MGPL Webrary® - Historical Fiction (Non-U.S) Booklist

H i s t o r i c a l F i c t i o n ( N o n - U . S )
B o o k l i s t

World History
MAN, PREHISTORIC
Cowley, Marjorie.: Anooka's Answer. 1998. While living in a river valley in southern France during the Upper Paleolithic era, thirteen-year-old Anooka rejects the ways of her clan and sets out to make another kind of life for herself. Companion to: Dar and the spear-thrower.
Dickinson, Peter.: The Kin. 2003. Two hundred thousand years ago in Africa, Suth, Noli, Ko, and Mana share their experiences after being taken from their families and people, and placed in entirely new surroundings by strangers with expectations to survive.; Noli's Story. 1998. After she and Suth rescue four small children following an attack on Good Place about 200,000 years ago, Noli heeds the warnings of Moonhawk and leads the group to safety. Sequel to "Suth's story."
MIDDLE AGES
Love, D. Anne.: The Puppeteer's Apprentice. 2003. A medieval orphan girl called Mouse gains the courage she needs to follow her dreams of becoming a puppeteer's apprentice.
Williams, Laura.: The Executioner's Daughter. 2000. Thirteen-year-old Lily, daughter of the town's executioner living in fifteenth-century Europe, decides whether to fight against her destiny or to rise above her fate.
Yolen, Jane.: Sword of the Rightful. 2003. Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England--pulling a sword from a stone--but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first.
AFGANISTAN
Ellis, Deborah.: Parvana's Journey. 2002. After her father dies, twelve-year-old Parvana is left to fend for herself and so, dressed as a boy and accompanied by other children on the run, must find a way to locate her remaining family inside war-torn Afghanistan.
BRAZIL
Ibbotson, Eva.: Journey to the River Sea. 2003. Sent with her governess to live with her dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River.
CANADA
Matas, Carol.: Sparks Fly Upward. 2002. In 1910, when a family of Russian Jews moves from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg, Canada, twelve-year-old Rebecca must live with Christians temporarily and struggles with anti-Semitism, confusion about God, and changing relationships with family and friends.
Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk.: Silver Threads. 2004. Anna and Ivan, two young newlyweds, escape poverty and hardship in Ukraine to start a new life on the North American frontier. As they struggle to build their homestead, World War I breaks out. And when Ivan volunteers to fight for his new homeland, tragedy strikes. Ivan is taken prisoner.
CENTRAL AMERICA
Cameron, Ann.: Colibri. 2005. Kidnapped when she was very young by an unscrupulous man who has forced her to lie and beg to get money, a twelve-year-old Mayan girl endures an abusive life, always wishing she could return to the parents she can hardly remember.
CHINA
Chen, Da.: Wandering Warrior. 2003. Eleven-year-old Luka, destined to become the future emperor of China, is trained in the ways of the kung fu wandering warriors by the wise monk Atami.
Fritz, Jean.: Homesick, My Own Story. 1987. The author's fictionalized version, though all the events are true, of her childhood in China in the 1920's.
McCaughrean, Geraldine.: The Kite Rider. 2002. In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.
Yep, Laurence.: Lady of Chiao Kuo:Warrior of the South. 2001. In 531 A.D., a fifteen-year-old princess of the Hsien tribe in southern China keeps a diary which describes her role as liaison between her own people and the local Chinese colonists, in times of both peace and war.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Isaacs, Ann.: Torn Thread. 2000. In an attempt to save his daughter's life, Eva's father sends her from Poland to a labor camp in Czechoslovakia, where she and her sister survive the war.
Kanefield, Teri.: Rivka's Way. 2001. Unsure about her upcoming marriage and eager to see what lies beyond the walls of Prague's Jewish quarter in 1778, fifteen-year-old Rivka Lieberman takes great risks to venture outside, where her many new experiences include friendship with a Christian boy.
Winter, Kathryn.: Katarina: a Novel. During World War II in Slovakia, a young Jewish girl in hiding becomes a devout Catholic and is sustained by her belief that she will return home to her family as soon as the war ends.
DENMARK
Lowry, Lois.: Number the Stars. In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, 10-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Alvarez, Julia.: Before We Were Free. In the early 1960s in the Dominican Republic, twelve-year-old Anita learns that her family is involved in the underground movement to end the bloody rule of the dictator, General Trujillo.
EGYPT AND MIDDLE EAST, ANCIENT
Gormley, Beatrice.: Miriam. While living in Pharoah's palace in ancient Egypt, Miriam, the sister of Moses in the Hebrew scriptures, struggles to remain loyal to her people and her God.
Gregory, Kristiana.: Cleopatra VII. While her father is hiding after attempts on his life, twelve-year-old Cleopatra records in her diary how she fears for her own safety and hopes to survive to become Queen of Egypt some day. Royal Diaries series.
McCaughreen, Geraldine.: Casting the God Adrift. Tutmose, an apprentice sculptor, and his nearly-blind brother, Ibrim, an apprentice musician, are content at the court of Pharoah Akhenaten, but their father rages against Pharoah's rejection of traditional Egyptian gods and plots a deadly revenge.; The Wadjet Eye. After his mother dies, Damon, a young medical student living in Alexandria, Egypt, in 45 B.C., makes a perilous journey to Spain to locate his father, who is serving in the Roman army led by Julius Caesar.
Wilson, Diane Lee.: To Ride the God's Own Stallion. After being taken as a slave to Nineveh, thirteen-year-old Soulai finds his life intertwined with that of the son of King Ashurbanipal and a magnificent stallion and gets a chance to prove to himself and others that he is not a coward.
ENGLAND
Blackwood, Gary.: Shakespeare's Scribe. In plague-ridden 1602 England, a fifteen-year-old orphan boy, who has become an apprentice actor, goes on the road with Shakespeare's troupe and finds out more about his parents along the way.
Branford, Henrietta.: Fire, Bed & Bone. In 1381 in England, a hunting dog recounts what happens to his beloved master Rufus and his family when they are arrested on suspicion of being part of the peasants' rebellion led by Wat Tyler and the preacher John Ball.
Burgess, Melvin.: The Copper Treasure. In mid-nineteenth-century London, three young boys try to retrieve a valuable roll of copper from the bottom of the Thames River.
Cheaney, J.B.: The Playmaker. While working as an apprentice in a London theater company in 1597, fourteen-year-old Richard uncovers a mystery involving the disappearance of his father and a traitorous plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth.; The True Prince. Newly apprenticed to Shakespeare's theater company, Richard and Kit are drawn into a series of of crimes involving members of Queen Elizabeth's court.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin.: The Seeing Stone. In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gives him a magical seeing stone which shows him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to have many parallels to his own. (Arthur Trilogy Series, Bk. #1).
Curry, Jane Louise.: The Black Canary. As the child of two musicians, twelve-year-old James has no interest in music until he discovers a portal to seventeenth-century London in his uncle's basement, and finds himself in a situation where his beautiful voice and the fact that he is biracial might serve him well.
Cushman, Karen.: Catherine, Called Birdy. The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longings for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.; Matilda Bone. Fourteen-year-old Matilda, an apprentice bonesetter and practitioner of medicine in a village in medieval England, tries to reconcile the various aspects of her life, both spiritual and practical.; The Midwife's Apprentice. In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife and, in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world. (Newbery Award)
De Angeli, M.: The Door in the Wall. Crippled Robin proves his courage in plague-ridden 14th century London. (Newbery Award)
Gray, Elizabeth.: Adam of the Road. 11-year-old Adam has many adventures in 13th century England when his minstral father disappears and his dog Nick, is stolen. (Newbery Award)
Haahr, Berit.: The Minstrel's Tale. When betrothed to a repulsive old man, thirteen-year-old Judith runs away, assumes the identity of a young boy, and hopes to join the King's Minstrels in fourteenth-century England.
Hesse, Karen.: Stowaway. A fictionalized journal relates the experiences of a young stowaway from 1768 to 1771 abord the Endeavour, which sailed around the world under Captain James Cook.
Horowitz, Anthony.: The Devil and His Boy. In 1593, thirteen-year-old Tom travels through the English countryside to London, where he falls in with a troupe of actors and finds himself in great danger from several sources.
Howard, Ellen.: The Gate in the Wall. In nineteenth-century England, ten-year-old Emma, accustomed to long working hours at the silk mill and the poverty and hunger of her sister's house, finds her life completely changed when she inadvertently gets a job on a canal boat carrying cargoes between several northern towns.
King-Smith, Dick.: Spider Sparrow. Spider, a baby abandoned on an English farm, grows up to be mentally slower than other childeren but manifests a remarkable talent for communicating with animals as he comes of age during World War II.
Kirwan, Anna.: Victoria: May Blossom of Britannia. In 1829, nine-year-old Victoria begins a journal chronicling her life as an English princess. Includes information on the reign, marriage, and family life of Queen Victoria and English civilization during that period.
Lasky, Kathryn.: Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor. In a series of diary entries, Princess Elizabeth, the eleven-year-old daughter of King Henry VIII, celebrates holidays and birthdays, relives her mother's execution, revels in her studies, and agonizes over her father's health. Royal Diaries series.
Lawrence, Iain.: Lord of the Nutcracker Men. An English boy during World War I comes to believe tha the battles he enacts with his toy soldiers control the war his father is fighting on the front.
McCaughrean, Geraldine.: The Pirate's Son. Left penniless in eighteenth century England, fourteen-year-old Nathan Gull and his mousy sister Maud accompany Tamo, the son of a notorious pirate, to his homeland of Madagascar where they are all changed by their encounter with Tamo's dangerous past.
McGraw, Eloise.: The Striped Ships. Juliana, an 11-year-old Saxon girl, loses her home and family when the Normans conquer England in 1066 and seeks to order her life by becoming involved in the creation of the Bayeux tapestry.
Meyer, Carolyn.: Beware, Princess Elizabeth. After the death of her father, King Henry VIII, in 1547, thirteen-year-old Elizabeth must endure the political intrigues and dangers of the reigns of her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary before finally becoming Queen of England eleven years later.
Morpurgo, Michael.: Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips. When Boowie reads the diary that his grandmother sends him, he learns of her childhood in World War II England when American and British soldiers practiced for D-Day's invasion in the area of her home, and about her beloved cat, Adolphus Tip, and the cat's namesake.
Morris, Gerald.: The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf. Lynet, a feisty young woman, journeys to king Arthur's court in order to find a champion to rescue her beautiful older sister, and she is joined in her quest by a clever dwarf and a bold kitchen knave, neither of whom are what they seem. (Sequel to: The Squire, his Knight, and his Lady).; The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady. After several years at King Arthur's court, Terence, as Sir Gawain's squire and friend, accompanies him on a perilous quest that tests all their skills and whose successful completion could mean certain death for Gawain. (Sequel to: The Squire's Tale).; The Squire's Tale. In medieval England, fourteen-year-old Terence finds his tranquil existence suddenly changed when he becomes the squire of the young Gawain of Orkney and accompanies him on a long quest, proving Gawain's worth as a knight and revealing an important secret about his own true identity.
Priestley, Chris.: Death and the Arrow. After his friend Will, a pickpocket in London in 1715, is murdered as part of a series of mysterious deaths, fifteen-year-old Tom Marlowe asks his friend Dr. Harker to help find the killer.
Rinaldi, Ann.: Mutiny's Daughter. Gives voice, as a teenager returned to the Christian family in England, to the half-Tahitian daughter of the British ship Bounty's second-in-command and mutineer, Fletcher Christian.
Sturtevant, Katherine.: At the Sign of the Star. In seventeenth-century London, Meg, who has little interest in cooking, needlework, or other homemaking classes for girls, dreams of becoming a bookseller and someday inheriting her father's bookstore.
ETHIOPIA
Kurtz, Jane.: Saba: Under the Hyena's Foot. After being kidnapped and brought to the emperor's palace in Gondar, Ethiopia, twelve-year-old Saba discovers that she and her brother are part of the emperor's desperate attempt to consolidate political power in the mid-1840's.
FRANCE
Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker.: For Freedom: the Story of a French Spy. Despite the horrors of World War II, a French teenager pursues her dream of becoming an opera singer, which takes her to places where she gains information about what the Nazis are doing--information that the French Resistance needs.
Brrome, Errol.: Gracie and the Emperor. Gr 4-6-Set on the remote island of St. Helena, this novel explores the final exile and death of Napol on Bonaparte. Eleven-year-old Gracie is a motherless Chinese/Caucasian girl whose life drastically changes upon Napoleon's arrival.
Cowley, Marjorie.: Dar and the Spear-thrower. A young Cr-Magnon boy living 15,000 years ago in south-eastern France is initiated into manhood by his clan and sets off on a journey to trade his valuable fire rocks for an ivory spear thrower.
Dana, Barbara.: Young Joan: a Novel by Barbara Dana, Based on the LIfe of Saint Joan of Arc. Joan, a girl growing up in the French countryside during the Hundred Years' War, begins to hear voices telling her she is destined to reunite her torn country in opposition to the English invaders.
Gregory, Kristiana.: Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine. The diary of Eleanor, first daughter of the duke of Aquitaine, from 1136 until 1137, when at age fifteen she becomes queen of France. Includes historical notes on her later life.
Havill, Juanita.: Eyes Like Willy's. While vacationing over the course of several summers in Austria, French siblings Guy and Sarah Masson become best friends with a German boy, until the outbreak of World War I puts them on opposing sides.
Lasky, Kathryn.: Marie Antoinette, Princess of Versailles. In 1769, thirteen-year-old Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, begins a journal chronicling her life at the Austrian court and her preparations for her future role as queen of France. Royal Diaries series.; Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen without a Country. Mary, the young Scottish queen, is sent a diary from her mother in which she records her experiences living at the court of France's King Henry II as she awaits her marriage to Henry's son, Francis.
Maguire, Gregory.: The Good Liar. Now an old man living in the United States, Marcel recalls his childhood in German-occupied France, especially the summer that he and his older brother Rene befriended a young German soldier.
Molloy, Michael.: Peter Raven Under Fire. In 1800, continuous war has depleted France's treasury, but Napoleon still wants to expand his empire. To this end, he needs money to defeat the superior British Navy and to exploit Louisiana for the greatest gain.
Schnur, Steven.: A Different Kind of Courage. While escaping the horrors of war-torn France, refugee children struggle to overcome the misconception that their parents are abandoning them.; The Shadow Children. While spending the summer on his grandfather's farm in the French countryside, eleven-year-old Etienne discovers a secret dating back to World War II and encounters the ghosts of Jewish children who suffered a dreadful fate under the Nazis.
Vande Velde, Vivian.: A Coming Evil. During the German occupation of France in 1940, thirteen-year-old Lisette meets a ghost while living with her aunt who harbors Jewish and Gypsy children in the French countryside.
GERMANY
Jung, Reinhardt.: Dreaming in Black and White. A boy dreams that he is a student during the period of the Nazi Third Reich in Germany, where he is persecuted for being physically handicapped.
Kerr, Judith.: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. The exciting story of a German-Jewish family and their escape from Nazi Germany.
Levitin, Sonia.: Journey to America. Lisa and her mother and sisters risk their lives to escape Nazi Germany and follow her father to Switzerland.
Lingard, Joan.: Tug of War. Follows the ordeal of 14-year-old twins Astra and Hugo Petersons, as they and their family flee their native Latvia before the advancing Russian armies in late 1944 and find themselves homeless refugees in a war-torn Germany.
Orlev, Uri.: The Lady with the Hat. In 1947. In 1947, seventeen-year-old Yulek, the only member of his immediate family to survive the German concentration camps, joins a group of young Jews preparing to live on a kibbutz in Israel, unaware that his aunt living in London is looking for him.
Pressler, Mirjam.: Halinka. While living in a home for emotionally disturbed girls in Germany just after World War II, twelve-year-old Halinka carefully hides her thoughts, feelings, and even her hopes.
GREECE
Harrison, Barbara.: Theo. A twelve-year-old puppeteer performs bravely on and off the stage after joining the Greek resistance movement during World War II.
HAITI
Temple, Frances.: Tonight, by Sea. As governmental brutality and poverty become unbearable, Paulie joins with others in her small Haitian village to help her uncle secretly build a boat they will use to try to escape to the United States.
HUNGARY
Cheng, Andrea.: The Lace Dowry. In Hungary in 1933, a twelve-year-old from Budapest befriends the Halas village family of lacemakers hired to stitch her dowry.
Cheng, Andrea.: Marika. Although she has been raised Catholic, Marika learns how dangerous it is to be of Jewish heritage and living in Hungary during World War II.
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee.: Neela, Victory Song. In 1939, twelve-year-old Neela meets a young freedom fighter at her sister's wedding and soon after must rely on his help when her father fails to return home from a march in Calcutta against British occupation.
Gilmore, Racha.: A Group of One. Learning from her grandmother that her family was active in the Quit India movement of 1942, a rebellion against nearly two centuries of British occupation, gives fifteen-year-old Tara new pride in her heritage, but she still objects when her teacher implies she is not a "regular Canadian."
Lasky, Kathryn.: Jahanara. Beginning in 1627, Princess Jahanara, first daughter of Shah Jahan of India's Mogul Dynasty, writes in her diary about political intrigues, weddings, battles, and other experiences of her life. Includes historical notes on Jahanara's later life and on the Mogul Empire.
IRELAND
Avi.: Beyond the Western Sea: Book One: The Escape from Home. Driven from her impoverished Irish village, fifteen-year-old Maura and her younger brother meet their landlord's runaway son in Liverpool while all three wait for a ship to America; their fates continue to intertwine on board ship and in the New World.; Beyond the Western Sea: Book Two: Lord Kirkle's Money. Driven from their impoverished Irish village, fifteen-year-old Maura and her younger brother meet their landlord's runaway son in Liverpool while all three wait for a ship to America; their fates continue to intertwine on board ship and in the New World.
Conlon-McKenna, Marita.: Fields of Home. In latter part of the nineteenth century, their varied circumstances in Ireland and in America convince Peggy and Michael O'Driscoll and Eily O'Driscoll Powers of the importance of family.
Dunlop, Eileen.: Tales of St. Patrick. A fictionalized account of the life of Saint Patrick, first Bishop of Ireland, from the time he was taken to Ireland as a slave when he was sixteen years old through his life-long efforts to Christianize the Irish people.
Giff, Patricia Reilly.: Maggie's Door. In the mid-1800s, Nory and her neighbor and friend, Sean, set out separately on a dangerous journey from famine-plagued Ireland, hoping to reach a better life in America.; Nory Ryan's Song. When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and ingenuity help her family and neighbors survive.
Lutzeier, Elizabeth.: The Coldest Winter. When the potato blight ruins the flood crop in 1846 and English soldiers start turning people out of their homes, Eamonn and his family struggle to survive through the coldest winter Ireland has ever known.
Parkinson, Siobhan.: Kathleen: the Celtic Knot. Twelve-year-old Dubliner Kathleen Delaney is given the chance to take Irish dancing lessons in 1937 and discovers she has a talent for it.
Schmidt, Gary D.: Anson's Way. While serving as a British Fencible to maintain the peace in eighteenth-century Ireland, Anson finds that his sympathy for a hedge master, a teacher devoted to teaching Irish children their forbidden language and culture, places him in conflict with the law of King George II.
Chaikin, Miriam: Alexandra's Scroll: The Story of the First Hanukkah. Alexandra, a young Jewish girl from Jerusalem, describes her life and the creation of Hanukkah, more than 2000 years ago.
ITALY
Moss, Marissa.: Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome. Twelve-year-old Galen describes his life as a slave in Rome under the Emperor Augustus.
Napoli, Donna Jo.: Stones in Water. After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend Roberto is forced to work in Germany, escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.; Daughter of Venice. Frustrated with the restrictions her gender imposes on her life, fourteen-year-old Donata, disguised as a boy, sneaks out of her noble family's house to roam the streets of late sixteenth-centure Venice and then must confront the repercussions of her actions.
JAMAICA
Hausman, Gerald.: Tom Cringle: Battle on the High Seas. A fast-paced story of life on the high seas, of conflicting allegiances, and of finding friends where they are least expected; but most of all, it is the tale of a boy who seeks a personal code of honor to guide him through unpredictable and perilous times.
JAPAN
Dalkey, Kara.: Little Sister. Thirteen-year-old Fujiwara no Mitsuko, daughter of a noble family in the imperial court of twelfth-century Japan, enlists the help of a shape-shifter and other figures from Japanese mythology in her efforts to save her older sister's life.
Haugaard, Erik Christian.: The revenge of Forty-seven Samurai. A fourteen-year-old serving boy finds himself surrounded by suspicion and betrayal as his master gathers a group of samurai to avenge Lord Asano's death.
Kimmel, Eric A.: Sword of the Samurai: Adventure Stories from Japan. Seven short stories about samurai warriors, their way of life, courage, wit, and foolishness.
Namioka, Lensey.: Den of the White Fox. In medieval Japan, two-out-of-work samurai warriors must use their fighting skills when they join a group of local boys, led by the mysterious White Fox, in resistance to a cruel occupying force.
Watkins, Yoko Kawashima.: So Far from the Bamboo Grove. An autobiographical account of 11-year-old Yoko's escape from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II.
KOREA
Choi, Sook Nyu.: Echoes of the White Giraffe. Fifteen-year-old Sookan adjusts to life in the refugee village in Pusan but continues to hope that the civil war end her family will be reunited in Seoul.; Year of Impossible Goodbyes. A young Korean girl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North Korea during the 1940s, to later escape to freedom in South Korea.
Holman, Sheri.: Sondok Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, A.D. 595 (The Royal Diaries). In a series of messages placed in her grandmother's ancestral jar, a sixth-century princess and future ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla vents her frustration at not being permitted to study astronomy because she is a girl.
Park, Linda Sue.: The Kite Fighters. In Korea in 1473, eleven-year-old Young-sup overcomes his rivalry with his older brother Kee-sup, who as the first-born son receives special treatment from their father, and combines his kite-flying skill with Kee-sup's kite-making skill in an attempt to win the New Year kite-fighting competition.; When My Name was Keoko. With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
MEXICO
Garland, Sherry.: In the Shadow of the Alamo. Conscritped into the Mexican army, fifteen-year-old Lorenzo Bonifacio makes some unexpected alliances and learns some harsh truths about General Santa Anna as the troops move toward the battle of the Alamo.
NETHERLANDS
Borden, Louise.: The Greatest Skating Race: A World War II Story from the Netherlands. During World War II in the Netherlands, a ten-year-old boy's dream of skating in a famous race allows him to help two children escape to Belgium by ice skating past German soldiers and other enemies.
De Jong, Meindert.: The Wheel on the School. The storks are brought back to their island by the schoolchildren in a Dutch village. (Newbery Award winner)
Gilson, Jamie.: Stink Alley. Living in Holland in 1614 with the harsh Puritan leader, William Brewster, and working for the family of a mischievous Dutch boy named Rembrandt, a spirited twelve-year-old orphan girl struggles to do what is right.
Propp, Vera W.: When the Soldiers were Gone. After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Benjamin leaves the Christian family with whom he had been living and reunites with his real parents who returned from hiding.
Reiss, Johanna.: The Upstairs Room. Two young Jewish sisters hide from the Nazis in the up stairs room of a remote farmhouse for two and a half long years.
Richardson, Y.A.: The House of Windjammer. In the fall of 1636, Adam, fourteen-year-old heir to the House of Windjammer, must find a way to keep his family afloat after his father dies and tulip fever sweeps Amsterdam.
Van Steenwyk, Elizabeth.: A Traitor Among Us. In occupied Holland in 1944, thirteen-year-old Pieter becomes increasingly involved in the work of the Dutch Resistance even though he knows the risk of being discovered by the Nazi informer who lives in his village.
Vos, Ida.: The Key is Lost. When the Germans occupy Holland in 1940 and begin to persecute the Jews there, twelve-year-old Eva and her family assume false names and move from one hiding place to another.
POLAND
Kelly, Eric P.: The Trumpeter of Krakow. Mystery surrounds a precious jewel and the youth ful patriot who stands watch over it in a church tower in 15th century Poland. (Newbery Award winner)
Orlev, Uri.: Run Boy Run. Based on the true story of a nine-year-old boy who escapes the Warsaw Ghetto and must survive throughout the war in the Nazi-occupied Polish countryside.
Radin, Ruth Yaffe.: Escape to the Forest. A young Jewish girl living with her family in Lida, Poland, at the beginning of World War II recalls the horrors of life under first the Russians then the the Nazis, before fleeing to join Tuvia Bielski, a partisan who tried to save as many Jews as possible. Based on a true story.
Schur, Maxine Rose.: Sacred Shadows. When her German hometown becomes part of Poland after World War I, Lena, a young German Jew, struggles to come to terms with the anti-Semitism and anti-German hatred that seems to be growing around her.
Slobodkin, Florence.: Sarah Somebody. A 9-year-old girl in a Polish village in 1893 gets a chance to learn to read and write -- and to become somebody.
ROMANIA
Orlev, Uri.: Lydia, Queen of Palestine. A young Romanian Jewish girl describes her childhood in pre-World War II Romania, her struggles to understand her parents divorce and the chaos of the war, and her life on a Kibbutz in Palestine. Based on the life of the Israeli poet Arianna Haran.
RUSSIA
Lubka, S. Ruth.: Pupniks: The Story of Two Space Dogs. Presents the story of the two Soviet dogs, Belka and Strelka, who were sent into space in 1960, paving the way for the first Soviet manned flight.
Meyer, Carolyn.: Anastasia: The Last Grand Duchess. A novel in diary form in which the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II describes the privileged life in her family up until the time of World War I and the tragic events that befell them. Royal Diaries series.
Whelan, Gloria.: Angel on the Square. In 1913 Russia, twelve-year-old Katya eagerly anticipates leaving her St. Petersburg home, though not her older cousin Misha, to join her mother, a lady-in-waiting in the household of Tsar Nicholas II, but the ensuing years bring world war, revolution, and undreamed-of changes to her life.; Burying the Sun. In Leningrad in 1941, when Russia and Germany are at war, fourteen-year-old Georgi vows to help his family and his city during the terrible siege.
SCOTLAND
Hunter, Mollie.: The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce. Unwilling to fight but feeling a sense of duty, sixteen-year-old Martin joins Scotland's rebel army as a swift rider and master of espionage for the leader, Robert the Bruce.
Yolen, Jane.: Queen's Own Fool. When twelve-year-old Nicola leaves Troupe Brufort and serves as the fool for Mary, Queen of Scots, she experiences the political and religious upheavals in both France and Scotland.
SOUTH AFRICA
Ferreira, Anton.: Zulu Dog. In post-apartheid South Africa, a Zulu boy keeps secrets from his family as he cares for an injured dog and befriends the daughter of a white farmer.
SPAIN
Meyer, Carolyn.: Isabel: Jewel of Castilla. While waiting anxiously for others to choose a husband for her, Isabel, the future Queen of Spain, keeps a diary account of her life as a member of the royal family. Royal Diaries series.
Trevino, Elizabeth de.: I, Juan De Pareja. Through the eyes of his devoted black slave, Juan de Pareja, the character of the artist Velasquez is revealed. (Newbery Award winner)
Lewin, Waldtraut.: Freedom Beyond the Sea. To escape the Inquisition, Esther Marchadi, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a murdered Jewish rabbi, disguises herself as a boy and joins the crew on Christopher Columbus's "Santa Maria."
Torrey, Michele.: To the Edge of the World. In 1519, after the death of his parents, fourteen-year-old Mateo Macias becomes cabin boy to Ferdinand Magellan on a dangerous journey in search of a route to the fabled Spice Islands.
SUDAN
Mead, Alice.: Year of no Rain. In 1999, when rebel soldiers come to their village in southern Sudan, Stephen and his friends escape but hope to be able to return again.
SWEDEN
Meyer, Carolyn.: Kristina, the Girl King. A novel in diary form about Kristina, the young queen of Sweden.
TURKEY
Croutier, Alev Lytle.: Leyla: The Black Tulip. While trying to help her financially destitute family, twelve-year-old Leyla ends up on a slave ship bound for Istanbul, then in the beautiful Topkapi Palace, where she discovers that life in the sheltered world of the palace harem follows its own rigid rules and rhythms and offers her unexpected opportunities during Turkey's brief Tulip Period of the 1720's.
VIETNAM
Pettit, Jayne.: My Name is San Ho. Relates the experiences of a 12-year-old Vietnamese boy who comes to the United States to live with his mother and American Marine stepfather during the Vietnamese war.
YUGOSLAVIA
Mead, Alice.: Girl of Kosovo. Although Zana, an eleven-year-old Albanian girl, experiences the turmoil and violence of the 1999 conflict in her native Kosovo, she remembers her father's admonition to not let her heart become filled with hate.



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