Book picks similar to
The Locket of Dreams by Belinda Murrell


historical-fiction
fantasy
time-travel
young-adult

Playing Beatie Bow


Ruth Park - 1980
    Distraught over her parents' separation, Abigail follows a strange child called Beatie Bow and time slips back a hundred years where she becomes involved with an Australian shopkeeper's family.

Tom's Midnight Garden


Philippa Pearce - 1958
    What a boring summer it's going to be. But then, lying in bed one night, he hears the old grandfather clock in the hall strike the very strange hour of 13 o'clock. What can it mean? As Tom creeps downstairs and opens the door, he finds out...a magical garden, a new playmate, and the adventure of a lifetime. Una Stubbs stars as Aunt Gwen in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation.© and (P)1999 BBC Audiobooks LTD2 h 16 min

The Silver Donkey


Sonya Hartnett - 2004
    Soon the care of the soldier becomes the girls' preoccupation, but it's not just the secret they share that emboldens them to steal food and other comforting items for the man. They are fascinated by what he holds in his hand — a tiny silver donkey. As the girls and their brother devise a plan for the soldier's safe passage home, he repays them by telling four wondrous tales about the humble donkey — from the legend of Bethlehem to a myth of India, from a story of rescue in war to a tale of family close to the soldier's heart. Sonya Hartnett explores rich new territory in this inspiring tale of kindness, loyalty, and courage.

Black Beauty


Anna Sewell - 1877
    But when circumstances change, he learns that not all humans are so kind. Passed from hand to hand, Black Beauty witnesses love and cruelty, wealth and poverty, friendship and hardship . . . Will the handsome horse ever find a happy and lasting home? Carefully retold in clear contemporary language, and presented with delightful illustrations, these favorite classic stories capture the heart and imagination of young readers. By retelling the story in a shorter, simpler form, these books become highly engaging for children, and the color illustrations help with both comprehension and interest level. Black Beauty is part of a collectible series that has strong gift appeal.

Crow Country


Kate Constable - 2011
    The game, the story, the riddle, hiding and seeking. Crow comes from this place; this place comes from Crow. And Crow has work for you.Sadie isn't thrilled when her mother drags her from the city to live in the country town of Boort. But soon she starts making connections—with the country, with the past, with two boys, Lachie and Walter, and, most surprisingly, with the ever-present crows. When Sadie is tumbled back in time to view a terrible crime, she is pulled into a strange mystery. Can Sadie, Walter, and Lachie figure out a way to right old wrongs, or will they be condemned to repeat them? A fantasy ground in mythology, this novel has the backing of a full consultative process on the use of indigenous lore.

War Horse


Michael Morpurgo - 1982
    With his officer, he charges toward the enemy, witnessing the horror of the battles in France. But even in the desolation of the trenches, Joey's courage touches the soldiers around him and he is able to find warmth and hope. But his heart aches for Albert, the farmer's son he left behind. Will he ever see his true master again?

The Portal


Kathryn Lasky - 2019
    But one night, she sees a strange light glowing from within it. She climbs a ladder to investigate . . . and finds herself transported back four hundred years to Hatfield Palace, where she becomes servant and confidante of the banished princess Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII. Rose soon discovers something else surprising—a locket with two mysterious images inside it, both of them clues to her own past.Could her grandmother’s greenhouse portal offer answers to the mysteries of her family . . . and their secrets? And how will she ever unravel them all?

Once


Morris Gleitzman - 2005
    At least Once.Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.Once I made a Nazi with a toothache laugh.My name is Felix. This is my story.Once is the first in a series of children's novels about Felix, a Jewish orphan caught in the middle of the Holocaust, from Australian author Morris Gleitzman - author of Bumface and Boy Overboard. The next books in the series Then, Now and After are also available from Puffin.

Moondial


Helen Cresswell - 1987
    Or is it a haunting? Minty believes she is a witch - not the type you would notice ordinarily - - she appears to be like anyone else but is quite used to seeing phantoms floating about the place, and thinks it is perfectly normal. Minty is very determined as well, which is just as important because when she goes to stay with her aunt in the village of Belton she soon realizes that she has a task to do. . .

Wolf Brother


Michelle Paver - 2004
    Evil stalks the land. Only twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf-cub companion can defeat it. Their journey together takes them through deep forests, across giant glaciers, and into dangers they never imagined. In this page-turning, original, and spectacularly told adventure story, Torak and Wolf are joined by an incredible cast of characters as they battle to save their world, in this first book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.

The Book of Boy


Catherine Gilbert Murdock - 2018
    With a large hump on his back, a mysterious past, and a tendency to talk to animals, he is often mocked and abused by the other kids in his town. Until the arrival of a shadowy pilgrim named Secondus. Impressed with Boy’s climbing and jumping abilities, Secondus engages Boy as his servant, pulling him into an expedition across Europe to gather the seven precious relics of Saint Peter. Boy quickly realizes this journey is not an innocent one. They are stealing the relics, and gaining dangerous enemies in the process. But Boy is determined to see this pilgrimage through until the end—for what if St. Peter can make Boy’s hump go away?This compelling, action-packed tale is full of bravery and daring, stars a terrific cast of secondary characters, and features an unlikely multigenerational friendship at its heart. Memorable and haunting, Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s epic medieval adventure is just right for readers of Sara Pennypacker’s Pax, Adam Gidwitz’s The Inquisitor’s Tale, and Pam Muñoz Ryan’s Echo.Features a map and black-and-white art throughout.

Time Cat


Lloyd Alexander - 1963
    For one thing, he can talk. For another, he's got the power to travel through time. And the instant he tells this to Jason, the two of them are in ancient Egypt, on the first of nine amazing adventures that Jason will never forget.

The Night They Stormed Eureka


Jackie French - 2009
    and an unlikely friendship across timeIt's 1854, and the Ballarat goldfields are a place of dreams and rebellion as Sam, a homeless teenager, is called back to the past to join the Puddlehams, who run 'the best little cook shop on the diggings'.The Puddlehams dream of buying a hotel with velvet seats, while others dream of freedom from the British crown, away from the rule of wealthy landowners and corrupt officials.As the summer days get hotter, and the miners' protests are ignored with catastrophic results, Sam experiences first-hand the power of a united stand which will change her life forever.PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH'Jackie French is excellent at telling history in an exciting way for children' - Burke's Backyard

A Handful of Time


Kit Pearson - 1987
    She doesn't know her cousins at all, and she's never been good at camping or canoeing, let alone making new friends. When she arrives at the cottage, her worst fears come true: her cousin Kelly teases her; Aunt Ginnie and Uncle Doug feel sorry for her. She doesn't fit in. Then Patricia discovers an old watch hidden under a floorboard. When she winds it, she finds herself taken back in time to the summer when her own mother was twelve.

A Mutiny in Time


James Dashner - 2012
    Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!