A LONG TIME AGO: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY THROUHG THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
To the Bone by Alena Bruzas
Ellis, an indentured servant, leaves England for America, full of hope. Soon after, she begins to notice cracks in her new life leaving her to wonder if she made the right decision. When winter arrives gripping the Fort in hunger, Ellis is about to learn that people will do whatever it takes to survive.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tells the classic story of a young Englishman who gives his life during the French Revolution to save the husband of the woman he loves.
Lady of Disguise by Melanie Dickerson
A young maiden undergoes a journey to save her sister and herself. Will the chivalrous knight, Sir Charles, help her find the treasure she seeks high up on a mountain before her uncle can marry her off?
The Windeby Puzzle: history and story by Lois Lowry
Told in two voices, two outcasts in an Iron Age village befriend each other, as disabled, orphaned Varick helps Estrild achieve her dream of becoming the first female warrior.
Immortality: a love story by Dana Schwartz
Released from prison to become the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV, Hazel Sinnett is drawn into a world of courtly intrigue and romance where everyone has something to hide.
Wild Bird by Diane Zahler
Get lost in a sweeping adventure following Rype, an abandoned girl in 14th-century Europe, as she walks from Norway to England looking for safety from the plague.
Graphic Novels
An Outbreak of Witchcraft by Deborah Noyes
This graphic-novel telling of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, creates a narrative out of the historical context and what we can imagine of those accused.
Nonfiction
African Icons by Tracey Baptiste
Full-color portraits illustrate the stories of ten people-rulers, educators, inventors, scholars, and explorers-who helped shape the African continent and the world from ancient times through the tumultuous sixteenth century.
The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb by Candace Fleming
This thrilling true story follows two Brits who were plagued by mysterious illnesses, accidents, and death after uncovering Tutankhamun’s tomb, which is said to be cursed, while battling for ownership of the treasures within.
Goddesses and Heroines: Women of Myth and Legend by Xanthe Gresham-Knight
Illustrated myths and legends from an assortment of cultures celebrate female power, in a treasury based on orignial texts that includes the stories of imaginative world creator Aphrodite, math genius Hecate, barrier-breaking Mulan, cultural unifier Osun and the not-so-fairy godmother Baba Yaga.
SLAVERY, THE CIVIL WAR, RECONSTRUCTION, EXPANSION, AND INDUSTRIALIZATION
My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand
When two masterminds—Mary, the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, and Ada, the daughter of Lord Byron—are brought together by fate, they make a shocking discovery that draws the attention of a mad scientist.
Queen Bee by Amalie Howard
Disguising herself as a mysterious heiress to infiltrate London’s elite, Lady Ela Dalvi questions whether vengeance is still her greatest desire when she reunites with the only boy she’s ever loved while seeking revenge against the friend who betrayed her.
African Town by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
Chronicles the story of the last Africans brought illegally to the United States in 1860 including the savage Middle Passage, being hidden in the swamplands, and being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain their culture and also fit into the place of captivity.
Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams
Biracial twin sisters, who look very different, are determined to uncover the truth behind their parents’ lynching in the Jim Crow South and finally put the past to rest.
Crossing the Deadline: Stephen’s Journey Through the Civil War by Michael Shoulders
Left at the mercy of a cruel uncle after his father passes away in 1861, Stephen, an accomplished musician, witnesses the sad consequences of slavery and decides to enlist as Colonel Eli Lilly’s personal bugler before enduring a long internment in a Confederate prison before being sent home.
My Name is Not Friday by Jon Walter
Samuel and his brother, Joshua, are free black boys living in an orphanage during the Civil War, but when Samuel takes the blame for his brother’s prank, he is sent South, given a new name, and sold into slavery.
Graphic Novel
Wake: the Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall
Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery takes a deep dive into the history of slavery, and through her journey she finds women warriors everywhere.
Nonfiction
Those Who Saw the Sun: African Oral Histories from the Jim Crow South by Jaha Nailah Avery
A collection of oral histories told by Black people who grew up in the South during the time of Jim Crow. Hear this history as it was experienced by those who were really there.
The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equality by Hana Bajramovic
This investigation looks at three famous court cases that took place decades apart examining the impact that the fourteenth amendment has and continues to have on our rights as citizens.
Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford
A multi-generational family history told in the voices of the author’s ancestors, spanning enslavement alongside Frederick Douglass at Maryland’s Wye House plantation, service in the U.S. Colored Troops, and the founding of all-Black Reconstruction-era communities.
TURN OF THE CENTURY, THE ROARING 2OS AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION
For Lamb by Lesa Cline-Ransome
In 1930s Jackson, Mississippi, a quiet, studious and naive girl named Lamb tentatively accepts the friendly overtures of a white girl, which sets in motion a series of events that end in tragedy.
The Brightwood Code by Monica Hesse
This thriller is about the Hello Girls, females employed by the U.S. Army to operate phone lines in France. In 1918, 18-year-old Edda returns to the U. S. haunted by a mistake that cost her job and possibly others’ lives. Now, she lives in Washington, D.C., and works as an American Bell Telephone operator. One night, a call forces her to confront her past.
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’re not supposed to.
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
When Matthew finds a tattered photo in his great-grandmother’s belongings, he discovers a clue to a hidden chapter of her past. Set in alternating timelines that connects us to the 1930s and the US to the USSR, this novel sheds fresh light on the horrific famine that killed millions of Ukrainians.
Graphic Novels
The Bodyguard Unit: Edith Garrud, Women’s Suffrage, and Jujitsu by Xavier Clement
In the early twentieth century women in England who demanded the right to vote faced violent retaliation. The suffragist group Women’s Social and Political Union formed its own security unit and learned how to fight back!
The Great Gatsby: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by K. Woodman-Maynard
From the green light across the bay to the billboard with spectacled eyes, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American masterpiece roars to life in this exquisite graphic novel. Painted in lush watercolor this interpretation emphasizes both the extravagance and mystery of the characters, as well as the fluidity of Nick Carraway’s unreliable narration.
Nonfiction
Bonnie and Clyde: the Making of a Legend by Karen Blumenthal
Bonnie and Clyde have been immortalized in movies, songs, and pop culture references. They are remembered mostly for their storied romance and tragic deaths. But what was life really like for Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker in the early 1930s? How did two dirt-poor teens from west Texas morph from vicious outlaws to legendary couple? And why?
The Wild River and the Great Dam: the Construction of the Hoover Dam and the Vanishing Colorado River by Simon Boughton
Combining elements of engineering, geography, and history, and drawing from unpublished oral histories, this book follows the construction and impact of the Hoover Dam and its lasting environmental effects on the Colorado River and the American West.
Picturing a Nation: the Great Depression’s Finest Photographers Introduce a Nation to Itself by Martin W. Sandler
In 1935, ten photographers went on the road trip of a lifetime logging images that revealed the daily lives of sharecroppers, Dust Bowl farmers, migrant workers, and families scraping by in cities. They used their cameras as weapons against poverty and racism.
Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop
Twelve-year-old Grace does her best working at the mill to bring in more money for her family, and when Grace writes a letter to the Child Labor Board describing the conditions, things change when a reporter shows up to get the story.
WORLD WAR II, THE HOLOCAUST AND JAPANESE INTERNMENT
The Blood Years by Elana K. Arnold
Based on the author’s grandmother’s true experiences during the Holocaust in Romania, this harrowing story follows Rieke Teitler as she must decide whether holding on to her life might mean letting go of everything that has ever mattered to her.
Artifice by Sharon Cameron
Isa de Smit grew up in her parents’ art gallery in Amsterdam, but in the middle of the war she survives by selling fake paintings to the Nazis while trying to help her friend, Truus, smuggle Jewish babies to safety–but in 1943 it is hard to know who to trust.
Trajectory by Cambria Gordon
As the United States enters World War II, seventeen-year-old Eleanor wants to do something to help her Jewish relatives in Poland, so she puts her brilliant math skills to work for the US army to fine-tune a top-secret weapon that will help defeat the enemy.
Heroes by Alan Gratz
During WWII, Frank and Stanley are aboard the battleship the USS Utah when the ship is attacked by the Japanese. Frank and Stanley find their friendship in jeopardy because Stanley, who’s mother is a Japanese American, is seen as the “enemy.”
The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina
In July 1944, as the Red Army drives the Nazis out of Poland, sixteen-year-old Maria Kamiânska must work with a captured Ukrainian nationalist to find her brother, who is a special operations agent and leader of a Polish Resistance squad, when he disappears while on a mission.
The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor
Inheriting a Parisian apartment that was abandoned after World War II, Alice teams up with a student to uncover the story of a long-lost great aunt who hid her work with the Resistance behind the persona of a socialite Nazi collaborator.
Graphic Novel
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust by Neal Shusterman
This gripping, multifaceted tapestry is woven from Jewish folklore and cultural history. Five interlocking narratives explore one common story – the tradition of resistance and uplift.
Nonfiction
The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candace Fleming
During WWII, Bletchley Park, operating under the code name Station X, was run by teenaged girls who helped turn the tide of the war for the Allies with their hard work, their determination and, most importantly, their ability to keep a secret.
Days of Infamy: How a Century of Bigotry Led to Japanese American Internment by Lawrence Goldstone
This book examines the history of racism against Japanese Americans, exploring the territory of citizenship and touching on fears of non-white immigration to the US –with hauntingly contemporary echoes.
American Wings: Chicago’s Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky by Sherri L. Smith and Elizabeth Wein
Following a group of determined Black Americans who created a flying club as the U.S. hurtled toward WWII, this inspiring true story recounts how these pioneering Black men and woman battled powerful odds for an equal share of the sky.
COLD WAR, CIVIL RIGHTS AND WORLD HISTORY THROUGH THE VIETNAM WAR
All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen
Set in two time periods, two Black students confront systemic racism and challenge societal expectations at their prestigious schools, as Kevin navigates the aftermath of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1965 and Gibron challenges his school’s “see no color” hypocrisy in 1995.
I Am Here Now by Barbara Bottner
A coming-of-age novel in free verse, set in the 1960s, follows fourteen-year-old Maisie and her longtime friend Richie as they start high school. Each one struggles to navigate the challenges of an abusive parent and a tumultuous home.
Walls: A Novel by L. M. Elliott
In the year leading up to the rising of the Berlin Wall, two cousins are living on opposite sides of the conflict. Drew and Matthias, argue over the space race, politics, and civil rights, but bond over music. As the political conflict around them grows dire, Drew and Matthias are tested in ways that will change their lives forever.
Warrior on the Mound by Sandra W. Headen
In 1939 North Carolina, an all-Black baseball team “trespasses” on the whites-only baseball field, and the resulting racial outrage can only be resolved on the mound.
The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson
In 1955, when his family, who passes for white, moves to an idyllic all-white suburban town, Calvin, who secretly makes friends across town, finds himself caught between two worlds when he discovers dark secrets about the white town and its inhabitants, which places his family in danger.
I’ll Tell You No Lies by Amanda McCrina
In 1955 New York, eighteen-year-old Shelby, the daughter of an Air Force intelligence officer, finds herself entangled with an escaped Soviet pilot and becomes an increasingly willing accessory as she learns his secrets, but must first learn to separate fact from fiction.
Torch by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
When seventeen-year-old Pavol fatally sets himself on fire in Prague in 1969 to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, his three best friends must figure out how to survive an oppressive regime without him.
Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi
When her mother disappears, Nigeria Jones, the daughter of the leader of a Black liberation group, searches for her, uncovering a shocking truth which leads her to question everything she thought she knew about her life and her family.
Graphic Novels
Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali by Marc Bernardin
Muhammad Ali demanded to be looked at, to be seen, and this epic captures his meteoric rise from Cassius Clay to Olympian and heavyweight champion of the world with stunning illustrations befitting his storied legacy.
Victory Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and Dawud Anyabwile
During the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, gold medalist, Tommie Smith and bronze medalist, John Carlos stood on the podium and raised their fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics and endure long lasting consequences.
Nonfiction
Witch Hunt : The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare by Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy
At the cusp of the Cold War, Americans were so afraid of communists living among them that they began to hunt them like witches. As Senator Joe McCarthy targeted “communists”, U. S. citizens were so terrified of being accused that they turned on each other.
Of All Tribes: American Indians and Alcatraz by Joseph Bruchac
Recounts the stirring history of the 1969 Occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans seeking to reclaim the land, garnering international focus on Native American rights while inspiring a whole new generation of Native activists and igniting the modern American Indian Movement.
Marked Man: Frank Serpico’s Inside Battle Against Police Corruption by John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro
For more than a century, the New York Police Department had been plagued by corruption, with cops openly taking bribes. Not Serpico. He refused to take dirty money and fought to shed light on the dark underbelly of the NYPD making him the target of every crooked cop on the force.
And We Rise: the Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin
In stunning verse and vivid use of white space, Erica Martin’s debut poetry collection examines the Civil Rights Movement—from the well-documented events beginning with the “Separate but Equal” ruling to lesser-known figures and moments that were just as crucial to the Movement.
Freedom Summer 1964: Turning Point for Voting Rights by Ngeri Nnachi
This important book brings to life the Freedom Summer in 1964 Mississippi, a movement to register Black voters, introducing the people, events, and results of the movement and showing why voting rights remain an important issue today.
MODERN HISTORY
No Stopping Us Now by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
When Louisa asks her principal to start a girls team, she becomes the target of male coaches at her school. She is lied to by the school board, and dismissed as “out of line” as she fights for a fair chance to be an athlete. This is a story about finding one’s own voice through the joys of sports, love, and the power of sisterhood.
The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert
Told from multiple points of view, Ardith and Hollis Blackwood’s lives are upended when their great-grandmother, legendary actress Blossom Blackwood, passes away, and family secrets emerge.
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.
Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson
After their friend Steph is murdered, Quadir, Jarrell, and Steph’s sister Jasmine promote his music under a new rap name, the Architect, but when his demo catches a music label rep’s attention, the trio must prove his talent from beyond the grave.
Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg
In 1987 NYC, when Micah and C.J. start dating after meeting at a club, their relationship is tested, strained, pushed and pulled as their lives become more and more entangled in the AIDS epidemic laying waste to their community.
Just a Hat by S. Khubiar
In 1979 Texas, thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan struggles to trust others and stay true to himself when the Iran hostage crisis, two neighborhood bullies and the local reverend’s beautiful daughter put him in danger, until he discovers he’s not alone.
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai
In the final days of the Vietnam War, Háæang takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to get him to safety in America. When he is ripped from her arms, Háæang is left behind in war-torn Vietnam. Six years later, as a refugee in Texas, Háæang is reunited with Linh, she realizes he doesn’t remember her, their family, or their past.
All We Have Left by Wendy Mills
In interweaving stories of sixteen-year-olds, modern-day Jesse tries to cope with the ramifications of her brother’s death on 9/11, while in 2001, Alia, a Muslim, gets trapped in one of the Twin Towers and meets a boy who changes everything for her as flames rage around them.
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
In a country governed by isolation, fear, and a tyrannical dictator, seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. Cristian decides to use his position to try to outwit his handler, undermine the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country.
Nonfiction
The Miracle On Ice by Brian Trusdell
No team was more intimidating than the Soviet Union national team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. And no team was less likely to beat them than the oddball collection of college and amateur players that made up the U. S. national team. What the world witnessed on the ice that day was nothing short of a miracle.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: CURRENT EVENTS
Sanctuary Cities by Marcia Amidon Lüsted
As part of his crackdown on illegal immigration, President Trump’s vow to defund sanctuary cities, that protect low-priority immigrants from deportation, has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy.
RBG A to Z : The Life of an Icon from ACLU to Gen Z by Jo Stewart
This intricately illustrated book unpacks the life of RBG. It explores Ruth’s early days growing up in Brooklyn, her time at Cornell and at Harvard, where she was the first female member of the Harvard Law Review and her persistence in fighting for gender equality. It explores the tremendous impact she had on the world.
Thinking Critically: Social Media by Bradley Steffens
Social media makes spreading disinformation so easy that the world is awash in it. While one false post can be dismissed as ridiculous, the accumulation of disinformation can take its toll on social media users, eroding their confidence in traditional institutions.
Renewable and Alternative Energy by Lisa Idzikowski and Avery Elizabeth Hurt
With the extreme weather events caused by climate change becoming increasingly common and many natural resources used for energy becoming increasingly rare, scientists, politicians, and corporate leaders alike have made an effort to find renewable forms of energy that will have less of a negative environmental impact.
Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence – and How it Will Change Everything by Martha Brockenbrough
Exploring the origins of artificial intelligence, this eye-opening nonfiction book guides us through this technology, exploring how AI has touched every corner of our world and discussing how it’s already affecting us and how it’s likely to affect us in the near future.
Compiled by Ms. Tina in 2025
