Children's Historical Fiction

Two girls divided by time, united by their love for some very special horses – an epic Caribbean adventure! On a remote tropical island, twelve-year-old Beatriz is about to embark on an epic journey, through hurricanes and across the high seas and back to the time of Christopher Columbus. When Beatriz stumbles across a wild mare with strange markings in...

A powerful, thoughtful, and bold comment on humanity and its future from one of today’s most thought-provoking artists. In his first picture book created specifically with a wider audience in mind, Oliver Jeffers shares a history of humanity and his dreams for its future. Where are we going? With his bold, exquisite artwork, Oliver Jeffers starts at the dawn of...

Heroism or cowardice? A stunning story of the First World War from a master storyteller. ‘Full of warmth as well as grief, conveying vividly how precious it is to be alive’ Sunday Times. As young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood from the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the...

The powerful novel from award-winning Australian writer Katrina Nannestad. Shortlisted in the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. Winner of the 2021 Australian Book Design Awards. Longlisted in the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards. Sometimes it's good to be wild. Sometimes you have to be wild. When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of the...

A fictionalised account of the real-life British soldier who let Hitler live in the First World War, and his attempt to put right his mistake – from a master storyteller ‘Brilliant. Historical fiction at its most magnificent’ Jackie French An Eagle in the Snow tells the story of Billy Byron, one of the most decorated privates of the First World...

Essential Modern Classics are relaunched in gorgeous new covers, bringing these timeless stories to a new generation. For Omri, it is a dream come true when the plastic American Indian he locks into the old cupboard comes to life. Little Bull is everything an Indian brave should be – proud, fearless, and defiant. But being in charge of a real,...

'So heart-rending and familiar, and so brilliantly, unforgettably different.' - Morris Gleitzman, bestselling author of Once Emma is a young student about to be drawn into what will become the biggest bank heist in European history: swapping 50 million guilders' worth of forged treasury bonds for real ones—right under the noses of the Nazis. Emma's life—and the lives of thousands,...

Nation by Terry Pratchett is a masterpiece—a desert island story of epic and hilarious proportions. Now available in this brand-new, stunning edition. Widely thought of as the best book Terry Pratchett ever wrote, this is a story of a Nation, a story of a friendship, a story of growing up and the truths we must learn. It is epic in...

A new heartwarming novel set in 1950s Australia from bestselling author Katrina Nannestad. Silver Linings follows Nettie Sweeney, who has a dad, three big sisters, a farm full of cows, and a cat called Mittens. But it's not enough. She longs for a mother—one with a gentle touch and sparkles in her eyes. Instead, she has Aunty Edith with slappy...

An extraordinary tale of innocence, friendship and the horrors of war Discover an extraordinary tale of innocence, friendship, and the horrors of war. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Nine-year-old Bruno has a lot of things on his mind. Who is...

A frozen palace and a sparkling secret – an epic Russian adventure awaits! Anna Orlov might be the luckiest girl in the world. She is the daughter of a Russian Count and lives in a beautiful snowbound palace that is home to a menagerie of wonderful animals: tigers, wolfhounds and, of course, horses. She is also the owner of a...

Move over, Charlotte Brontë. The authors of the New York Times bestselling My Lady Jane are back with an irreverent spin on Jane Eyre—a tale of mischief, romance, and supernatural mayhem perfect for fans of The Princess Bride or A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. You may think you know the story. Penniless orphan Jane Eyre begins a new...

It’s aliiiiiiiive! The New York Times bestselling authors of My Lady Jane present an electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley—perfect for YA fantasy and romance readers. Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary...

Long live the queen: The authors who brought you the New York Times bestselling My Lady Jane kick off an all-new historical trilogy with the classy, courtly tale of Mary, Queen of Scots—perfect for YA fantasy and romance readers. Welcome to Renaissance France, a place of poison and plots, of beauties and beasts, of mice and... queens. Mary is the...

Hold on to your hats: The authors who brought you the New York Times bestseller My Plain Jane, which Booklist praised as “delightfully deadpan” (starred review) and Publishers Weekly called “a clever, romantic farce” (starred review), are back with another irreverent historical adventure. Welcome to 1876 America, a place bursting with gunslingers, outlaws, and garou—better known as werewolves. And where...

The eighth Murder Most Unladylike mystery from bestselling, award-winning Robin Stevens. Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event—the fiftieth Anniversary. Plans are in full swing. But all is not well, for in the detectives' long absence, Deepdean has changed. Daisy has lost her crown to a fascinating new girl—and...

The gripping new mystery in the award-winning, bestselling Murder Most Unladylike series. When Hazel Wong's beloved grandfather passes away, Daisy Wells is all too happy to accompany her friend (and Detective Society Vice President) to Hazel's family estate in beautiful, bustling Hong Kong. But when they arrive, they discover something they didn't expect—there's a new member of the Wong family....

In The Tattooist of Auschwitz - YA Edition by Heather Morris, we delve into the harrowing yet profoundly moving tale of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish man who, in 1942, finds himself transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Here, he is assigned the heart-wrenching task of tattooing identification numbers on his fellow prisoners—an act that forces him to become an unwilling...

A battle that changes the course of the war... Paul Colbert’s French village has been under Nazi control for years. His Jewish best friend has disappeared. Food is scarce. And there doesn’t seem to be anything Paul can do to make things better. Then Paul finds an American paratrooper stuck in a tree. When Paul helps the soldier, he discovers...

It’s 1861, and gold fever is sweeping the world. Otherwise sensible adults have gone mad and will do anything to get their hands on the precious metal. But two children have been caught up in the rush. Michael and Atarangi couldn’t be more different, but they share one thing: each has a remarkable and magical talent. Circumstances conspire to bring...

A French village, new friends, fabulous food, a local mystery to be solved and... a ghost. She snaps the locket shut. Just as quickly as he appeared, the boy is gone. Josephine's heart is hammering. Her skin feels prickly and hot. Surely, she's imagined him. That's the only possible explanation. Because boys don't live in lockets. Not unless they're ghosts....

In a wise and magical follow-up to The Puppets of Spelhorst, Kate DiCamillo revisits the land of Norendy, where tales swirl within tales—and every moment is a story in the making. At the Hotel Balzaar, Marta’s mother rises before the sun, puts on her uniform, and instructs Marta to roam as she will but quietly, invisibly—like a little mouse. While...

In the fourth part of Felix's story, continuing his adventures in World War Two, he faces perhaps his greatest challenge - to find hope when he's lost almost everything, including his parents. As Europe goes through the final agonizing stages of the war, Felix struggles to reconcile hatred and healing. He's helped by a new friend, but if he should...

An eleven-year-old’s straight-from-the-heart account of life through the Canterbury quakes and shakes of 2010-11. Anyone would think Maddy’s world had crumbled when she didn’t get a cell phone for her eleventh birthday. But Maddy soon has far more important things to worry about. In the dark of night, with a terrifying rumble and a deafening roar, the world turns upside...

"I have been accused of whitewashing the Nazi leadership in my memoirs. Some people say I make them seem human. But therein lies the problem. I saw these men up close. They were human. If we think of them only as monsters and demons we may lose sight of the fact that they were very much like you and I....

Napier in the 1930s was a time of going without. The story starts on the 25th of June, 1930—a sad day in the Bourke household—the funeral of Katie's father. This Catholic family must now survive with earnings from the older siblings and the washing Katie's mother takes in. When older brother Tom returns home, after a long absence, it is...

The powerful novel from award-winning Australian writer Katrina Nannestad. Shortlisted in the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year Awards. Winner of the 2021 Australian Book Design Awards. Longlisted in the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards. Sometimes it's good to be wild. Sometimes you have to be wild. When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of the...

Young Joe is living in pre-World War II Berlin, with his British father and NZ mother, attending school and witnessing the excitement of his friends who are enthusiastically joining the Hitler Youth Movement. Joe feels uncomfortable with the growing mistreatment of local Jews, and after the arrest of his father as a spy, he is forced to escape from Berlin...

To most people, Piper Sail looks like a rich girl with little potential, but she surprises everyone, including herself, when she starts investigating her best friend’s disappearance. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Maureen Johnson, The Lost Girl of Astor Street combines the allure of Jazz Age Chicago with a twisting mystery that will keep you guessing until the...

A spine-tingling ghost story from bestselling author Lucy Strange Folk say the fog plays tricks – that it shapes itself into little hands and frightened faces that press at people’s doors and windows, desperate to come inside. But Hugo is convinced the ghost he has seen at the window is no trick of the fog. The boy’s hollow eyes are...

Renowned author and historian Jackie French takes us back in time to Greece and Rome and explores young heroes in ancient myths and legends whose stories will now be told. Forget what you know about Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen with a fantastic hairstyle. That's only part of the story. Before she was a ruler, Cleopatra was a girl with a...

From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen comes a thrilling World War II story of espionage and intrigue, as one girl races to save her father and aid the French resistance. Six hundred and fifty-seven days ago, Meg Kenyon's father left their home in France to fight for the Allies in World War II, and that was the...

A stunning full-colour illustrated adaptation of H. G. Wells' sci-fi classic, from the illustrator of A Boy Called Christmas and The Iron Man. 1894. Across space, this Earth is being watched by envious eyes. What seems to be a meteorite falls to Earth, but from the debris unfolds a terrifying alien threat... Leon and his scientist wife race against the...

The Dust Bowl of the 1930s was the worst environmental disaster in American history, a time when ‘black blizzards’ of dust, some hundreds of miles wide, swept across the southern plains. Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands of farms were buried. Millions of refugees fled starvation and sickness in the plains only to face hatred and prejudice in California. In...

War Dog tells the inspiring story of Judy, a dog who loves her crew, and they love her. She knows that she brings comfort to the men, making her job very important during these hard times. But when her soldiers are taken prisoner and she is separated from her beloved Frank, she must find the strength to keep going. She...

As we Otago lads have only enough men for two squadrons, the General has decided that we are to be merged with the incoming Māori contingents to form a new battalion. Our new battalion will be ‘Pioneers’, doing behind-the-lines work: building barracks, railroads, roads, and trenches. As you can imagine, Father, we’re not happy–we want to fight, not dig holes....

From two-time Newbery medalist Lois Lowry comes this warm and resonant story of an unlikely friendship, which unfolds as a revelation on how we hold on to—and pass on—what matters most. The latest compelling work from the master storyteller. When precocious eleven-year-old Sophie sets out to save her elderly neighbour (who is also her dearest friend), her journey will take...

A stunning and heartbreaking new novel from Jamila Gavin MBE, the bestselling and award-winning author of Coram Boy and The Wheel of Surya. England, 1937. Gwen, Noor, Dodo and Vera are four very different teenage girls, with something in common. Their parents are all abroad, leaving them in their English boarding school, where they soon form an intense friendship. The...

A new reign of terror has brought fear and hatred to the land, while an ancient legend stirs in the heart of the wildwood... The Norman conquest of England is complete, but for one young man, the battle has only just begun. When Bran ap Brychan's father is murdered by Norman soldiers, he flees to London, seeking justice. The journey...

Puffin Classics - the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child. Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this bold edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn's childhood wasn't exactly smooth sailing, but everything changed when he met Tom Sawyer. Bound by an oath to make trouble, the...

A swashbuckling adventure from Australia's Children's Laureate Can you still love your father, no matter what his crimes are? Twelve-year-old Ben Huntsmore is the son of a shipowner, an only child who loves the farming life on his mother's family estate, Badger's Hill. But when Ben's father loses their ancestral home in 1809 as payment for a gambling debt, Ben...

Buried amongst the treasures in Professor Brownstone's vaults lies a humble collection of books. Filled with legendary stories from his ancestors, they tell of fearless fighters and unlikely heroes. Venturing into Greek mythology, this is the fourth title in the Brownstone's Mythical Collection. Full of dangerous challenges, cunning monsters, and godly heroes, Leo and the Gorgon's Curse is sure to...

Discover magical princesses, mighty dragons, mischievous monkeys and more in this captivating collection of Chinese stories, specially retold for readers today. Illustrated Stories from China features stunning traditional-style brush and ink illustrations by Chinese artist Li Weiding. It includes links to websites where you can find out more about Chinese folk tales and art.

Exciting, funny, moving – and featuring joyous and authentic disabled representation – Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star is a spellbinding middle-grade adventure. Cosima has spent all her life at the Home for Unfortunate Girls, along with her best friends: Pearl, Mary, and Diya. Cos longs for a real home and a real family. But when Cos finds out that famed...

An action-packed, inclusive and breathtakingly magical middle-grade adventure, for fans of The Unadoptables and The Girl Who Stole an Elephant. A spellbinding, epic and heart-racing magical adventure from an exquisite new storytelling talent. Ahmed Pathak is a wonderful new voice; the book took her years to write, and it shows in the depth and care of each beat of the...

Tarn grapples with the loss of her brother at Dunkirk as she faces the threat of Nazi invasion in the Cumbrian countryside in this gripping wartime tale from Tom Palmer. July 1940 – as Tarn struggles to come to terms with the loss of her beloved brother in the chaos of the British retreat at Dunkirk, she and her friends...

Discover the world of Skulduggery Pleasant in this prequel to the bestselling series. So many enemies, so little time... Italy, 1703. As the war with Mevolent rages on, the Dead Men are dispatched to a walled town in the Tuscan hills—not to assassinate the Lord of the Dark Sorcerers, but to save him. A rift has opened to a hellish...

“A warmhearted story that will resonate with anyone who has ever dreamed of reinventing themselves.” —Kirkus Reviews It’s 1987, and sixteen-year-old Gracie Byrne wishes her life were totally different. Shy and awkward, she has trouble fitting in at her new school, she’s still reeling from her parents’ divorce, and her grandmother Katherine’s Alzheimer’s is getting worse. So when Gracie finds...

The Kingdom by the Sea is The Guardian award-winning novel about courage, friendship, and war. When a bomb during an air raid destroys Harry's home and kills his family, he knows that he is all alone in the world and has only himself to rely on. Anxious that he will be sent to live with his fussy Cousin Elsie, he...

A tale of loyalty, loss, betrayal, and rebirth. It is 1911 and London’s docks thrum with underhand deals, none so great as the arrival of a valuable, rare and exotic animal, smuggled from the depths of the Congolese rainforest. The baby gorilla stands to make one man, the shady Goliath Deeds, very, very rich: he and his right-hand man, juvenile...

Set during the turbulent segregation era, Kwame Alexander weaves a spellbinding story of struggle, determination, and the unflappable faith of an American family. Twelve-year-old Charley is set on becoming the first female pitcher to play professional baseball, even if that’s a lofty dream for a Black girl in the American South in the 1920s. Even so, her grandfather Kofi’s thrilling...

A gripping World War II adventure from War Horse author and former Children's Laureate, Michael Morpurgo. Jo did not stop until he’d shut the door behind him and even then his heart could not stop pounding in his ears. Jo finds out that Jewish children are being smuggled away from the Nazis over the mountains near his village. All goes...

Josephine Montfort is from one of New York's oldest, most respected, and wealthiest families. Like most well-off girls of the Gilded Age, her future looks set - after a finishing school education, she will be favourably married off to a handsome gentleman, after which she'll want for nothing. But Jo has other dreams and desires that make her long for...

In this second book of the Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, Tirzah Price takes readers for another fun, murderous romp through one of Austen’s beloved novels. Perfect for fans of The Lady Janies and Stalking Jack the Ripper. A Junior Library Guild pick! When eighteen-year-old aspiring scientist Elinor Dashwood discovers her beloved father slumped over the desk of his office...

In this queer retelling of the classic novel and third book in Tirzah Price's Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, Mansfield Park is the centre of a deadly accident (or is it). Perfect for fans of the Lady Janies and Stalking Jack the Ripper. Aspiring artist Fanny Price is an unwelcome guest at her uncle Sir Thomas Bertram’s estate. It’s his...

In this reimagining of the classic nursery rhyme, best friends Jack and Jill recover from a sledding accident surrounded by family and friends in this inspiring story from Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women! Jack Minot and Janey Pecq are next-door neighbours and best friends so frequently seen together that Janey earns the nickname Jill after the rhyme Jack...

A special anniversary edition of a modern classic. Winner of the CBCA Book of the Year for Young Readers. The bombs were falling, the smoke was rising from the concentration camps, but Hitler's daughter knew nothing of this. All she knew was the world of lessons with Fraulein Gelber, the hedgehogs she rescued from the cold, and the exciting visits...

A novel of heart and courage inspired by the incredible story of a real-life princess and the foal she loves. Princess Haya, daughter of the King of Jordan, loves her family more than anything. So when tragedy strikes at its heart, she is devastated. The Princess becomes ever more withdrawn until, on her birthday, the King gives her a life-changing...

WINNER ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOUNGER READERS 'Fans of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events will eat up Withering-by-Sea' -- Shelf Awareness High on a cliff above the gloomy coastal town of Withering-by-Sea stands the Hotel Majestic. Inside the walls of the damp, dull hotel, eleven-year-old orphan Stella Montgomery leads a miserable life with her three dreadful...

Hanna is a talented pianist and the protected second daughter of middle-class Hungarian Jews. Relatively late in World War II, the Budapest Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Hanna, her mother, and her sister are separated from her father. Her mother becomes increasingly mentally ill until she too is taken away somewhere, and her sister Erika is slowly...

The #1 New York Times bestseller Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Writing "At once vivid and simple, lyrical and surgical, expressive and exacting" — Lupita Nyong'o Dreams are today’s answers for tomorrow’s questions. Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of...

The highly anticipated, unforgettable new story from the internationally bestselling, multi-award-winning author of Wonder. When Silas Bird wakes in the dead of night, he watches powerlessly as three strangers take his father away. Silas is left shaken, scared, and alone, except for the presence of his companion, Mittenwool, who happens to be a ghost. But then a mysterious pony shows...

A Puffin Book - stories that last a lifetime A tense and compulsive survival story of a young boy and an old man adrift on the ocean, then marooned on a tiny, deserted island. It is also a fascinating study of the relationship between Phillip, white, American, and influenced by his mother's prejudices, and the black man upon whom Phillip's...

One of BuzzFeed's best YA books of 2021! Perfect for fans of the Lady Janies and Stalking Jack the Ripper, the first book in the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries trilogy is a clever retelling of Pride and Prejudice that reimagines the iconic settings, characters, and romances in a thrilling and high-stakes whodunit. When a scandalous murder shocks London high society,...

Puffin Classics - the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child. Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this charming edition of The Three Musketeers. When young D'Artagnan comes to Paris to seek his fortune, he is challenged to a duel with not one, but three of the king's Musketeers....

A fresh, funny and accessible retelling of Jane Austen's classic story, with witty black and white illustrations throughout. Fanny Price is one of nine children, and her family are very poor. So when a distant relative offers to take her in—giving her the opportunity to grow up wealthy and comfortable—her parents jump at the chance. But money doesn't always bring...

A heart-racing tale of courage, loss, friendship, and family from the nation’s favourite storyteller, Michael Morpurgo. Escaping from China as the Japanese invade, Ashley and Uncle Sung embark on a perilous journey across the Himalayas. When battling the hostile environments of the mountains, and finding himself alone in an unfamiliar world, Ashley’s courage is put to the test. A mysterious...

“There’s nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as messing about in boats.… One of Junior Magazine’s 100 best children’s books of all time! One of the all-time great animal stories. Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book, with exclusive illustrations from E.H. Shepard, has delighted generations. The Wind in the Willows is one of the most famous and...

Zohra Nabi has clearly done her research. Deep Dark dives into history to enthralling effect. The street life of the time, particularly London’s lost economy of patterers and ballad-sellers, shouting out the latest songs and stories, is brought into raucous, vivid colour … Outstanding. – The Times Children's Book of the Week The dark was deep; it opened like a...

Holland, 1943: In the last eighteen months of World War II, 14-year-old Anna’s life becomes a perilous world of secrets and danger. Her town in German-occupied southern Holland is transformed into a war zone, where trust is rare, and courage and resistance are everything. When the Nazis begin arresting local men and deporting them to work in German factories, Anna’s...

Terry Pratchett's masterpiece - a desert island story of epic and hilarious proportions. Now available in this brand-new, stunning edition. Widely thought of as the best book Terry Pratchett ever wrote, this is a story of a Nation, a story of a friendship, a story of growing up and the truths we must learn. It is epic in every sense......

A brand new novel from the bestselling Jacqueline Wilson, perfect for older readers! The bestselling, beloved Jacqueline Wilson returns with a brilliant novel for older readers. Baby Love explores themes that resonate with readers, capturing their hearts with its engaging narrative and relatable characters.

Rex investigates funny goings-on in the city museum in his latest adventure. The third book in the side-splitting series for 7+ readers, from a Lollies Prize winning author-illustrator. Rex Dinosaur in Disguise: Museum Mystery sees Rex eagerly anticipating his first trip to the city museum. But, hold on, are those ... bones? Dinosaur bones?! It turns out that museums can...

The story of Robin Miller - the woman who single-handedly flew life-saving vaccines in her own plane to remote communities. Imagine flying solo, crisscrossing the north-west of Australia in your own plane, and single-handedly delivering life-saving vaccines to remote communities. Robin Miller did this, and at a time when most people didn't think women should be pilots at all. Her...

The astonishing, beautiful new story for all readers of 10 and over from the bestselling and Costa-shortlisted author of Time Travelling with a Hamster. "A wonderful story" – Kiran Millwood Hargrave There are stories about people who want to live forever. This is not one of those stories. This is a story about someone who wants to stop… Alfie Monk...

When the Sky Falls is the multi-award-winning story about the incredible friendship between a young boy and a silverback gorilla during the Second World War, inspired by a true story. It's 1941. War is raging. Joseph has been sent to live in the city, where bombers rule the skies. There, he lives with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no...

Go back to the Space Race with No.1 bestselling author David Walliams for a breathless cinematic adventure full of mystery, action, laughs and surprises – and a secret that could change the course of history… America. The 1960s. Stuck on a remote farm with her awful aunt, twelve-year-old orphan Ruth spends every night gazing at the stars, dreaming of adventure....

The start of a thrilling new World War Two mystery series from the number-one-bestselling and multi-award-winning author of Murder Most Unladylike. 1940. The world is at war, and a secret arm of the British government called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up spies. Enter May Wong—courageous, stubborn, and desperate to help end the war so that she can...

It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom's Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last. In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not...

WINNER ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR YOUNGER READERS 'Fans of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events will eat up Withering-by-Sea'-- Shelf Awareness High on a cliff above the gloomy coastal town of Withering-by-Sea stands the Hotel Majestic. Inside the walls of the damp, dull hotel, eleven-year-old orphan Stella Montgomery leads a miserable life with her three dreadful Aunts....