Forthcoming Children’s and YA Historical Novels for 2025
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 children’s and YA historical novels for 2024 plus the guide to forthcoming children’s and YA historical novels for 2026.
For adult titles, see our guides to forthcoming historical novels for 2026, for 2025, and for 2024.
Please visit us again soon!
Last update: October 21, 2025
January 2025
H. M. Bouwman, Scattergood, Neal Porter, Age 9-12 (coming-of-age in rural Iowa in 1941, where twelve-year-old Peggy’s quiet life is turned upside down by refugee arrivals, first love, and a heartbreaking diagnosis)
Deborah Bodin Cohen, Kerry Olitzky, illus. Cinzia Battistel, Rembrandt Chooses a Queen, Apples & Honey, Age 4-8 (inspiring story of Judaism and art intersecting in 17th century Amsterdam)
Selene Castrovilla, illus. Jenn Harney, George Washington’s Spectacular Spectacles, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (picture book story taken from American history, about George Washington’s little known reading aid)
Erin Cotter, A Traitorous Heart, Simon and Schuster BfYR, YA (Paris, 1572; a noblewoman in the French court finds herself under the watchful eye of Parisian royalty when she falls in love with the handsome king)
Sarah Crossan, Where the Heart Should Be, Greenwillow, YA (historical novel-in-verse is a story of love, family, and the forces that can destroy us or bind us forever; set in 1847)
Terry Deary, Terrible True Tales: The Stone Age, Bloomsbury UK/ANZ, Age 7+ (a collection of humorous Stone Age tales based on true stories)
Judith Eagle, illus. Jo Rioux, The Accidental Stowaway, Walker Books US, Age 8-12 (rollicking transatlantic romp set in 1910, where a plucky girl accidentally stows away on a glamorous steamship, finding herself in the midst of a mystery)
L. M. Elliott, Truth, Lies and the Questions In Between, Algonquin YR, YA (timely exploration of 1973—the Watergate hearings, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade—unfolds through the story of a young woman driven to question everything)
Kimberly Newton Fusco, The Secret of Honeycake, Knopf BfYR, Age 8-12 (Hurricane gets stuck living with her old aunt and meets a series of unexpected friends, including a mangy cat, that can help her find her voice in a whole new way)
Camryn Garrett, The Forgotten Summer of Seneca, Amulet, Age 8-12 (in which a girl finds a doorway in Central Park that leads to the historical and magically preserved Seneca Village)
Julie Gilbert, illus. Soia Di Chiara Manetti, Penny and the Tragic Voyage, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (Girls Survive series historical fiction about the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915)
Marianne Hering, Marshal Younger, Double Cross Down Under, Focus on the Family, Age 7+ (story of Reverend George Taplin and his friend James Unaipon, two faithful men of God serving the Aboriginal people)
Cheryl Willis Hudson, illus. London Ladd, When I Hear Spirituals, Holiday House, Age 6-9 (a girl connects with her heritage and history through twelve spirituals and four events —Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Great Migration, and the Enslaved People’s Uprising of 1811)
William Hussey, The Boy I Love, Andersen Press, YA (gay romance between two young soldiers as the summer of 1916 ticks down to one big push on the Somme)
Iszi Lawrence, The Cursed Tomb, Bloomsbury UK/ANZ, Age 9+ (an adventure of curses, myths and legends set in 1249 BCE in ancient Egypt)
M. G. Leonard, illus. Manuel Sumberac, Time Keys: Hunt for the Golden Scarab, Macmillan Children’s, Age 9-11 (time-travel action adventure, first in series)
Matthew K. Manning, illus. Dante Ginevra, Secrets Between States, Capstone Pr Inc, Age 7-10 (graphic novel featuring three stories about the most courageous spies of the World War I)
Joy McCullough, Everything is Poison, Dutton BfYR, YA (historical YA in prose and verse, set in early 17th-century Rome)
Shelia P. Moses, illus. Keith Mallett, Sharing the Dream, Nancy Paulsen, Age 4-7 (inspiring picture book portrait of a monumental day in US history, seen through a child’s eyes)
Marissa Moss, author and illustrator, Ellis Island Passover, Creston Books, Age 5-10 (Uncle Ezra shares the story of his first seder in America)
Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Radiant, Dutton BfYR, Age 8-12 (set against the backdrop of the Birmingham church bombing, the Kennedy assassination, and Beatlemania, novel in verse is about race, class, faith, and finding your place in a loving family)
Sarah Raughley, The Queen’s Spade, HarperCollins, YA (loosely inspired by the true story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria’s African goddaughter)
Jewell Parker Rhodes, Will’s Race for Home, Little, Brown BfYR, Age 8-12 (adventure story about a son and his father who set out to win land during the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889)
Johan Rundberg, trans. Eva Apelqvist, The Lost Ones, Amazon Crossing Kids, Age 10-14 (Stockholm, 1880; Mika will do what it takes to make sure there are no more lost ones—and to bring the infamous killer, the Dark Angel, out into the light)
Kim Sigafus, illus. Soia Di Chiara Manetti, Faye and the Dangerous Journey, Stone Arch, Age 8-12 (historical fiction about the Ojibwe Removal of 1850, known as the Sandy Lake Tragedy, shows the terrible history through the eyes of one child)
Emma Bland Smith, Growing Up in the Shadow of Alcatraz, Capstone, Age 8-11 (story focusing on the more than 100 children and their parents who lived on Alcatraz Island where the parents worked at the notorious prison)
Cary Sneider, Starry Messages, Tumblehome Inc, Age 9-12 (in a series of letters to her nephew, Galileo’s daughter, Sister Maria Celeste, tells the story of her father’s discoveries with his telescope)
Maria van Lieshout, Song of a Blackbird, First Second, YA (fiction based on true events, story has two intertwined timelines: one is a modern-day family drama, the other a tale of a WWII-era bank heist carried out by Dutch resistance fighters)
Emily A. Weinberg, The Feather of Truth, Histria Kids, Age 9-12 (travel to ancient Egypt in this fast-paced adventure filled with historical detail, friendship, exotic scenery, and action)
February 2025
Kwame Alexander, Black Star, Andersen Press, YA (second book in the Door of No Return trilogy, set during the turbulent segregation era; a story of struggle, determination and the unflappable faith of an American family)
Jeannine Atkins, Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth, Atheneum BfYR, Age 10+ (meet three remarkable historical women who followed their dreams and paved a path for women in science)
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, illus. Hagar Ophir, Golden Threads, Ayin Press, Age 8-12 (draws on a series of inspiring historical episodes in Fès, 1920, when Jewish and Muslim artisans organized against the introduction of a new machine that threatened to replace their manual labor)
Paul A. Barra, Samson and the Charleston Spy, Level Best, Age 8-12 (historically accurate and action-packed adventure/mystery about a boy confronting the Civil War from the Confederate perspective)
Anne Blankman, The Enemy’s Daughter, Viking BfYR, Age 8-12 (the tale of a girl fighting her way back home after surviving the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915)
Libba Bray, Under the Same Stars, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR), YA (historical mystery that examines truth, rebellion, reconciliation. Set in 1940s, 1980s and spring 2020)
Solange Burrell, Yeseni and the Daughter of Peace, Unbound, YA (debut that combines historical fiction with fantasy and explores themes of enslavement and empire; set in 1748 West Africa)
Kellyn Carni, Ricochet, CamCat Books, YA (Anastasia Romanov escapes her family’s execution when a magical necklace transports her and her brother to an alternate 1918 Russia on the brink of its own revolution)
Deborah Bodin Cohen, Kerry Olitzky, illus. Martina Peluso, Twist, Tumble, Triumph, Kar-Ben, Age 5-8 (picture book story of gymnast Ágnes Keleti, a Hungarian Jew who worked during WWII using Christian identity papers, and dreaming of the Olympics)
Adrianna Cuevas, What Fell from the Sky, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR), Age 8-12 (based on true events that occurred in 1950s America, story is about a boy whose rural Texan town becomes the setting of a military training exercise in which the army pretends to be Communist forces that have taken over)
Judith Eagle, The Great Theatre Rescue, Faber & Faber, Age 9-11 (adventure set in the 1930s)
Kate Fodor & Laurie Petrou, The Rehearsal Club, Groundwood, Age 9-12 (a mystery spans decades at the Rehearsal Club in this story of sisterhood and friendship)
Adam Gidwitz, Max in the Land of Lies, Dutton BfYR, Age 8-12 (follow-up to Max in the House of Spies in which Max returns home to Berlin as a British spy)
Joshua M. Greene, Fighter in the Woods, Scholastic Focus, Age 8-12 (true story of a Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Poland who escaped near death to join and fight with the Soviet partisans)
Stacy S. Jensen, illus. Victo Ngai, Before I Lived Here, Neal Porter, Age 4-8 (a backwards history book which helps young readers to understand what came before – from a contemporary building to ranches, to log cabins to indigenous people and their eviction from their lands)
Stephen Krensky, illus. Adriana Predoi, Amazing Annie, Apples & Honey, Age 5-8 (one woman’s remarkable adventure as she cycled around the world)
Carole Lindstrom, illus. Aly McKnight, The Gift of the Great Buffalo, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Age 4-8 (picture book illuminates the true history of Native-American life on the prairies in the 1800s)
Amy Novesky, illus. Jessica Love, The Poet and the Bees, Viking BfYR, Ages 4-8 (a picture book story about Sylvia Plath, her writing and her bee keeping)
Emma Otheguy, illus. Poly Bernatene, Cousins in the Time of Magic, Atheneum BfYR, Age 8-12 (historical fantasy in which three cousins get transported back to 1862 to play an important role in the Battle of Puebla)
Edeet Ravel, Miss Matty, Literary Press Group of Canada, YA (World War II story explores the impact of historical events on personal lives)
Leah Williamson, Jordan Glover, illus. Robin Boyden, The Wonder Team and the Space Race, Macmillan Children’s, Age 8-12 (travelling back to 1950’s America, the Wonder Team find themselves right in the middle of the Space Race)
Beryl Young, illus. Sean Huang, The Moon’s Journey, Red Deer Press, Age 6-8 (set in the 1950s, picture book follows a young family as they travel across the ocean to a new home in Canada)
March 2025
Marcie Flinchum Atkins, One Step Forward, Versify, YA (coming-of-age novel, told in verse,about 19-year-old Matilda Young, the youngest suffragist to be imprisoned and mistreated for lawful protests during WWI)
Kristin Butcher, Closer to Far Away, Red Deer Press, Age 9-12 (a story of grief and hope set in Saskatchewan, 1921)
Karen Cushman, When Sally O’Malley Discovered the Sea, Yearling, Age 8-12 (the story of an orphan who decides to go west–with nothing but gumption as her guide)
M. M. Downing & S. J. Waugh, The Adventures of the Flash Gang: Berlin Breakout, Regal House, Age 8-12 (book three in which two friends must use all their street wiles—with the help of a Flash or two—in 1936 Berlin)
Ursula Murray Husted, author and illustrator, Botticelli’s Apprentice, Quill Tree, Age 8-12 (graphic novel set in Renaissance Italy, following a young girl’s quest to become an apprentice to Sandro Botticelli)
Jeramey Kraatz, illus. Crystal Jayme, I Witnessed: The Lizzie Borden Story, HarperAlley, Age 8-12 (story of a boy who witnesses a crime: graphic novel true crime series)
Jennie Liu, The Red Car to Hollywood, Carolrhoda Lab, YA (Los Angeles, 1924; sixteen-year-old Ruby Chan forges her own way in LA with the help of friend and actress Anna May Wong)
M. K. Lobb, To Steal From Thieves, Little, Brown BfYR, YA (an alchemologist and a con man team up to steal a rare necklace from the 1851 Great Exhibition in London)
Jennifer A. Nielsen, One Wrong Step, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (1939 — adventure about two kids and their fight for survival on the unforgiving trails of Mount Everest)
Calvin Alexander Ramsey, illus. R. Gregory Christie, The Library in the Woods, Carolrhoda Books, Age 7-11 (follows a Black boy in 1959 North Carolina, whose new friends show him the Negro Library)
Linda Joan Smith, The Peach Thief, Candlewick, Age 8-12 (middle-grade debut set in 1850s Lancashire, England, explores longing, belonging, and the courage it takes to find your place)
Lauren Tarshis, illus. Karen De la Vega, I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919, Graphix, Age 8-12 (graphic novel adaptation)
Also: I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (graphic novel adaptation)
Rabiah York, illus. Maneli Manouchehri, The One and Only Rumi, Nancy Paulsen, Age 4-8 (the story of Rumi’s journey from a young refugee to a renowned poet shows how his childhood helped shape his poetry)
April 2025
Laurie Halse Anderson, Rebellion 1776, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Age 10-14 (historical fiction adventure about a girl struggling to survive amid a smallpox epidemic, the public’s fear of inoculation, and the seething Revolutionary War)
Jenny Andrus, illus. Julie Downing, Elsa’s Chessboard, Neal Porter, Age 4-8 (a tale of resilience, human connection, and potential of women in male-dominated fields, set in 1900s Vienna)
Nydia Armendia-Sánchez, illus. by Loris Lora, Frida Kahlo’s Flower Crown, Abrams BfYR, Age 5-8 (a picture book biography of celebrated artist Frida Kahlo, told through the language of flowers)
Marie Benedict, Courtney Sheinmel, The Secrets of Lovelace Academy, Aladdin, Age 8-12 (a historical adventure about a young girl plucked from a London orphanage to begin attending a boarding school with more secrets than she could imagine)
Jennifer Bohnhoff, In the Shadow of Sunrise, Kinkajou Press, Age 9-12 (Earth Shadow joins the clan’ s adults on the annual Walk Around and hunt)
Chris Callaghan, When the War Comes In, Collins, Age 8-12 (WWII story set in 1944 in the dockyards of Wallsend, Tyneside)
Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson, Shell Song, Beach Lane, Age 4+ (based on the author’s true family history, picture book about Japanese American incarceration in Hawai’i during World War II is a moving tribute to the importance of finding hope in dark times)
Amalie Howard, Lady Knight, Random House/Joy Revolution, YA (follows the daughter of a duke, defying the rules of high society in regency-era London)
Susanna Isern, illus. Esther Gili, The Girl Who Wore Pants, NubeOcho, Age 5-8 (fictionalised picture book biography of Puerto Rican activist Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922) who broke society rules by wearing pants in 1915)
Emily Jones, Nahia, Holiday House, YA (historical fantasy coming-of-age story set in Spain, 8000 years ago)
Hiba Noor Khan, The Line They Drew Through Us, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (three best friends are born on the same day experience Partition around their twelfth birthday)
Jane Kurtz, Claire Messer, Clara the Triumphant Rhinoceros, Beach Lane Books, Age 4-8 (picture book of the true story of Clara in the late 1700s)
Josh Lacey, illus. Garry Parsons, The Maya Sacrifice, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (the time travel twins borrow Grandad’s time machine and travel back to the time of the Mayas)
Tami Lehman-Wilzig, illus. Alisha Monnin, On the Wings of Eagles, Apples & Honey, Age 5-8 (picture book dramatizes the story of Haila, a Yemenite girl, who with her family was airlifted to safety during Operation Magic Carpet)
Irene Marchesini, trans. Carla Roncalli Di Montorio, illus. Carlotta Dicataldo, Rebis: Born and Reborn, First Second, YA (medieval story about the friendship between a runaway child and a mysterious witch)
Geraldine McCaughrean, Under a Fire-Red Sky, Usborne, YA (with WWII looming, four young people sit on a train waiting to be evacuated…but instead, they climb out of the carriage and head back home)
Nora Neus, illus. Julie Robine, Renegade Girls, Little, Brown Ink, YA (graphic imagining based on real-life undercover reporter Nell Nelson and photography pioneer Alice Austen)
Ginger Park and Frances Park, illus. Tiffany Chen, Suka’s Farm, Albert Whitman, Age 4-8 (story set in Japanese-occupied Korea in 1941 portrays an unlikely friendship between a hungry child and an old farmer)
Zachary Pullen, Casey Rislov, A Home for Steamboat, Mountain Stars Press, Age 5-7 (inspirational story based on the famous horse Steamboat’s life)
Alice Roberts, Wolf Mountain, Simon & Schuster UK, Age 8-12 (discover the history of our lifetimes in a story of friendship, courage and survival, based on real archaeological discoveries)
Barb Rosenstock, American Spirits: The Famous Fox Sisters, Calkins Creek, YA (a true tale of the 19th-century Fox sisters whose claims to communicate with ghosts launched a spiritualism craze)
Lupe Ruiz-Flores, The Pecan Sheller, Carolrhoda Books, Age 10-14 (in 1930s San Antonio, thirteen-year-old Petra dreams of going to college and becoming a writer)
Leah Schanke, illus. by Oboh Moses, Freedom at Dawn: Robert Small’s Voyage Out of Slavery, Albert Whitman Age 4-8 (true story of one man’s brave plan to free his family from slavery)
Laurie Schneider, Gittel, Fitzroy Books, Age 11+ (the Borensteins and twelve other Jewish families have left behind the deadly pogroms of Eastern Europe only to find life nearly as harsh in 1911 Mill Creek, Wisconsin)
May 2025
María Teresa Andruetto, trans. Elisa Amado, illus. Martina Trach, Clara and the Man with Books in his Window, Greystone Kids, Age 5+ (tale about friendship and about the world available to us when we open a book; set in rural 1920s Argentina)
Taylor Banks, Billions to Burn, Melissa de la Cruz, Age 8-12 (Zeus and his friends uncover long-buried secrets about the Harlem Renaissance, Black history, and Zeus’s own family)
Terry Lee Caruthers, Red and Me, Star Bright Books, Age 8-12 (1930s rural Tennessee; a tale of family, friendship, and the bond between a girl and her dog)
Antonio Farías, In the Company of Wolves, Arte Publico/Piñata, YA (a boy on the cusp of manhood observes the importance of family, respect for the natural world and the impact of war)
Jacqueline Halsey, Joe and the Wreck of the Tribune, Nimbus Children’s, Age 8-12 (inspired by the real 18th-century shipwreck off Halifax Harbour, and the local boy who risked his life to save those on board)
Sandra W. Headen, Roi and Me and the Double V: A WWII Story, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (best friends Marvel and Roi help out on the WWII homefront, as racial injustice threatens their community)
K. M. Huber, Call of the Owl Woman, SparkPress, YA (coming-of-age story set in 6th-century Peru)
Penny Parker Klostermann, illus. by Anne Lambelet, The Spider Lady, Calkins Creek, Age 7-10 (fictional biography of Nan Songer who collected and bred spiders in her home and found new ways to use their silk to help the U.S. win the war)
Torben Kuhlmann, trans. David Henry Wilson, Earhart: The Incredible Flight of a Field Mouse Around the World, NorthSouth, Age 8-12 (illustrations and fictional story inspired by Amelia Earhart encourages young readers to pursue their passions–despite all obstacles)
Kaija Langley, illus. TeMika Grooms, A Century for Caroline, Simon & Schuster BfYR/Denene Millner, Age 4-8 (a great grandma imparts the wisdom gained over her one hundred years to an eager little girl)
Jenny Pearson, Shrapnel Boys, Usborne Publishing, Age 8-12 (novel about the friendship and courage of a group of young boys living through the Second World War)
Padma Prasad Reddeppa, Flying in Colors, Lee & Low, Age 9-13 (multigenerational story set in 1975, Tamil Nadu, South India)
Tomato Soup, A Witch’s Life in Mongol, Yen Press, YA (the story of how a “witch,” wielding knowledge as her only weapon, came to hold the greatest empire in the palm of her hand)
June 2025
Cass Biehn, Vesuvius, Peachtree Teen, YA (historical fantasy set in the days before Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompei. LGBTQ)
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)
Phil Earle, The Dawn of Adonis, Andersen Press, Age 8-12 (twelve-year-old Nettie Beecroft finds herself embroiled in a dangerous rescue attempt where she encounters toshers, bone grubbers and gangsters in 1911 London)
Heather M. Herrman, Lady or the Tiger, Nancy Paulsen, YA (dark anti-hero origin story, starring a teenage killer whose trial in the Wild West is upended when her first victim arrives alive with a story to tell)
Anna James, illus. David Wyatt, Alice With a Why: Chronicles of Whetherwhy, HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Age 9-12 (fantasy series in a war-torn Wonderland, beginning in 1924, when Alyce is sent to live with her grandmother after her father is killed in WWI)
Anna Rose Johnson, The Blossoming Summer, Holiday House, Age 8-12 (when English Rosemary is evacuated to her grandmother in America at the start of World War II, she discovers that her heritage is Anishinaabe passing as white)
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Lady’s Knight, HarperCollins, YA (funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend)
Elizabeth Laird, My Enemy, My Friend, Macmillan Children’s, Age 9-11 (Adam grabs the chance to join the Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem, and Salim is sent to work for a travelling doctor to protect him from a crusader attack on Acre)
Costantia Manoli, illus. Leah Giles, The Fig Tree, Roaring Brook Press, Age 4-8 (war separates two sides of an island, and a solitary tree brings together two children across the divide)
Karen B. McCoy, illus. Lena Mulberg, The Etiquette of Voles, Artemesia Publishing, Age 11-14 (middle grade adventure set in Victorian London)
Neridah McMullin, illus. Astred Hicks, Evie and Rhino, Walker Books AU, Age 8-13 (a young girl with a tragic past and a rhinoceros facing life in captivity form an unlikely bond after a fateful storm and a shipwreck in 1891 bring them together)
Judith McQuoid, Giant, Little Island Books, Age 9-11 (fictionalised exploration of the childhood of C. S. Lewis)
Ross Montgomery, I Am Rebel, Walker US, Age 8-12 (adventure told from a dog’s perspective as he travels across a pseudo-Civil War Britain on his loyal mission)
Shane Peacock, Show, Cormorant, YA (in an alternate 1899, farm boy Solomon Hunt leaves home to seek income for his family, only to stumble into the adventure of a lifetime)
Caroline L. Perry, illus. Jennifer Bricking, The Memory Cake, Holiday House, Age 6-8 (a grandmother shares her experience of growing up in Malta during World War II)
Brooks Whitney Phillips, The Grove, Viking BfYR, YA (coming-of-age novel set in the 1960s, where two sisters in a struggling family only have each other to rely on)
Erica Ridley, The Protégée, Delacorte, YA (dark historical thriller set in mid 19th-century Paris)
Michael P. Spradlin, Threat of the Spider, Margaret K. McElderry, Age 8-12 (a twelve-year-old boy searches for his father and fights for free press amid the chilling rise of Hitler’s Germany)
Lucie Stevens, R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins, Harper Collins AU, Age 9+ (historical ghost story set in 1851, during Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition)
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, trans. by Kristen Gehrman, Daughter of Doom, Levine Querido, YA (Denmark 870; follows the unlikely friendship between Yrsa, the daughter of a Danish helmsman and Sister Job, a nun)
July 2025
David Brayley, George’s Fateful D-Day, Y-Lolfa, YA (teen rugby genius George and young GI and quarterback Oliver, become friends after discovering their shared family bereavements and love of sports)
Eli Brown, Karin Rytter, Mooncussers, Walker Books US, Age 10-14 (dark fantasy set in an alternate American past as war continues to rage between the fledgling Unified States and Napoléon Bonaparte)
Jackie French, The Mushroom in the Sky, HarperCollins AU, YA (French explores the dropping of the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, which ended World War 2)
Eva Ibbotson, A Song for Summer, Picador, YA (Australia, 1937; a love story set in the shadow of gathering war)
S. Isabelle, The Great Misfortune of Stella Sedgwick, Storytide, YA (romance follows a young Black woman in 1860s England who yearns for a writing career and independence rather than love and marriage)
Zohra Nabi, Deep Dark, Simon & Schuster Children’s UK, Age 9-11 (supernatural adventure set in Victorian London; a Cassia Thorne Mystery, book one)
Daniela I. Norris, The King of Montréal, Lodestone, YA (a story of adventure, resilience and mystery, set in 1800, Montréal, Canada)
Karuna Riazi, Sabrena Swept Away, Greenwillow, Age 8-12 (reimagining of One Thousand and One Nights is a tale about fate, choice, and being torn between them)
Toni Runkle, Steve Webb, The Pirate’s Curse: Weight of Souls, Black Rose Writing, YA (16-year-old Bonnie has narrowly saved the Brigands of the Compass Rose from annihilation by Calico Jack Rackham, but her fight is far from over)
Julia Rust and David Surface, Saving Thornwood, Yap Press, YA (in the cemetery at Thornwood Asylum, two girls meet when a door opens between the 19th and 21st centuries)
Al Sirois, Imhotep and the Quest to Kush, Fitzroy Books, YA (sequel to Murder in Mennefer in which challenges and dangers introduced in the first novel ratchet up to more perilous heights)
Jordyn Taylor, The Rebel Girls of Rome, HarperCollins, YA (novel about Lilah, a girl looking to reconnect with her grandfather over his mysterious past during a trip to Rome, and Bruna, a queer Jewish woman who escapes the Nazis in Italy and joins the resistance during World War II)
August 2025
Hailey Alcaraz, Rosa by Any Other Name, Viking BfYR, YA (Romeo and Juliet-inspired retelling set during the civil rights era, where a Mexican American girl is joins a movement for justice after her two friends are murdered)
Claire Andrews, A Beautiful and Terrible Murder, Little, Brown BfYR (historical murder mystery follows Irene Adler as she teams up with Sherlock Holmes to discover who is murdering Oxford’s elite students)
Ryan James Black, The Dark Times of Nimble Nottingham, Nancy Paulsen, Age 10+ (set during World War II, a twelve-year-old orphan accidentally unleashes a shadow monster onto the streets of London)
James Lincoln Collier, After My Brother Sam, Scholastic, Age 9-12 (picks up the story of My Brother Sam Is Dead in another examination of patriotism, family, and what it means to be an American)
Alyssa Colman, Where Only Storms Grow, Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR, Age 8-12 (a hopeful middle grade historical novel set during the Dust Bowl)
Terry Deary, Terrible True Tales: Tudors, Bloomsbury Education, Age 8-12 (a funny collection of Tudor tales based on true stories)
Terry Deary, Terrible True Tales: Vikings, Bloomsbury Education, Age 8-12 (a funny collection of Viking tales based on true stories)
Bea Fitzgerald, A Beautiful Evil, Penguin, YA (a re-imagining of the Pandora myth)
Shana Keller, illus: Laura Freeman, CeeCee: Underground Railroad Cinderella, Charlesbridge, Age 4-8 (Cinderella retelling with a young enslaved girl on a Maryland plantation)
Clara Kumagai, Songs for Ghosts, Tundra, YA (coming-of-age about a boy who becomes obsessed with a diary written by a young woman living in Nagasaki in 1911)
Ruby Lal, illus. Molly Crabapple, Tiger Slayer, Norton YR, YA (story of an ambitious young empress who was the only woman to ever rule the Mughal Empire)
Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land, Levine Querido, Age 8-12 (an adventure in faraway places set against the backdrop of World War II)
Catherine L. Osornio, Danger on Martin Mountain, Jolly Fish, Age 7-9 (a 15-year-old girl whose friend is accused of sabotaging the WW II wartime effort in her Arizona community, must face Nazi prisoners and spies to prove her friend’s innocence)
Uri Shulevitz, author and illustrator, The Sky Was My Blanket, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (BYR), Age 10-14 (true story of a young Polish exile fighting to survive in war-torn Europe)
Lauren Stringer, author and illustrator, An Abundance of Light, Beach Lane, Age 4-8 (Henri Matisse searches for light and inspiration in Morocco in the year 1912)
Andrew Varga, The Spartan Sacrifice, Imbrifex Books, YA (fourth book in which Dan and partner Sam jump through time, this time to ancient Greet on the eve of the Battle of Thermopylae)
Andrea Wang, Youa Vang, Worthy: The Brave and Capable Life of Joseph Pierce, Levine Querido, Age 4-6 (picture book story of a boy who was sold by his father in mid 19th-century, and adopted into a family in America)
Anna Woltz, trans. Michelle Hutchinson, The Tunnel, Rock the Boat (four teenagers meet in September 1940, deep in the tunnels of the London Underground)
Evelyn Wong, illus. Sarah Ang, Reach for the Sky, Plumleaf Press, Age 5-9 (in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, Robert and Tommy built a single-seat plane during the Great Depression)
September 2025
María Dolores Águila, A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez, Roaring Brook Press, Age 8-12 (San Diego, 1931; based on a true story, novel in verse about one young child’s courage to stand up for what is right, and the determination of the Mexican community)
Sufiya Ahmed, Under Fire, Bloomsbury Education (a WW2 adventure featuring a brave and determined preteen who uncovers injustice and secret messages)
Kathleen S. Allen, The Resurrectionist, Roaring Brook Press, YA (a young Victorian woman unwittingly unleashes a monster into being in this gothic tale of mystery and suspense)
Derrick Barnes, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze, Viking BfYR, Age 10-12 (spanning the 1800s to today, a story of America’s obsession with relegating Black people to labor or entertainment)
Julie Berry, If Looks Could Kill, Simon & Schuster BfYR, YA (true crime-turned mythic odyssey pits Jack the Ripper against Medusa in 1888 London)
Ann Brashares, & Ben Brashares, Into the Fire, Simon & Schuster BfYR, Age 8-12 (second book in the Westfallen trilogy that asks what present-day America would be like if Germany had won World War II)
J. Anderson Coats, The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls, Atheneum BfYR, Age 10+ (Colorado, 1910; novel about self-determination, community, and what it means to belong)
Sam Cooke, illus. Nikkolas Smith, A Change Is Gonna Come, Little Bee, Age 4-8 (written as an ode to the struggles of Black Americans living under Jim Crow, “A Change Is Gonna Come” became a rallying cry for justice and equality)
Katherine Corr and Elizabeth Corr, Daughter of the Underworld, Candlewick, YA (feminist story set in ancient Greece and inspired by the often cruel and bloodthirsty legends of Greek gods)
Angelica Del Campo, illus. Liniers, The Ghost of Wreckers Cove, Papercutz, Age 7-12 (ghost story recreates the world of 19th century lighthouse keepers, inspired by the real-life story of a young woman who tended an isolated Maine lighthouse)
Louise Erdrich, author and illustrator, The Bone Tribe, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (book about Anak, as she grapples with the devastating effects of the near extinction of the buffalo population while navigating her identity. Birchbark House, book 6)
Karina Yan Glaser, The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli, Allida, Age 8-12 (dual stories of two young people—one in 731 China, and one in 1931 Chinatown—on perilous journeys to save their families)
Alan Gratz, illus. Syd Fini, Refugee: The Graphic Novel, Graphix, Age 9-12 (a graphic format edition of the 2017 novel, set in 1930, 1994 and 2015)
Nat Harrison, The Girl Who Raced the World, Piccadilly Press, Age 9-12 (a timeless adventure of travel, treachery and trust, set in 1872, with a nod to Around the World in Eighty days)
Michelle Kadarusman, Seabird, Pajama Press, Age 8-12 (a story of resilience, friendship, and fighting for change inspired by the true story of a nineteenth century feminist)
Shafaq Khan, Zeyna Lost and Found, Carolrhoda, Age 9-13 (follows 12-year-old Zeyna as she searches for her parents who have gone missing in 1970 Pakistan)
Tami Lehman-Wilzig, illus. Anita Barghigiani, Rembrandt’s Blessing, Kar-Ben, Age 5-9 (story inspired by the friendship between Rembrandt and Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel)
Erica Lyons, illus. Bonnie Pang, Lily’s Hong Kong Honey Cake, Apples & Honey, Age 4-6 (based on the history of Jewish refugees in Asia and spanning multiple years during World War II)
K.G. Mach, Present, Still Missing, Golden Bridges, YA (in this post-WWII story, one girl must find the courage to help her father heal from the invisible wounds of war)
Andy Marino, Escape from the USS Indianapolis, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (high stakes adventure when the USS Indianapolis is struck by a torpedo)
Carol Matas, A Storm Unleashed, Scholastic Canada, Age 9-12 (a hopeful tale about a girl and her dog set in World War 2)
Daniel Miyares, How To Say Goodbye in Cuban, Anne Schwartz Books, Age 8-12 (coming-of-age graphic novel of 12-year-old Carlos, his life during the Cuban Revolution, and his family’s escape to America)
Abdi Nazemian, Exquisite Things, HarperCollins, YA (spanning one hundred and thirty years of love and longing, this tale of immortal beloveds is a celebration of queer love and community)
James Patterson, Tad Safran, The Time Travel Twins: The Pharaoh’s Tomb, jimmy Patterson, Age 8-12 (the time-traveling twins chase time’s greatest villain to Ancient Egypt)
Anita Fitch Pazner, illus. Sophie Casson, Words Matter, House of Anansi/Groundwood, Age 9-12 (relating the story of Hans and Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Resistance, a student group that produced and covertly distributed anti-Nazi pamphlets during World War II)
Patricia Santana, Yoli’s Favorite Things, Margaret Ferguson, Age 9-12 (family story set against a historical backdrop of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement)
Julie A. Swanson, North of Tomboy, SparkPress, Age 8-12 (novel set in 1973 about a child who feels more boy than girl and is frustrated that people act blind to that)
SD Youngwolf, illus. Shonto Begay, The Echo People, Lee & Low, Age 4-6 (thought-provoking Indigenous picture book about the ways we create our own realities through words and actions)
October 2025
Caroline Adderson, illus. Lauren Tamaki, A Pond, a Poet and Three Pests, Groundwood, Age 4-6 (inspired by one of Japan’s most famous haikus, Bashō, a 17th-century poet takes an evening walk)
Kate Blair, We Bury Nothing, Cormorant/DCB, YA (dual timeline novel set in 1943 and present day)
Candy Gourlay, Wild Song, CarolRhoda, YA (in 1904, Luki, who has lived a tribal life in the mountains of the Philippines isn’t ready to give up her dream of becoming a hunter)
Alan Gratz, War Games, Scholastic Press, Age 9-12 (a high-stakes take on the 1936 Berlin Olympics, also known as the “Nazi Olympics”)
Carol Heilman, Becoming Hattie Mae, Black Rose Writing, YA (Appalachia, 1929; a young mountain girl wants to escape her birthplace during the Great Depression era)
Karen McCombie, My Family the Enemy, Bloomsbury Education, Age 8-12 (based on historical events in London, 1914, this tale is perfect to explore themes of refuge, kindness and empathy)
Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, The Nazi Conspiracy, Scholastic Focus, Age 8-12 (young readers edition, subtitled The Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill)
Qurratulayn Muhammad, Blood and Breath, Page Street, YA (Jazz Age fantasy tale of a Black girl who makes a deal with the devil)
Na’kuset and Judith Henderson, illus. Onedove, I Am My Name, Knopf BfYR, Age 6-9 (autobiographical picture book about Cree activist Na’kuset’s life as a young girl taken from her home during the 1960s)
Sean O’Brien, illus. Karyn Lee, White House Clubhouse: White House Undercover, Norton YR, Age 8-12 (following First Daughters Marissa and Clara as they travel through time and solve a mystery at the heart of Depression-era Washington. Next in series)
Martin Seneviratne and Krystal Sutherland, Time Lions and the Chrono-Loop, Picadilly Press, Age 9+ (a funny time-travel adventure with twelve-year-old twins Pearl and Patrick who know everything about every historical period)
Colby Cedar Smith, The Siren and the Star, Simon & Schuster BfYR, YA (a promising young singer recovers from a traumatic experience by traveling to Venice and connecting with the work of a 17th-century female composer)
November 2025
Finbar Hawkins, Ghost, Zephyr (something calls across the centuries to three girls drawn together to lay to rest an ancient evil in the woods)
Hayley Kiyoko, Where There’s Room for Us, Wednesday Books, YA (sapphic Regency romance)
Kendall Kulper, A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow, Holiday House, YA (in which a gifted girl and a runaway accidentally set off the apocalypse at Chicago’s 1934 World’s Fair and find themselves falling back in time to 1893)
Morgan H. Owen, Gladiator, Goddess, Gallery YR, YA (sapphic romantasy set in ancient Rome featuring Gia who dreams of being a female Gladiator)
Tirzah Price, A Matter of Murder, Storytide, YA (follows Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy from the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries series)
Andrea Shapiro, illus. Valerya Milovanova, A Place Called Galveston, Apples & Honey, Age 6-8 (poetic picture book tells the stories of the immigrants who came through the port of Galveston, Texas in early 20th-c)
John Spray, illus. Scot Ritchie, Lucky Dog Comes Home, Pajama Press, Age 5-8 (story of one man, and a few dogs, who have the power to bring joy back to a grieving community after WWII)
Ali Standish, The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall: The Valley of Lies, HarperCollins, Age 8-12 (in this third installment, Arthur has made it into the esteemed Circle of Light and Professor Sherlock Holmes believes he has tremendous talent)
December 2025
MJ Pankey, Messenger of Truth: Book 1: The River of Truth, Muse and Quill, Age 8-12 (Iris is tasked with helping to solve a mystery whereby she must go to the dark and dangerous Underworld)
Jewell Parker Rhodes, illus. Setor Fiadzigbey, Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel, Little, Brown Ink, YA (graphic adaptation of 2019 novel where a 12-year-old who is shot by police meets Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances)
Lauren Tarshis, I Survived the Dust Bowl, 1935, Scholastic, Age 8-12 (story of one boy’s journey to survive the conditions of the Dust Bowl)
