Young Adult Round Up

I'm turning the blog over to my teenage daughter for her round-up of recommended YA historicals.  She's a very eclectic reader, so I hope you'll enjoy her choices!

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, by R. L. LaFevers: Theodosia Throckmorton is a young girl whose parents run a small London museum displaying ancient Egyptian artifacts. She has been hiding a huge secret from her family for many years: she has the special ability to detect and obliterate curses on the artifacts her mother and father unwittingly unleash upon their museum. However, when her mother brings home the famed amulet known as the heart of Egypt, a curse much more deadly threatens to overtake perhaps even the entire British Empire. Will Theo be able to counteract the curse and keep the amulet out of the hands of those who would use it for evil?

Bloody Jack, by L. A. Meyer: Mary “Jacky” Faber is an orphan living on the streets of London. When her gang’s leader is murdered by body sellers, she decides to fulfill her dream of going to sea by disguising herself as a cabin boy. On the H. M. S. Dolphin, Jacky is busy making friends and enemies and using her considerable wiles to get ahead with her captain and fellow sailors, forever guarding the secret that could get her killed.

A Spy in the House, by Y. S. Lee: An orphaned, penniless young girl called Mary Quinn is rescued from the death penalty in 1850s London and taken to live at Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. After receiving a rigorous education, at seventeen years old she is enlightened to the fact that the academy is merely a cover-up for a female spy network called The Agency and offered a position in the organization. Her first mission is to act as a lady’s companion for the daughter of a merchant suspected of foul play, gathering information while an unknown counterpart does the nitty-gritty investigation. However, Mary’s insatiable hunger for knowledge leads her to stumble upon a conspiracy more serious than her superiors had imagined. Will she be able to bring the criminals to justice without paying the ultimate price?

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs: Jacob never really believed the stories his grandfather told him when he was younger: stories of an old house on an island where gifted children lived, of a wise old bird who smoked a pipe, and of monsters lurking in the darkness. But now his grandfather is dead, killed by the very monsters he sought to eradicate; and Jacob must find the house of peculiar children to set things straight, once and for all.

Accompanied by a charming collection of authentic old photographs, this masterfully-told tale will astound and delight.