The Secret Journey


Peg Kehret - 1999
    In 1834 when a storm at sea destroys the slave ship on which she is a stowaway, twelve-year-old Emma musters all her resourcefulness to survive in the African jungle.

Nory Ryan's Song


Patricia Reilly Giff - 2000
    Every year Nory's father goes away on a fishing boat and returns with the rent money for the English lord who owns their cottage and fields, the English lord bent upon forcing the Irish from their land so he can tumble the cottages and clear the fields for grazing. Times are never easy on Maidin Bay, but this year, a terrible blight attacks the potatoes. No crop means starvation. Twelve-year-old Nory must summon the courage and ingenuity to find food, to find hope, to find a way to help her family survive.From the Hardcover edition.

The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery


Sarah Masters Buckey - 2005
    Is it the curse - or is something else scaring the residents from Ravenscourt?

Shades of Gray


Carolyn Reeder - 1989
    How could they have, when the Yankees were responsible for the deaths of everyone in his entire immediate family?And now Will has to leave his comfortable home in the Shenandoah Valley and live with relatives he has never met, people struggling to eke out a living on their farm in the war-torn Virginia Piedmont. But the worst of it is that Will's uncle Jed had refused to fight for the Confederacy.At first, Will regards his uncle as a traitor — or at least a coward. But as they work side by side, Will begins to respect the man. And when he sees his uncle stand up for what he believes in, Will realizes that he must rethink his definition of honor and courage.

Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess


Hilary McKay - 2009
    But Sara is much missed - and most acutely by best friend Ermengarde, who laments that 'nothing is the same as it was before'. But life must go on at Miss Minchin's as new friendships are made, rivalries continued, lessons learned and, most importantly, fairytale endings are had.

Listening for Lions


Gloria Whelan - 2005
    But when influenza strikes down her missionary parents, she is left vulnerable prey to her family's wicked neighbors. Surrounded by greed and lies, Rachel is entangled in a criminal scheme and sent to England, where she is forced into a life of deception. Like the lion, she must be patient and strong, awaiting the moment when she can take control of her own fate—and find her way home again at last.

Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490


Edwidge Danticat - 2005
    Queen Anacaona was the wife of one of her island's rulers, and a composer of songs and poems, making her popular among her people. Haiti was relatively quiet until the Spanish conquistadors discovered the island and began to settle there in 1492. The Spaniards treated the natives very cruelly, and when the natives revolted, the Spanish governor of Haiti ordered the arrests of several native nobles, including Anacaona, who was eventually captured and executed, to the horror of her people.

One Came Home


Amy Timberlake - 2013
    And when the sheriff returns to town with an unidentifiable body—wearing Agatha's blue-green ball gown—everyone assumes the worst. Except Georgie. Refusing to believe the facts that are laid down (and coffined) before her, Georgie sets out on a journey to find her sister. She will track every last clue and shred of evidence to bring Agatha home. Yet even with resolute determination and her trusty Springfield single-shot, Georgie is not prepared for what she faces on the western frontier.From the Hardcover edition.

Assassin


Grace Cavendish - 2004
    Narrator Lady Grace, 13, youngest lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, chooses between three suitors at a glittering ball. But murder descends on the Tudor court. Grace must use her intelligence, stealth, curious nature, and best friends - laundrymaid Ellie, acrobat Masou - to solve the threat to their Queen.

Calico Captive


Elizabeth George Speare - 1957
    Young Miriam Willard, on a day that had promised new happiness, finds herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War. It is a harrowing march north. Miriam can only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy stream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waits a life of hard work and, perhaps, even a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, her sweetheart on his way to Harvard, is the crying of her sister’s baby, Captive, born on the trail. Miriam and her companions finally reach Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war, and here, by a sudden twist of fortune, Miriam meets the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduce her to a life she has never imagined. Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully reenacts an absorbing facet of history.

Freedom Crossing


Margaret Goff Clark - 1980
    When a friend brings a runaway slave, Martin, to the house while her father and stepmother are away, Laura must decide what she believes -- and whether she should help Martin escape.

The Storm Before Atlanta


Karen Schwabach - 2010
    Jeremy DeGroot wants nothing more than to join a troop as a drummer boy. For Dulcie, a runaway slave, freedom means she must head directly toward the fighting in the hopes that she'll become "contraband," that is, property of the Union troops. Both Jeremy and Dulcie find a place with the 107th New York Volunteer Regiment and even start to forge a friendship. But all that is threatened when they keep crossing paths with the mysterious Charlie, a young Confederate soldier, who may look like the enemy but feels more like a friend. Young readers who like their fiction filled with exciting historical details, rich characters, and action-packed adventures will be drawn to The Storm Before Atlanta.

The Last Treasure


Janet S. Anderson - 2003
    That's all Ellsworth thought he wanted. But then the dreams start. Dreams of houses surrounding a beautiful green square. Suddenly a letter arrives, inviting Ellsworth to a home he doesn't remember: the Square in Smith Mills, New York. A home with a hidden treasure only a child can uncover, the last treasure of John Matthew Smith, the family's eccentric patriarch. But there are other things hidden in the Square. Can Ellsworth set these ghosts to rest and uncover the family's last treasure, or will the secrets of the past haunt him forever?

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman


Brian Jacques - 2001
    Their travels lead them to Chapelvale, a sleepy nineteenth century village whose existence is at stake. Only by discovering the buried secrets and solving the dust-laden riddles of the ancient village can it be saved.

The Gypsy Crown


Kate Forsyth - 2007
    The missing book is The Cat's Eye Shell (The Chain of Charms #4)Emilia Finch and her cousin Luka are gypsies. For them, that means they live a strongly traditional life, rich with story, music, dance, and magic, governed by the laws of the clan and the ways of the road. To the repressive Puritanical government of 17th century England, however, the gypsies are thieving, fortune-telling vagrants who are most likely allies of the devil. While the Finches have managed to steer clear of trouble, it finds them when they decide to raise dowry money for one of their daughters, by performing in Kingston square one ill-fated market day. A series of terrible events lands the family in jail, charged with murder. Only Emilia and Luka manage to escape, promising to bring back help and free them.The only problem is -- how? Emilia believes in the legend of the charms: it is said that the luck of the Rom has turned sour ever since a long-ago gypsy matriarch broke her chain of charms, giving one charm to each of her five children. Since then, the gypsies have been persecuted and the families have dispersed. If they can gather the charms from the families, Emilia thinks, the strong magic of the Rom will somehow bring her family freedom. Luka, on the other hand, is more practical â�� he wants to enlist the help of the other clans to help the Finches escape.Emilia and Luka must race through the countryside, navigating a hornets' nest of Rom-hating Puritans, Royalist spies, and traitors, if they are to complete their quest before the magistrate delivers a death sentenceâ�¦