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The Queen's Spade
by Sarah Raughley
The year is 1862 and murderous desires are simmering in England. Nineteen-year-old Sarah Bonetta Forbes (Sally), once a princess of the Egbado Clan, desires one thing above all else: revenge against the British Crown and its system of colonial 'humanitarianism, ' which stole her dignity and transformed her into royal property. From military men to political leaders, she's vowed to ruin all who've had a hand in her afflictions. The top of her list? Her godmother, Britain's mighty monarch, Queen Victoria herself...--
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Climbing the Stairs
by Padma Venkatraman
During World War II and the last days of British occupation in India, fifteen-year-old Vidya dreams of attending college. But when her forward-thinking father is beaten senseless by the British police, she is forced to live with her grandfather's large traditional family, where the women live apart from the men and are meant to be married off as soon as possible.Vidya's only refuge becomes her grandfather's upstairs library, which is forbidden to women. There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house who relishes her intellectual curiosity. But when Vidya's brother makes a choice the family cannot condone, and when Raman seems to want more than friendship, Vidkya must question all she has believed in.Padma Venkatraman's debut novel poignantly shows a girl struggling to find her place in a mixedup world. Climbing the Stairs is a powerful story about love and loss set against a fascinating historical backdrop.Read Padma Venkatraman's posts on the Penguin Blog.
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Eyes Open
by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Living under the Salazar dictatorship in 1960s Portugal, Sâonia must find her voice as a poet and an activist after the government arrests her boyfriend and shuts down her family's business--
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The Night Diary
by Veera Hiranandani
NEWBERY HONOR BOOK - A poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition--and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided country. The Night Diary is] a sensitive portrayal of the universal search for identity and the need for a place to call home. Beautifully written, it weaves terror, family and faith into a timeless account of courage and strength.--Laurie Halse Anderson, The New York Times A gripping, nuanced story of the human cost of conflict appropriate for both children and adults.--Kirkus Reviews (One of the Best Middle Grade Books of the Century)It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark--first by train, later on foot--to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together. Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diary is a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.
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This Rebel Heart
by Katherine Locke
In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic. During WWII, the river kept her family safe when they needed it most--safe from the Holocaust. But that was before the Communists seized power. Before her parents were murdered by the Soviet police. Before Csilla knew things about her father's legacy that she wishes she could forget. Now Csilla keeps her head down, planning her escape from this country that has never loved her the way she loves it. But her carefully laid plans fall to pieces when her parents are unexpectedly, publicly exonerated. As the protests in other countries spur talk of a larger revolution in Hungary, Csilla must decide if she believes in the promise and magic of her deeply flawed country enough to risk her life to help save it, or if she should let it burn to the ground--
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Keeping Corner
by Kashmira Sheth
Ba slipped the gold bangles from my wrists. The gold ones were plain so I didn't mind taking them off, but I loved wearing my milk-glass bangles and the lakkh bracelets. A widow can't wear bangles, she said. They are signs of a woman's good fortune. When your husband dies it's over. What if my good fortune comes back? It doesn't. Pretty as a peacock, twelve-year-old Leela has been spoiled all her life by everyone in her Gujarat village. She's never been interested in school and barely takes notice of the growing unrest between the British colonists and her own countrymen. Why should she? Her future has been planned since her engagement at two and marriage at nine. And now, as the day she moves in with her husband's family draws near, she's too busy collecting bangles and ribbons to care about much else. But when Leela's husband dies, her life changes forever. Instead of being showered with gifts and affection, she is is forced to shave her head and give away her beloved saris and bangles. Leela is considered unlucky now, and will have to stay confined to her house for a year-keep corner-in preparation for a life of mourning for a boy she barely knew. When her schoolteacher hears of her fate, she offers to give Leela lessons at home. For the first time, despite her confinement, Leela begins to open her eyes to the changing world around her. India is suffering from a severe drought, and farmers are unable to pay taxes to the British. She learns about a new leader of the people, a man named Gandhi, who starts a political movement and practices satyagraha-non-violent protest against the colonists as well as the caste system. The quiet strength ofsatyagraha may liberate her country. Could it be that she can use the same path to liberate herself? In this novel based on her great aunt's life, Kashmira Sheth paints a heartfelt and evocative portrait of a child turned widow in Gandhi-era India.
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The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
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African Town
by Charles Waters
Inspired by the true story of the last American slave ship.
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The Corpse Queen
by Heather M. Herrman
Orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is eager to start a new life in her aunt's lucrative business selling corpses to medical students, but she quickly becomes entangled in a murderer's plans.
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Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two
by Joseph Bruchac
This deeply affecting novel honors all the young men who dared to serve in World War II, and it honors the culture and language of the Navajo Indians. Readers who choose the book for the attraction of Navajo code talking and the heat of battle will come away with more than they ever expected to find.--Booklist, starred review Throughout World War II, in the conflict fought against Japan, Navajo code talkers were a crucial part of the U.S. effort, sending messages back and forth in an unbreakable code that used their native language. They braved some of the heaviest fighting of the war, and with their code, they saved countless American lives. Yet their story remained classified for more than twenty years. But now Joseph Bruchac brings their stories to life for young adults through the riveting fictional tale of Ned Begay, a sixteen-year-old Navajo boy who becomes a code talker. His grueling journey is eye-opening and inspiring. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults Nonsensational and accurate, Bruchac's tale is quietly inspiring...--School Library Journal
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These Violent Delights
by Chloe Gong
In 1926 Shanghai, eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang, and her first love-turned-rival Roma Montagov, leader of the White Flowers, must work together when mysterious deaths threaten their city.
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
by Erika L. Sánchez
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A stunning (America Ferrera) YA novel about a teenager coming to terms with losing her sister and finding herself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home. Alive and crackling--a gritty tale wrapped in a page-turner. --The New York Times Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed. But it's not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister's story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?
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Lovely War
by Julie Berry
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Perfect for fans of Divine Rivals, a critically acclaimed, multi-layered romance set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II, where gods hold the fates--and the hearts--of four mortals in their hands. Pick an adjective--sweeping, sprawling, epic, Olympian--and yet none quite conveys the emotional width and depth of Julie Berry's brilliant novel.--The Washington Post 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 U.S. 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. Hailed by critics, Lovely War has received seven starred reviews and is an indie bestseller. Author Julie Berry has been called a modern master of historical fiction by Bookpage and a celestially inspired storyteller by the New York Times, and Lovely War is truly her masterwork.
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day--
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The Magic Fish: (A Graphic Novel)
by Trung Le Nguyen
It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiâãen, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay?--
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Burn Baby Burn
by Meg Medina
Nora Lopez is seventeen during the summer of 1977, when New York is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam. Meg Medina transports us to a time when tempers and temperatures ran high to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit.
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Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth E. Wein
Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat; one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. But when a vital mission goes wrong, one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France. She is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war.
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Refugee
by Alan Gratz
The award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling novel from Alan Gratz tells the timely--and timeless--story of three different kids seeking refuge.A New York Times bestseller!JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world...ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America...MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe...All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.As powerful and poignant as it is action-packed and page-turning, this highly acclaimed novel was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than four years and continues to change readers' lives with its meaningful takes on survival, courage, and the quest for home.
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The Davenports
by Krystal Marquis
The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in 1910 Chicago, and the two daughters, Olivia and Helen, are finding their way and finding love--even where they are not supposed to.
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The Blood Years
by Elana K. Arnold
Based on the true experiences of her grandmother's childhood in Holocaust-era Romania, ... author Elana K. Arnold weaves [a] tale of love and loss in the darkest days of the twentieth century--and one young woman's will to survive them--Publisher description.
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The Hired Girl
by Laura Amy Schlitz
A New York Times bestseller!Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical FictionAn Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award WinnerWinner of the National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Schlitz has crafted another exquisite literary gem, one told entirely via Joan's vivid, humorous, and emotionally resonant diary entries. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart and her hope out into her diary -- because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of: a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her delicious wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a moving yet comedic tour de force, available in paperback.
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Angel of Greenwood
by Randi Pink
A piercing, unforgettable love story set in Greenwood, Oklahoma, also known as the Black Wall Street, and against the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
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Displacement
by Kiku Hughes
Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II. These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself stuck back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.--]cPublisher marketing.
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Salt to the Sea
by Ruta Sepetys
As World War II draws to a close, refugees try to escape the war's final dangers, only to find themselves aboard a ship with a target on its hull.--
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The Black Kids
by Christina Hammonds Reed
With the Rodney King riots closing in on high school senior Ashley and her family, the privileged bubble she has enjoyed, protecting her from the difficult realities most black people face, begins to crumble.
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The Downstairs Girl: Reese's YA Book Club
by Stacey Lee
1890, Atlanta. By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel Caroline Payne, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for 'the genteel Southern lady'--
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Age 16
by Rosena Fung
A powerful coming-of-age graphic novel about three generations of mothers and daughters passing down and rebelling against standards of gender, race, beauty, size, and worth, for fans of Mariko Tamaki. Sixteen-year-old Roz is preoccupied with normal teenage stuff: navigating high school friendships, worrying about college, and figuring out what to wear to prom. When her estranged Por Por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, the already delicate relationship between Roz and her mother is upended. With three generations under one roof, conflicts inevitably arise and long suppressed family secrets rise to the surface. Told in alternating perspectives, Age 16 shifts seamlessly between time and place, exploring how this pivotal year in adolescence affects three women in the same family, from Guangdong in 1954 to Hong Kong in 1972, and Toronto in 2000. Award-winning creator of Living with Viola Rosena Fung pulls from her own family history in her YA debut to give us an emotional and poignant story about how every generation is affected by those that came before and affect those that come after.--
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