Historical and classic C/YA books

Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-1992) wrote many historical novels for children and adults. Her Dolphin Ring series, telling the story of several generations of a Roman Britain family, begins with The Eagle of the Ninth, the basis for a 1977 miniseries and a 2011 film. She also wrote an Arthurian trilogy, a standalone adult Arthur novel titled Sword at Sunset, children's retellings of mythology, short stories, and an autobiography.

Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923) grew up in Maine and then lived in California and New York City. She was a teacher and the founder of a school for training teachers. Her fiction includes The Birds' Christmas Carol (1883), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903) and its sequel, and the Penelope series, about a trio of women travelling around the United Kingdom. In her autobiography she wrote about meeting Charles Dickens on a train as a little girl.

Beverly Cleary (1916-2021) was the author of the Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins books, The Mouse and the Motorcycle and its sequels, an autobiography in two volumes, and many more. She was a children's librarian before she was an author.

M. T. Anderson has has a varied career, with picture books, graphic novels, and YA to his name. Most relevant to this community is the duology The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, the story of a young black boy before and during the American Revolution.

What was the last book you read?

My heart primarily belongs to Beyond the Western Sea, a Victorian adventure concerning emigration, a floating church, sibling devotion, a gallant actor named Horatio Drabble, and a weaselly redhead named Fred.

Then there's the Bloody Jack series, which is just begging for femslash fic. Jacky starts out as a midshipman in the British navy until she's discovered as a girl and sent to boarding school in Boston.

Philip Pullman has a series about Sally Lockhart, financial consultant and amateur detective. The third book is also begging for femslash, and The Tin Princess for F/F/M threesome. Plus the movies feature Doctor Who's Billie Piper and Matt Smith.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is an absolute must-read.

I love Jennifer L. Holm's Boston Jane trilogy for the way it plays with Jane's character arc.

What about you?