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Historical Fiction | Page 13 | LitPick Book Reviews
Historical Fiction
The Iron Tomb (Pyramid Hunters)
Pyramid Hunters: The Iron Tomb
Peter Vegas
Join Sam Force on a fast-paced adventure through Egypt that’s part National Treasure and part Indiana Jones with the start to a brand-new series packed with puzzles and clues for readers to figure out along the way!When Sam Force goes to Egypt to spend the summer with his uncle Jasper, he’s ready for the usual vacation filled with museums and lessons about the pharaohs and ancient gods. Instead, Sam arrives at the airport and learns that his uncle is missing and wanted by the police. After narrowly escaping his own arrest, Sam sets off to find his uncle using the series of clues that Jasper left behind. But a group of mysterious men are hot on his trail, and Sam knows they’re willing to do whatever it takes to track down Jasper and whatever Jasper was looking for. Now all Sam has to do is find it first. With the help of his new friends Hadi and Mary, and by using the knowledge of ancient Egyptian history and culture that he once hated, Sam makes his way across Egypt determined to find his uncle. And if he does, if he finds Jasper before it’s too late, he may also uncover the secret of the Iron Tomb…a secret that could change Sam’s life forever.

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Trouble the Water
Trouble the Water
From the award-winning author of Dovey Coe comes a sweeping tale of the friendship between a black girl and a white boy and the prejudices they must overcome in segregated Celeste, Kentucky, as the pair try to solve the mysteries surrounding a lonely old dog.Eleven-year-old Callie is fearless, stubborn, and a little nosy. So when she sees an old yellow dog wandering around town by itself, you can bet she’s going to figure out who he belongs to. But when her sleuthing leads her to cross paths with a white boy named Wendell who wants to help, the segregated town doesn’t take too kindly to their budding friendship. Meanwhile, a nearly invisible boy named Jim is stuck in a cabin in the woods. He’s lost his dog, but can’t remember exactly when his pup’s disappeared. When his companion, a little boy named Thomas, who’s been invisible much longer than he, explains that they are ghosts, the two must figure out why they can’t seem to cross the river to the other side just yet… And as Callie and Wendell’s search for the old dog brings them closer and closer to the cabin in the woods, the simmering prejudices of the townspeople boil over. Trouble the Water is a story that spans lifetimes, showing that history never truly disappears, and that the past will haunt us until we step up to change the present and stand together for what is right.

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A Bandit's Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket
A Bandit's Tale: The Muddled Misadventures of a Pickpocket
From an award-winning author of historical fiction comes a story of survival, crime, adventure, and horses in the streets of 19th century New York City.Eleven-year-old Rocco is an Italian immigrant who finds himself alone in New York City after he's sold to a padrone by his poverty-stricken parents. While working as a street musician, he meets the boys of the infamous Bandits' Roost, who teach him the art of pickpocketing. Rocco embraces his new life of crime—he's good at it, and it's more lucrative than banging a triangle on the street corner. But when he meets Meddlin' Mary, a strong-hearted Irish girl who's determined to help the horses of New York City, things begin to change. Rocco begins to reexamine his life—and take his future into his own hands.

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The King in the Stone (sequel to Two Moon Princess)

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The Left Behinds: Abe Lincoln and the Selfie that Saved the Union
The Left Behinds
David Potter
Percy Jackson fans will embrace this humorous time-travel adventure that sends Mel and his friends right into the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg.   Mel, Bev, and Brandon—the Left Behinds—are at it again. When the iTime app on their phones sends them to Washington, D.C., in 1863, they find themselves smack dab in the middle of the Civil War. They sit in on a séance with First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and are shown every inch of the White House by Tad, the youngest Lincoln. But when they meet President Abe Lincoln himself, he is preoccupied with the fateful battle at Gettysburg, which is just under way.   The kids receive their marching orders—they must somehow travel to Gettysburg, make sure what’s supposed to happen does happen, save the Union, and be home in time for dinner. No biggie. After all, it’s only the entire future of the country at stake.    Includes an author’s note and information on Civil War reenactments and living history sites around the nation.   Praise for the Left Behinds series: “The narrative is pure fun. . . . History made silly for readers who can’t get into it straight.” —Kirkus Reviews   “This is Magic Tree House all grown up, and kids who once loved that time travel conceit will be delighted all over again.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books   “Readers will charge through these super-short chapters like a Revolutionary soldier on the run.” —BookPage

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West to Grande Portage (The Canada West Historical Series Book 2)
West to Grande Portage
On his sixteenth birthday Phillipe Chabot is told that his brother-in-law has hired him to be a voyageur. He will be paddling west from Montreal to Grade Portage to trade supplies with the Indians for furs. He is overjoyed and receives all the appropriate clothing from his family as birthday gifts, even a tobacco pouch.As the loaded canoe brigade gets ready to leave, his cousin, Jeanne, accepts the proposal of marriage yelled at her by the clerk who is going along to keep track of the trading.Unfortunately, disaster strikes the brigade as the men paddle the rivers, make their portages, and get onto the sometimes violent and unforgiving Lake Superior. In Montreal, the city is ravished by a fire and many people die.

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A Daring Sacrifice
A Daring Sacrifice
Jody Hedlund
In a reverse twist on the Robin Hood story, a young medieval maiden stands up for the rights of the mistreated, stealing from the rich to give to the poor. All the while, she fights against her cruel uncle who has taken over the land that is rightfully hers. Forced to live in the woods and hide with the poor people she's grown to love, she works to save and protect them, but she never anticipates falling in love with the wealthy knight who represents all she's come to despise.

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Brother XII's Treasure
Brother XII's Treasure
The year is 1936, and seven children (aged eight to sixteen) are sprung from their respective boarding schools in England to the coast of British Columbia to embark on a summer sailing adventure like no other. On the way, they discover the true story of Brother XII, a shadowy figure recently disappeared from his island compound, who is rumored to have buried treasure on one of the coastal islands the children will be passing through. As their vacation quickly turns into a treasure hunt, the kids encounter a crazy cast of west-coast characters, until a cataclysmic event brings their search to an end.

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City of the Yeti
City of the Yeti
Top Choice
It's October 1922, and Danny Hawthorne is searching for the truth about the Yeti. During a family horseback trip in the Himalaya foothills, an accident isolates Danny and his younger sister Rachel in a remote valley, where they encounter tall strangers who are neither ape-like nor quite human.The children are escorted to an ancient, uncharted city, and invited to stay awhile. Communication is possible thanks to the creatures' telepathic abilities. Every century, this community entrusts a few, select humans with far-reaching secrets, and the two are now given the opportunity.Meanwhile, their parents arrange search parties, and soldiers prepare to move in. However, Danny and Rachel are sympathetic toward their hosts, and must devise a way to preserve the lost culture, while also ensuring a family reunion.Set in the evocative and mysterious mountains of Nepal, this book takes a refreshingly different and compassionate look at the Yeti, and the consequences of human encroachment on their territory.

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From the Publisher

Cold Comfort, Ill Wind
Cold Comfort, Ill Wind
Two Virginia brothers, Townsend and John Tyler Philips, are separated by the great war that breaks the Union apart. While Towns serves as a musician in the 51st Virginia Infantry, John Tyler attends Virginia Military Institute, hoping one day to fight for his country and be reunited with his brave younger brother. Neither could guess they would meet again on a bloody battlefield of that war, or that John Tyler would be injured and again separated from his brother Towns. Now, recovered from his wounds, John Tyler joins General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, defending Petersburg against overwhelming Union forces, while Towns marches with Confederate General Jubal Early to the gates of Washington, then, hounded by the Union Army, back to Virginia, where the Rebels meet a tough new adversary, Union General Philip Sheridan. Confederate victories are soon followed by defeat after defeat, and for young Townsend Philips, a deepening crisis of conscience and will.

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