Gods, Candlewick Studio, Age 9-11 (weaving myth and history, novel features a retelling of the Persian Wars)
Isabel Ibañez, Where the Library Hides, Wednesday Books (1885; historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, and a rivals-to-lovers romance)
Tirzah Price, In Want of a Suspect, HarperTeen, YA (Lizzie and Darcy are back with more suspense, danger, and romance in this first in a duology spinoff of the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries)
Ella Schwartz, illus. by Juliana Oakley, Violin of Hope, Lerner, Age 6-11 (story of a violin which brings hope to the world with its World War II historical connection)
December 2024
Seb Duncan, The Book of Thunder & Lightning, Roundfire Books, YA (ghost story set in London, 1888)
Gigi Griffis, We Are the Beasts, Delacorte, YA (historical horror inspired by the unsolved mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan)
Antony Barone Kolenc, The Devil’s Ransom, Loyola Press, Age 10-13 (a group of teens in medieval England voyage by sea to a Muslim-ruled city, where they must confront evil forces. Book six of the Harwood Mysteries)
Nadine Pinede, When the Mapou Sings, Candlewick Press, Age 14+ (novel in verse that weaves magical realism into a thriller about a young woman whose best friend goes missing)
Patricia Polacco, A Sea of Gold, S&S/Paula Wiseman, Age 4-8 (picture book following one Ukrainian family’s history through the generations)
Steve Watkins, Wolves at the Door, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (August, 1944; the Soviet Red Army reaches the edge of Hitler’s empire, and Asta leaves with her family hoping to reach the Baltic Sea and a transport ship)
