Stories about the past

• Warriors of Alavna by NM Browne. This is about two children from today who go back in time and join the Celtic tribes fighting the Romans. For older children.
• Rosemary Sutcliff. If you like longer stories set in the past, then Rosemary Sutcliff is the author you want. Many of her stories, such as The Eagle of the Ninth, are set in Roman times, but she also writes about a lot of other periods of history.
• Derek the Depressed Viking series by Keith Brumpton. These are short, with lots of pictures - and very funny. Jeremy Strong has also written some funny Viking books. His Viking ends up in modern times, in our world.
• Fire, Bed and Bone, by Henrietta Branford is the story of the Peasants' Revolt - as told by a dog. Be ready to cry!
• King of Shadows, by Susan Cooper, is the story of a modern boy who ends up in Tudor London, and meets Shakespeare
• Coram Boy, by Jamila Gavin, has won lots of prizes. It's set in the eighteenth century.
• Mary Hooper has written a series about the adventures of a Victorian maid
• The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson is about a girl who is doing a project on the life of a Victorian housemaid.
• The Squint by Lesley Howarth, is about a boy who keeps finding himself back in the Middle Ages
• Enid Richemont has written several books about children who go back in time - or are they meeting ghosts?
• Arthur: the Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland is the story of a boy in the year 1200.
• If you want to mix history with puzzles, some of the Usborne Gamebooks are set in the past, such as Camelot Quest
• And, of course, there are the Horrible Histories. Yes, they're not stories, but they're still great fun.

If you're really hooked on stories set in the past, then ask at your local library to order books by authors such as Henry Treece, Cynthia Harnett, Leon Garfield and Barbara Willard. These are all older books, but we keep them at the children's libraries headquarters, and you can still borrow them if you ask.

Here are some stories set in the Second World War. Teachers are very fond of telling you to read a book like this, so here are some ideas.

• Carrie's War, by Nina Bawden, is about two children evacuated from London
• Warpath series. This series is set during World War Two, with action-packed real life adventures, photos and facts. They're by J Eldridge, and R Elsworth, and are short, fast and exciting.
• World War Two flashbacks. This is a series of four books, telling the stories of four young boys from four different countries, all in World War Two.
• Many of Robert Westall's books are set in World War Two. The Machine Gunners is the most famous
• Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian. You might have seen this on TV or video. The author lives on the Isle of Wight.
• Dawn of Fear, by Susan Cooper, and The Hurricane Summer, by Robert Swindells, are both about boys growing up in England during the war
• The War Guests series by Kit Pearson is about children evacuated to Canada
• Music on the Bamboo Radio, by Martin Booth, is about the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong
• When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit series, by Judith Kerr
• Freidrich by Hans Richter is set in Nazi Germany
• The Silver sword by Ian Serraillier is about Polish refugees

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