Historical Fiction Library

When Julie finds out that her new school has a basketball team, life starts looking up—until the coach tells her girls aren’t allowed to play. Julie decides to fight for a place on the team, and almost loses her best friend in the process. Meanwhile, a school project forces her to face some hard truths about her family—and herself. Growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s, Julie begins to realize that sometimes the best way to cope with change is to make a few changes of her own.

There's a murderer on the loose - but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner.

Zahru has long dreamed of leaving the kingdom of Orkena and having the kinds of adventures she's only ever heard about in stories. But as a lowly Whisperer, her power to commune with animals means that her place is serving in the royal stables until the day her magic runs dry. All that changes when the ailing ruler invokes the Crossing. A death-defying race across the desert, in which the first of his heirs to finish - and take the life of a human sacrifice at the journey's end - will ascend to the throne.

In Mummies in the Morning, Jack and Annie get another mummy when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to ancient Egypt after reading a book on the same subject. There, they find themselves in a pyramid, face to face with a long dead queen named Hutepi. She needs their help finding her copy of the Book of the Dead for a trip to the underworld. Will Jack and Annie be able to solve the puzzle, or will they end up as mummies themselves?

Please come to Camelot. The magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie through space and time to find that the castle of Camelot has been attacked and King Arthur has been gravely wounded. To save the kingdom - and the king - Jack and Annie have only one day to solve a riddle that will help them find a missing dragon!

For her tenth birthday, Rebecca is invited to visit her cousin Max’s movie studio! When the cameras begin to roll, she finds herself unexpectedly presented with a part to play. Rebecca doesn’t have the courage to tell her family, but is it wrong to keep such a big secret? Later that summer, on a visit to the factory where her uncle and cousin work, Rebecca is horrified. Is this the life that’s in store for cousin Ana? There must be a way to improve conditions at the factory, and Rebecca is determined to do her part—even if it means marching straight into danger.

Madrid, 1957. Under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile, tourists and foreign businessmen flood into Spain under the welcoming promise of sunshine and wine. Among them is 18-year-old Daniel Matheson, the son of an oil tycoon, who arrives in Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. Photography - and fate - introduce him to Ana, whose family's interweaving obstacles reveal the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War.

Nory Ryan's family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations, raising a pig and a few chickens, planting potatoes, getting by. 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.

They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect turned soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the US Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by goddess Aphrodite, who must spin the tale or face judgment on Mount Olympus, is filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion, and reveals that, though war is a formidable force, it's no match for the transcendent power of love.

Libby has always been inexplicably drawn to the old Victorian house on Mulberry Lane. So much so that when she sees a For Sale sign go up in the front yard, Libby uses all the money her grandmother left her to pay for college to buy the house instead, determined to fix it up herself—even though she knows her parents will be furious.

Big and sweeping, spanning the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court.

1940, London. When Cordelia accepts the post of head librarian in Silver Town Library, her mother is more than a little disapproving. The East End has high levels of poverty and illiteracy, and her mother says it’s no place for a woman of her status. But Cordelia is determined to make a difference in these times of strife, and along with her colleagues, Jane and Mavis, she begins to help the local community, making sure everyone knows what the library can offer them. And maybe even a romance will blossom.

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.

The star of her school’s running team, Sadako is lively and athletic…until the dizzy spells start. Then she must face the hardest race of her life - the race against time. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the courage that makes one young woman a heroine in Japan.

"[The] story speaks directly to young readers of the tragedy of Sadako's death and, in its simplicity, makes a universal statement for 'peace in the world.” (The Horn Book)

It's 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma's reception there is a chilly one.

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable—she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods.

The first Magic Tree House® Super Edition - and Jack and Annie's most dangerous mission ever in the scariest time the world has ever known: World War II. With a longer story and additional facts, this is a thrilling adventure no listener will want to miss!

When a school project allows her to create her own video game, the hero is a girl who knows how to handle any situation—something Courtney struggles with in real life. Whether it’s learning to share a room with her stepsister or supporting her mom when she announces she’s running for mayor, Courtney’s blended family has to learn to work together differently. It’s a whole new game for Courtney, and she’s figuring out the rules as she goes.

In the medieval and fantastic realm of Tortall, Keladry of Mindelan (known as Kel) is the first girl to take advantage of the decree that permits females to train for knighthood. Up against the traditional hazing of pages and a grueling schedule, Kel faces only one real roadblock: Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages and squires. He is absolutely against girls becoming knights. But Kel is not a girl to underestimate.

But before they can leave, the most terrible thing Addy can imagine happens—her Poppa and her brother, Sam, are sold! Addy and her Momma decide they must head out on their own. Although the road to freedom is difficult, Addy’s new life brings new friends, school, and even the opportunity to help others. But when will her family be reunited?