Historical Fiction (8-12)

Tirzah’s people, the Israelites, have been in slavery to the Egyptians for many years. Tirzah and her lame brother, Oren, help gather straw to make bricks. She observes the suffering of her people and the injustices that are done to them by the Egyptian police. Moses begs Pharaoh to let them go, but Pharaoh makes them work harder. One night, when the plague of death strikes down Pharaoh’s own son, he allows the Israelites to flee on foot, only to pursue them with horses and chariots. He believes he will have them trapped between the mountains and the sea, but God miraculously delivers them. The Israelites celebrate with a song of hope and victory. Tirzah befriends a young Egyptian girl who has fled with them, even though others treat her badly. In spite of hardship and disappointment, Tirzah and her family keep trusting Yahweh to carry them through.

When her grandfather is injured, 10-year-old Ellen Toliver replaces him on a top-secret patriotic mission. Disguised as a boy, she manages to smuggle a message to General George Washington.

G. A. Henty (1832–1903) wrote vastly popular, carefully researched books about fictional youngsters who lived during critical periods of history. In this exciting volume, he provides a thrilling glimpse of the struggle between Great Britain and Spain for supremacy of the high seas, as seen through the eyes of a sixteenth-century teenager, Ned Hearne. Along with three friends, young Ned is swept up in one adventure after another as he accompanies the daring English mariner Francis Drake on amazing voyages of discovery across the Pacific. An eyewitness to the great naval battle between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada, Ned has firsthand views of England's rise as the world's most powerful sea-going nation. A rousing, old-fashioned tale of ruthless life on the high seas, Under Drake's Flag introduces today's young readers to one of yesteryear's most widely read authors — a writer whose many talents earned him the title Prince of Storytellers.