Prehistoric Times (230,000 – 29,000 BC)
(Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon man, tribal people, etc.)
YA F Brennan Shiva
A Cro-Magnon group is forced to confront its collective fear of the Neanderthal people they call “ogres”, when a young Cro-Magnon girl, Shiva, befriends a Neanderthal boy, and when Hiram, a young hunter, is captured by Neanderthal’s. By J.H. Brennan 184 pages
YA F Dickinson Bone from a Dry Sea
A story of two girls living in the same place four million years apart who each make an important discovery. By Peter Dickinson 200 pages
YA F Jordan A Time of Darkness
A teenage boy with unusual powers faces the challenge of his life when he’s transported to a prehistoric society. By Sherryl Jordan 246 pages
YA F Sutcliff Warrior Scarlet
In Bronze Age Britain, Drem must overcome the disability of a crippled arm in order to pass his tribe’s test of manhood and become a warrior. By Rosemary Sutcliff 207 pages
Ancient Egypt (3100 BC – 395 AD)
YA F Gregory Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile
When Princess Cleopatra’s life is threatened by people hungry for the throne, Cleopatra and her father find protection in Italy, but must remain there until her father, Ptolemy, can reclaim his throne. By Kristiana Gregory 221 pages
YA F Levitin Escape from Egypt
When Moses comes to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, Jesse, a Hebrew slave, finds his life changed by his growing faith in God and his attraction to the half-Egyptian, half-Syrian Jennat. By Sonia Levitin 267 pages
YA F McGraw The Golden Goblet
A young Egyptian boy struggles to uncover a hideous crime and follow his dreams to become a master goldsmith like his father. By Eloise McGraw 248 pages
YA F McGraw Mara, Daughter of the Nile
The adventures of an ingenious Egyptian slave girl who undertakes a dangerous assignment as a spy in the royal palace of Thebes, in the days when Queen Hatshepsut ruled. By Eloise McGraw 279 pages
Ancient Greece (1200 – 146 BC)
YA F Alcock Singer to the Sea God
When Phaidon and his companions flee their island home after the king’s court is turned to stone by Perseus armed with Medusa’s head, Phaidon begins to believe in the gods and monsters that his uncle has always scorned. By Vivien Alcock 200 pages
YA F Yolen Odysseus in the Serpent Maze
Thirteen-year-old Odysseus, who longs to be a hero, has many opportunities to prove himself during an adventure which involves pirates and satyrs, a trip to Crete’s Labyrinth, and the two young girls, Penelope and Helen, who play a major role in his future life. By Jane Yolen 248 pages
Troy (circa 1200 BC)
YA F Cooney Goddess of Yesterday
Taken from her home on an Aegean island as a six-year-old girl, Anaxndra poses as two different princesses before ending up as a servant in the company of Helen and Paris as they make their way to Troy. By Caroline B. Cooney 263 pages
YA F Friesner Nobody’s Princess
Determined to fend for herself in a world where only men have real freedom, headstrong Helen, who will be called queen of Sparta and Helen of Troy one day, learns to fight, hunt, and ride horses while disguised as a boy, and goes on an adventure throughout the Mediterranean world. By Esther Friesner 305 pages
Nobody’s Prize is the sequel to Nobody’s Princess.
YA F Geras Troy
Told from the point of view of the women of Troy, portrays the last weeks of the Trojan War, when women are sick of tending the wounded, men are tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses find ways to stir things up. By Adéle Geras 346 pages
Ithaka is the sequel to Troy by Adéle Geras
YA F McLaren Inside the Walls of Troy
The story of the Trojan War as told by Helen and Cassandra. Helen recounts her experiences after being kidnapped at age 12 while Paris’ sister, Cassandra, tells of painful visions of the future. By Clemence McLaren 199 pages
Roman Empire (55 BC to 476 AD)
YA F Lasky The Last Girls of Pompeii
Twelve-year-old Julia knows that her physical deformity will keep her from a normal life, but counts on the continuing friendship of her life-long slave, Mitka, until they learn that both of their futures in first-century Pompeii are about to change for the worse. By Kathryn Lasky 160 pages
Palestine under the Roman Empire
YA F Speare The Bronze Bow
When the Romans brutally kill Daniel’s father, the young Palestinian searches for a leader to drive them out, but comes to realize that love may be a more powerful weapon than hate. By Elizabeth Speare 255 pages
Britain under the Roman Empire
YA F Hunter Stronghold
Crippled in a Roman raid on his native island, Coll spends many years planning an impregnable defense but has to overcome many obstacles before he is given a chance to put it to the test. By Mollie Hunter 259 pages
YA F Sutcliff The Eagle of the Ninth
After Marcus is wounded, he resigns from the Roman army but stays in Britain and buys a defeated gladiator for a servant who helps him search for his father. By Rosemary Sutcliff 255 pages
YA F Sutcliff The Lantern Bearers
Instead of leaving with the last of the Roman legions, Aquila, a young officer, decides that his loyalties lie with Britain, and he eventually joins the forces of the Roman-British leader Ambrosius to fight against the Saxon hordes. By Rosemary Sutcliff 281 pages
YA F Sutcliff The Shining Company
In 600 AD in Northern Britain, Prosper becomes a shield bearer with the Companions, an army made up of three hundred younger sons of minor kings and trained to act as one fighting brotherhood against the invading Saxons. By Rosemary Sutcliff 295 pages
YA F Sutcliff The Silver Branch
Justin goes to Britain to serve in the Roman army as a surgeon. When he discovers that the finance minister is betraying them to the local tribes, Justin asserts himself and gains self-confidence in his decisions. By Rosemary Sutcliff 231 pages
The Vikings (789 – 1085 AD)
YA F Cadnum
Daughter of the Wind
As
various groups of Vikings fight for supremacy of the northern lands and waters, Hallgerd, Gauk, and Hego, three young people from the quiet coastal village of Spjothof, find their fates intertwined as a series of events take them into danger far from home.
By Michael Cadnum 266 pages
YA F Cadnum Raven of the Waves
On his first Viking raid, seventeen-year-old Lidsmod sails on the ship Raven, joining his comrades as they destroy and plunder villages in medieval England and take an Anglo-Saxon boy as captive. By Michael Cadnum 200 pages
YA F Roberts Viking Warrior
Despite being the son of a chieftain and a princess, fourteen-year-old Halfdan lives as a slave in Denmark in A.D. 845 but through a tragic bargain he gains his freedom and sets out to claim his birthright. By Judson Roberts 368 pages
YA F Sutcliff Sword Song
At sixteen, Bjarni is cast out of the Norse settlement in the Angles’ Land for an act of oath-breaking and spends five years sailing the west coast of Scotland and witnessing the feuds of the clan chiefs living there. By Rosemary Sutcliff 271 pages
The Middle Ages (500 – 1500 AD)
Crusades/Pilgrimages
YA F Cadnum The Book of the Lion
In Twelfth century England, after his master, a coin maker for the king, is punished for allegedly cheating, seventeen-year-old Edmund finds himself traveling to the Holy Land as squire to a knight crusader on his way to join the forces of Richard Lionheart. By Michael Cadnum 204 pages
YA F Cadnum The Dragon Throne
At the request of Eleanor of Aquitaine, the newly knighted Edmund and Hubert accompany a young noblewoman on her dangerous pilgrimage from England to Rome. By Michael Cadnum 224 pages
YA F Cadnum The Leopard Sword
A knight’s squire, exhausted from the Crusades, must use his sword to fight attacking infidels during the return voyage to England. By Michael Cadnum 224 pages
YA F Crossley-Holland King of the Middle March
Arthur de Caldicot witnesses the horrors of the Fourth Crusade in Venice and Zara, as well as the downfall of King Arthur’s court, in his seeing stone. By Kevin Crossley-Holland 432 pages
YA F Goodman Peregrine
In 1144, fifteen-year-old Lady Edith, having lost her husband and child and anxious to avoid marrying a man she detests, sets out from her home in Surrey to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. By Joan E. Goodman 222 pages
YA F Grant Blood Red Horse
A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers and those around them as they fight with Kiwng Richard I against Saladin’s armies during the Third Crusades. By K.M. Grant 277 pages
YA F Jinks Pagan’s Crusade
In Twelfth century Jerusalem, orphaned sixteen-year-old Pagan is assigned to work for Lord Roland, a Templar knight, as Saladin’s armies close in on the Holy City. By Catherine Jinks 246 pages
The Pagan Chronicles Series also includes Pagan in Exile, Pagan’s Vows and Pagan’s Scribe
YA F McDonnell 1212: Year of the Journey
During the religious crusades that pit Muslim against Christian against Jew, a young shepherd has a vision that prompts him to gather children of all faiths and lead them on a crusade for peace. By Kathleen McDonnell 290 pages
King Arthur
YA F Crossley-Holland 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. By Kevin Crossley-Holland 324 pages
The Arthur Trilogy also includes At the Crossing-places and King of the Middle March
YA F Malone The Legend of the Lady Ilena
In Sixth century Great Britain, a fifteen-year-old girl seeking knowledge of her lineage is drawn into battle to defend the homeland she never knew, aided by one of King Arthur’s knights. By Patricia Malone 232 pages
YA F Malory The Boy’s King Arthur
Recounts the Tales of King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristam, Gareth, Galahad, Percival, and the Holy Grail. Edited By Sidney Lanier 321 pages
YA F McCaffrey Black Horses for the King
Galwyn, son of a Roman Celt, escapes from his tyrannical uncle and joins Lord Artos, later known as King Arthur, using his talent with languages and way with horses to help secure and care for the Libyan horses that Artos hopes to use in battle against the Saxons. By Anne McCaffrey 217 pages
YA F Sandell Song of the Sparrow
In fifth-century Britain, nine years after the destruction of their home on the island of Shalott brings her to live with her father and brothers in the military encampments of Arthur’s army, seventeen-year-old Elaine describes her changing perceptions of war and the people around her as she becomes increasingly involved in the bitter struggle against the invading Saxons. By Lisa Ann Sandell 394 pages
YA F White The Sword in the Stone
At a medieval manor, Kay and Wart (later King Arthur) learn the attributes necessary for becoming a successful knight. By T.H. White 311 pages
Joan of Arc (France)
YA F Chandler Warrior Girl
Although surrounded by treachery, Mariane, a young mute, battles alongside her cousin, Joan of Arc, for the liberation of France from the English. By Pauline Chandler 354 pages
YA F Garden Dove and Sword
In 1455 in France, Gabrielle is visited by Pierre d’Arc, a brother of Joan of Arc, and with him reminisces about their childhood together in Domremy and Joan’s subsequent trial and burning at the stake at Rouen twenty-four years before. By Nancy Garden 237 pages
Robin Hood
YA F Cadnum Forbidden Forest
Profiles Little John, from his quiet life before joining Robin Hood through his adventures protecting a beautiful lady when she is wrongfully accused of murdering her husband. By Michael Cadnum 218 pages
YA F McKinley The Outlaws of Sherwood
The author retells the adventures of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws who live in Sherwood Forest in twelfth-century England. By Robin McKinley 282 pages
YA F Pyle The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire
Recounts the legend of Robin Hood, who plundered the king’s purse and poached his deer and whose generosity endeared him to the poor. By Howard Pyle 398 pages
YA F Tomlinson The Forestwife
In England during the reign of King Richard I, fifteen-year-old Marian escapes from an arranged marriage to live with a community of forest folk that includes a daring young outlaw named Robert. By Theresa Tomlinson 170 pages
England
YA F Alder The King’s Shadow
After he is orphaned and has his tongue cut out in a clash with the bullying sons of a Welsh noble, Evyn is sold as a slave and serves many masters, from the gracious Lady Swan Neck to the valiant Harold Godwinson, England’s last Saxon king. By Elizabeth Alder 259 pages
YA F Avi Crispin: the Cross of Lead
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. By Avi 256 pages
Crispin: At the Edge of the World is the sequel to Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi.
YA F Crowley Feast of Fools
In England in the late Thirteenth century, a young chorister at the Cathedral of Saint Aelred, outcast because of his crippled foot, sympathizes with the city’s other outcasts, the Jews, and sets out to prove their leader innocent of murder. By Bridget Crowley 261 pages
YA F Cushman 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 longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off. By Karen Cushman 212 pages
YA F Cushman 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. By Karen Cushman 166 pages
YA F Cushman 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. By Karen Cushman 122 pages
YA F Goodman The Winter Hare
In 1140, with England divided between supporters of King Stephen and those of Empress Matilda, twelve-year-old Will Belet, small for his age but longing to be a knight, comes to his uncle’s castle to be a page and soon finds himself involved in dangerous intrigues and adventures. By Joan E. Goodman 255 pages
YA F Gray Adam of the Road
The adventures of eleven-year-old Adam as he travels the open roads of Thirteenth century England searching for his missing father, a minstrel, and his stolen red spaniel, Nick. By Elizabeth Janet Vining Gray 317 pages
YA F McGraw The Striped Ships
Juliana, an eleven-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. Includes glossary. By Eloise McGraw 229 pages
YA F Morris 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. By Gerald Morris 212 pages
The Squire’s Tale series also includes The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady, The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf, Parsifal’s Page, The Ballad of Sir Dinadan, The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight, The Lioness and Her Knight, and The Quest of the Fair Unknown
YA F Napoli Hush: An Irish Princess’ Tale
Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted. By Donna Jo Napoli 308 pages
YA F Pyle Men of Iron
When a young man achieves knighthood, he avenges his father who was wrongly accused of treason. By Howard Pyle 330 pages
YA F Tingle The Edge on the Sword
In ninth century Britain, fifteen-year-old Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred of West Saxony, finds she must assume new responsibilities much sooner than expected when she is betrothed to Ethelred of Mercia in order to strengthen a strategic alliance against the Danes. By Rebecca Tingle 277 pages
YA F Tingle Far Traveler
After the death of her mother, Aethelflaed of Mercia, seventeen-year-old Aelfwyn flees imprisonment by her uncle King Edward and, in the guise of a youthful bard, plays her part in the resolution of the tangled political enmities of tenth century Britain. By Rebecca Tingle 228 pages
Denmark
YA F Klein Ophelia: a Novel
In a story based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia tells of her life in the court at Elsinore, her love for Prince Hamlet, and her escape from the violence in Denmark. By Lisa M. Klein 328 pages
Ethiopia
YA F Wein The Sunbird
When, in the sixth century, plague spreads from Britain to Aksum, young Telemakos travels to the kingdom’s salt mines to discover the identity of the traitor to the crown who, ignoring the emperor’s command, is spreading plague with the salt from port to port. By Elizabeth E. Wein 209 pages
France
YA F Matas The Burning Time
After her father's sudden death, Rose Rives finds that sixteenth-century France is a dangerous place for women, when some greedy, vindictive men charge her mother and others with being witches. By Carol Matas 113 pages
Germany
YA F Leeds The Silver Cup
In 1096, Anna, a German Catholic girl, and Leah, a German Jewish girl, strike up a remarkable friendship and make surprising discoveries about each other. By Constance Leeds 212 pages
Italy
YA F Heuston Dante’s Daughter
In fourteenth-century Italy, Antonia, the daughter of Dante Alighieri, longs for a stable family and home while developing her artistic talent and seeking a place for herself in a world with limited options for women. By Kimberley Heuston 302 pages
YA F Hoffman The Falconer’s Knot
Silvano and Chiara, teens sent to live in a friary and a nunnery in Renaissance Italy, are drawn to one another and dream of a future together, but when murders are committed in the friary, they must discover who is behind the crimes before they can realize their love. By Mary Hoffman 297 pages
Poland
YA F Kelly The Trumpeter of Krakow
A Polish family in the Middle Ages guards a great secret treasure and a boy’s memory of an earlier trumpeter of Krakow makes it possible for him to save his father. By Eric Philbrook Kelly 208 pages
Scotland
YA F Cooney Enter Three Witches
When her father betrays the Scottish king and is hung as a traitor, Lady Mary’s future is bleak after she loses her only true protector and ends up locked away in the tower by the powerful and deadly Lord and Lady Macbeth. By Caroline B. Cooney 281 pages
YA F Hunter The King’s Swift Rider
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. By Mollie Hunter 241 pages
YA F Yolen Girl in a Cage
As English armies invade Scotland in 1306, eleven-year-old Princess Marjorie, daughter of the newly crowned Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, is captured by England’s King Edward Longshanks and held in a cage on public display. By Jane Yolen 240 pages
Turkey (Byzantium)
YA F Barrett Anna of Byzantium
In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy. By Tracy Barrett 209 pages
Renaissance (1420 – 1600 AD)
YA F Hoffman Incantation
During the Spanish Inquisition, sixteen-year-old Estrella, brought up a Catholic, discovers her family’s true Jewish identity, and when their secret is betrayed by Estrella’s best friend, the consequences are tragic. By Alice Hoffman 166 pages
YA F Williams The Executioner’s Daughter
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. By Laura E. Williams 134 pages
England
YA F Blackwood The Shakespeare Stealer
A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare’s acting troupe in order to steal the script of “Hamlet,” but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty. By Gary L. Blackwood 216 pages
YA F Cadnum Ship of Fire
In 1587, sailing to Spain on board Sir Francis Drake's ship "Elizabeth Bonaventure," seventeen-year-old surgeon's apprentice Thomas Spyre finds that, with the sudden death of his master, he must take over as ship's surgeon and prove his skill not only as a doctor but also as a fighter when he is enlisted by Drake to face battle. By Michael Cadnum 197 pages
YA F Kolosov The Red Queen’s Daughter
The orphaned daughter of Katherine Parr and Henry VIII, sixteen-year-old Mary Seymour vies to gain acceptance and fend off her jealous relatives and castle-mates as she enters into Queen Elizabeth’s court. By Jacqueline Kolosov 399 pages
YA F Meyer 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. By Carolyn Meyer 214 pages
YA F Meyer Doomed Queen Anne
In 1520, thirteen-year-old Anne Boleyn, jealous of her older sister’s beauty and position at court, declares that she will one day be queen of England, and that her sister will kneel at her feet. By Carolyn Meyer 230 pages
YA F Meyer Loving Will Shakespeare
In Stratford-upon-Avon in the sixteenth century, Anne Hathaway suffers her stepmother’s cruelty and yearns for love and escape, finally finding it in the arms of a boy she has grown up with, William Shakespeare. By Carolyn Meyer 265 pages
YA F Meyer Mary, Bloody Mary
Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII. By Carolyn Meyer 227 pages
YA F Meyer Patience, Princess Catherine
In 1501 fifteen-year-old Catharine of Aragon arrives in England to marry Arthur, the eldest son of King Henry VII, but soon finds her expectations of a happy settled life radically changed when Arthur unexpectedly dies and her future becomes the subject of a bitter dispute between the kingdoms of England and Spain. By Carolyn Meyer 198 pages
YA F Pope The Perilous Gard
In 1558 while imprisoned in a remote castle, a young girl becomes involved in a series of events that leads to an underground labyrinth peopled by the last practitioners of druidic magic. By Elizabeth Marie Pope 280 pages
YA F Rinaldi Nine Days a Queen
Lady Jane Grey, who at sixteen was Queen of England for nine days before being executed, recounts her life story from the age of nine. By Ann Rinaldi 184 pages
YA F Rinaldi The Redheaded Princess
In 1542, nine-year-old Lady Elizabeth lives on an estate near London, striving to get back into the good graces of her father, King Henry VIII, and as the years pass she faces his death and those of other close relatives until she finds herself next in line to ascend the throne of England in 1558. By Ann Rinaldi 214 pages
YA F Schmidt Anson’s Way
While serving as a British Fencible to maintain the peace in Ireland, Anson finds that his sympathy for a hedge master places him in conflict with the law of King George II. By Gary D. Schmidt 213 pages
YA F Thomas The Counterfeit Princess
Vowing revenge when her parents are executed in 1553 by the Duke of Northumberland, teenaged Iris becomes a messenger, spy, and stand-in for Princess Elizabeth during the volatile political times surrounding Edward VI's death. By Jane Resh Thomas 197 pages
YA F Thomson The Secret of the Rose
When her father is imprisoned in 1592 England for being Catholic, fourteen-year-old Rosalind disguises herself as a boy and finds an ultimately dangerous job as servant to playwright Christopher Marlowe. By Sarah L. Thompson 296 pages
YA F Yolen The 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. By Jane Yolen 390 pages
Italy
YA F Avi Midnight Magic
In Italy in 1491, Mangus the magician and his apprentice are summoned to the castle of Duke Claudio to determine if his daughter is indeed being haunted by a ghost. By Avi 249 pages
YA F Meyer Duchessina, a Novel of Catherine de Medici
While her tyrannical family is out of favor in Italy, young Catherine de Medici is raised in convents, then in 1533, when she is fourteen, her uncle, Pope Clement VII, arranges for her marriage to prince Henri of France, who is destined to become king. By Carolyn Meyer 261 pages
YA F Napoli 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-century Venice and then must confront the repercussions of her actions. By Donna Jo Napoli 274 pages
