Historical Literature For Teens

Rose has been appointed as a healer’s apprentice at Hagenheim Castle, a rare opportunity for a woodcutter’s daughter like her. While she often feels uneasy at the sight of blood, Rose is determined to prove herself capable. Failure will mean returning home to marry the aging bachelor her mother has chosen for her. When Lord Hamlin, the future duke, is injured, it is Rose who must tend to him. As she works to heal his wound, she begins to understand emotions she’s never felt before and wonders if he feels the same.

Strange things happen when Ian Frost is sent to live with his Uncle Gary, who resides beside a lake in Maine. His uncle hides a secret. He takes mysterious solo canoe trips at night. He collects canoes, paddles, and weapons. Rumors fly around town about bad things Uncle Gary did in Vietnam and the secrets hidden in his enormous barn. When Ian finds himself trapped in his uncle’s violent past, he must face his own demons if he hopes to escape.

Now well into her apprenticeship with magician Emery Thane, 20-year-old Ceony Twill is continuing to discover the joy of paper magic. She adores bringing her spells to life in surprising ways, from learning the power of distortion to creating a beloved paper dog. And she secretly hopes that the romance she foresaw blossoming between her and the peculiar yet strikingly handsome Emery finally becomes real.

In this dual-narrative tale, a teenage American army private and an Afghan boy living under the horrors of the Taliban, caught on separate sides of the world during the tumultuous times leading up to and following 9/11, come to discover how much more they have in common than they ever could have imagined.

Bone Criers are the last descendants of an ancient famille charged with using the magic they draw from animal bones to shepherd the dead into the afterlife - lest they drain the light from the living. Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become their matriarch, but first she must complete her rite of passage: to kill the boy she’s destined to love. Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier, and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Now, his vengeance must wait, as Ailesse’s ritual has begun and their fates are entwined - in life and in death.

Ailesse and her friends change the afterlife in the gripping conclusion to the fantasy duology that began with Bone Crier’s Moon from New York Times best-selling author Kathryn Purdie - perfect for fans of Stephanie Garber and Roshani Chokshi.

The summer that Patty Bergen turns twelve is a summer that will haunt her forever. When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, Patty learns what it means to open her heart. Even though she’s Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi, but as a lonely, frightened young man. As their gentle friendship blossoms, Patty experiences a kind of love she never felt from her abusive father or her distant mother.

Twelve-year-old Samuel Collier is a lowly commoner on the streets of London. So when he becomes the page of Captain John Smith and boards the Susan Constant, bound for the New World, he can’t believe his good fortune. He’s heard that gold washes ashore with every tide. But beginning with the stormy journey and his first contact with the native people, he realizes that the New World is nothing like he imagined. The lush Virginia shore where they establish the colony of James Town is both beautiful and forbidding, and it’s hard to know who’s a friend or foe.

Following his good fortune in Pazzio, Lawrence is confident that he is on the path to realizing his dream of becoming a town merchant. One ill-informed business decision, though, leaves him teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and ruin! With no assets to his name - other than the cunning of his fetching traveling companion, Holo the Wisewolf - Lawrence may need to resort to illicit means to put his affairs in order.

For two summers Torak and Renn have been living in the Forest with their faithful pack-brother, Wolf. But their happiness is shattered when Renn realises Torak is in danger – and she's the threat. When she mysteriously disappears, Torak and Wolf brave the Far North to find her. At the mercy of the Sea Mother and haunted by ravenous ice bears, their quest leads them to the Edge of the World. There they must face an enemy more evil than any they've encountered.

When Laura meets a French exchange student, Leon, she is flattered by his interest in her. She's never had any sort of boyfriend before. One night, Leon walks Laura home and her life will never be the same again. Things start to change for Laura and she doesn't even know how it could have happened. When her family learns her secret, they are horrified. Sent away to save them from shame, Laura meets girls just like herself, whose families have given up on them - and they become a family for each other at the most difficult time in all their lives.

Gwen's life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she's been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean. At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party.

The Complete Trilogy: Join Tessa, Ash, and Calder on an epic journey in these award-winning YA fantasy novels. In Book 1, Dreadmarrow, sixteen-year-old Tessa Skye, a locksmith’s apprentice, loves to shapeshift into a sparrow using a windrider—a forbidden magical amulet. During one of her outings, she accidentally reveals herself to the Conjurer Lord Fellstone.

It’s 1926, and reapers are growing stronger everywhere. Created centuries ago by cruel medical experiments, these once-human vampires are driven to attack without mercy. Those who protect the city from them hold more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. As the reluctant heir to her father’s reaper-hunting empire, Elise Saint knows that the Harlem reapers want her dead. Among them is Layla Quinn, who lost her parents, the protection of the Saints, and her humanity the night she was turned into a reaper. And she’ll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her.

The touching story of a young, mortally ill priest who spends his last days working among the Kwakiutl Indians of British Columbia.

When a dastardly Pickleman plot comes to fruition, only Sophronia can save her friends, her school, and all of London...but at what cost? Our proper young heroine puts her training and skills to the test in this highly anticipated conclusion of the rousing, intriguing, and always polished New York Times best-selling Finishing School series!

Something dark and evil has awakened.... Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City - and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It's 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far.

Judea has always been the crossroads and battlefield of contending nations. It is no less so in this biblical time of the Judges. Uriah Tarhund's Hittite home is destroyed by invading Greeks. His dying father tells him to go south to seek a Canaanite named Sisera. When he saves a young boy from being sacrificed to Moloch, he is given succor for a time by the Hebrews. Later, he finds Sisera and joins him in war against these same people. When the Canaanites are defeated, the young Hittite has the opportunity to come to peace with himself, the Hebrew people, and their God.

Karen Cushman's Newbery Honor-winning book tells the story of a medieval girl who works to avoid the marriage her father has arranged for her during her 14th year. Contained in this program is Catherine's diary - Catherine, called Little Bird or Birdy, daughter of Rollo and the lady Aislinn, sister to Thomas, Edward, and the abominable Robert. Against a vivid backdrop of everyday life on a medieval English manor, Catherine's earthy, spirited account of her fourteenth year is a richly entertaining story with an utterly unforgettable heroine.

Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, little six-year-old Peekay learns that small can beat big. Armed with this knowledge, he resolves to take on the injustices of his country, and sets his heart on becoming the welterweight champion of the world. Peekay starts to take boxing lessons, makes new friends, collects cacti, and plays the piano. Above all, he learns to think with his head and then with his heart. Peekay discovers that nothing can defeat the determination to be true to yourself: This is the power of one.