Ann Rinaldi Books In Order

A Ride Into Morning

The Revolutionary War is raging. General Wayne’s soldiers are freezing, underpaid, and resentful. Whispers of mutiny abound.
A stone’s throw from the restless camp, Tempe Wick wages her own battle for survival. Despite her efforts, she fears she won’t be able to feed her family, care for her ailing mother, or maintain her farm for long.
As the whispers get louder, the soldiers get bolder. Mutiny is imminent. And Tempe faces a gut wrenching decision: Should she join the revolt?
Ann Rinaldi’s dramatic story is based on the legend of America’s Tempe Wick.
Reader’s guide included.

A Break with Charity

Susanna English desperately wants to join the circle of girls who meet every week at the parsonage, but she doesn t realize the leader of the group, the malicious Ann Putnam, is about to set off a torrent of false accusations that will lead to the imprisonment and execution of countless innocent people victims of a witch hunt panic. The author’s skillful manipulation of the conventions of the young adult novel particularly the rich exploration of being an outsider and going against the mainstream makes this book a superb vehicle for examining the social dynamics of this legendary event. The Horn Book

Keep Smiling Through

For young Kay, growing up in middle class America during World War II is a confusing and sometimes painful experience. Her stepmother, Amazing Grace, is a selfish woman who takes her unhappiness out on those around her. And for a little girl so concerned with pleasing others and doing the honorable thing, life with Amazing Grace is nearly unbearable. But Kay is also a believer. She’s determined to Keep Smiling Through, as the song says, knowing that one day she will do something extraordinary. A bittersweet historical novel. Kirkus Reviews

The Secret of Sarah Revere

Thirteen year old Sarah Revere knows her father is a hero. But she also knows that Paul Revere guards a secret about the start of the Revolutionary War that he’ll tell no one not his new wife, not his best friend, not even his trusted daughter. It seems everyone in her family has secrets. Sarah’s even got one of her own and it’s tearing her apart. Reader’s guide included.

Cast Two Shadows

It’s 1780, and war has come to Camden, South Carolina. Caroline Whitaker’s father is in prison for refusing to pledge allegiance to the king; her brother, Johnny, is away fighting for the Loyalists; and she, her mother, and her sister are confined to an upstairs chamber as British colonel Lord Francis Rawdon occupies their spacious plantation house. Caroline soon learns that Johnny is injured and needs her help to get home. Caroline receives permission from Rawdon to fetch Johnny, but she is not to make this journey alone. Her black grandmother, a slave on the plantation, accompanies her…
on a trip that turns Caroline’s already tumultuous world upside down and forces her to question all that she holds dear.
/Content /EditorialReview EditorialReview Source Amazon. com Review /Source Content Ann Rinaldi’s historical novels frequently illustrate the destruction of war through the eyes of the girls and women involved as spectators, victims, and reluctant participants. In Cast Two Shadows, Rinaldi uses the compelling young character Caroline Whitaker to reveal how the Revolutionary War affects life on a South Carolina plantation in 1780. Fourteen year old Caroline is caught in the violent web of war her Patriot father is imprisoned, her Loyalist brother Johnny is wounded, her best friend is hanged by the British before her eyes, and her sister is fast becoming the doxy of the cruel British officer who has commandeered their house. To further complicate matters, although her family chooses to ignore it, Caroline knows that she is the result of her father’s dalliance with one of his black slaves. In fact, her grandmother, Miz Melindy, still lives in the slave quarters. When Caroline and Miz Melindy take a long wagon journey together in an attempt to save Johnny, the young hero*ine at last comes to terms with the complexity and tumult of her life. Ages 11 to 16 Patty Campbell

An Acquaintance With Darkness

When her mother dies, fourteen year old Emily Pigbush is forced to go live with her uncle Valentine. She is immediately suspicious of her uncle’s unusual late night activities and fears he may be involved with body snatching, but every time she resolves to confront him, she is thrown off balance by something good he has done. When she stumbles upon the truth, the betrayal is more than she can bear. But when forced to put her emotions aside, Emily discovers that although her uncle is breaking the law, the risk he takes ultimately benefits mankind.

The Staircase

How could Lizzy Enders’s father leave her in a girls school run by the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe? She’s surrounded by Catholics, who pray to Saint Joseph and whose saints keep watch over her and she’s Methodist! Taunted by the other boarders, Lizzy befriends a wandering carpenter named Jos , who with just three tools and his unflagging faith builds a staircase to the choir loft of the new chapel. Through their friendship, Lizzy discovers the inner strength to forgive and to trust.
Working from the legend of the ‘miraculous’ staircase in the Chapel of Loretto in Santa Fe, Ann Rinaldi skillfully blends the mystery surrounding the builder of The Staircase with the daily trials of a young girl growing up in the 1870s.

Or Give Me Death

Sarah Henry, wife of the famous statesman Patrick Henry, is losing her mind, and she’s secretly being kept in the cellar because she is a danger to herself and her children. Daughter Anne has a secret, too. She knows which child will inherit Sarah’s madness, and she’ll pay any price to protect her siblings from this information. With insight and compassion, Ann Rinaldi explores the possibility that Patrick Henry’s immortal cry of ‘Give me liberty, Or Give Me Death,’ which roused a nation to arms, was first spoken by his wife, Sarah, as she pleaded to be released from her confinement. Told from the point of view of Patrick Henry’s children, Or Give Me Death eloquently depicts the secret life and tremendous burdens borne by one famous American.

Come Juneteenth

Sis Goose is a beloved member of Luli’s family, despite the fact that she was born a slave. But the family is harboring a terrible secret. And when Union soldiers arrive on their Texas plantation to announce that slaves have been declared free for nearly two years, Sis Goose is horrified to learn that the people she called family have lied to her for so long. She runs away but her newly found freedom has tragic consequences. How could the state of Texas keep the news of the Emancipation Proclamation from reaching slaves? In this riveting Great Episodes historical drama, Ann Rinaldi sheds light on the events that led to the creation of Juneteenth, a celebration of freedom that continues today. Includes an author’s note.

The Ever-After Bird

Now that her father is dead, CeCe McGill is left to wonder why he risked his life for the ragged slaves who came to their door in the dead of night. When her uncle, an ornithologist, insists she accompany him to Georgia on an expedition in search of the rare scarlet ibis, CeCe is surprised to learn there’s a second reason for their journey: Along the way, Uncle Alex secretly points slaves north in the direction of the Underground Railroad. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous pre Civil War South, The Ever After Bird is the story of a young woman’s education about the horrors of slavery and the realization about the kind of person she wants to become.

An Unlikely Friendship

On the night of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, his frantic wife, Mary, calls for her best friend and confidante, Elizabeth Keckley, but the woman is mistakenly kept from her side by guards who were unaware of Mary Todd Lincoln’s close friendship with the black seamstress. How did these two women one who grew up in a wealthy Southern home and became the wife of the president of the United States, the other who was born a slave and eventually purchased her own freedom come to be such close companions? With vivid detail and emotional power, Ann Rinaldi delves into the childhoods of these two fascinating women who became devoted friends and confidantes amid the turbulent times of the Lincoln administration.

A Stitch in Time

Hannah is the strong one. The one who cares for her brothers and sisters; the one who’s kept the family together. But now, everything is changing. Her father is more distant, and her siblings are starting lives of their own. That’s when Hannah decides to make a quilt. A quilt of fabrics from people who are special to the family; people they trust. And when the sisters are separated, Hannah makes sure they each have a piece of the quilt. The quilt she hopes will bring her family together again.

The Blue Door

When Amanda Videau witnesses a crime, she goes into hiding as a worker in her great grandfather’s mill, and her discovery of the horrible working conditions leads to a confrontation with the boss.

Time Enough for Drums

Sixteen year old Jem struggles to maintain the status quo at home in Trenton, New Jersey, when the family men join the war for independence.

There are signs of rebellion in the Emerson household several years before the actual American Revolution hits in 1776! Brought up in a relatively liberal household, Jemima Emerson is quite a challenge for her tutor, John Reid, who is known as a Tory with strong ties to England. How could Jem’s parents be friends with a man who opposes American freedom? Jem longs for freedom on every level, in the home and her homeland and John represents the forces that restrict her.

Jem and her family soon find themselves fighting for freedom in whatever ways they can in the Revolutionary War. Before long, Jem discovers that there is much more to Mr. Reid than she ever imagined. Her feelings about him change when Jem realizes that John shares her love of freedom and will risk his life to defend it.

The Last Silk Dress

High spirited, beautiful Susan Chilmark, fourteen, vows to do something meaningful to support the Confederacy during the Civil War. Despite the wishes of her mother, Susan and her best friend, Connie, collect silk dresses from all the ladies of Richmond to make a balloon that will be used to spy on the Yankees.

But the issues behind the war aren’t as obvious as Susan thinks. When she meets her dashing, scandalous older brother and discovers why he was banished from the family, Susan unlocks a Pandora’s box of secrets that forces her to rethink and challenge the very system she was born into. Does she have the courage to do what is right even though it may hurt the ones she loves?

Wolf by the Ears

The acclaimed author of The Last Silk Dress and Time Enough For Drums tells the intense, provocative story of a slave, Harriet Hemings, who some believe was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson. ‘Tantalizing…
history brought to life by a skillful and imaginative author.’ VOYA. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. HC: Scholastic.

In My Father’s House

Oscie Mason, a proud daughter of the Old South, is infuriated by her stepfather’s opinions about slavery, the Confederacy, and Oscie’s childhood world, and when he moves the family, Oscie learns about battles fought inside the home. K. AB.

The Fifth of March

‘Carefully researched and lovingly written, Rinaldi’s latest presents a girl indentured to John and Abigail Adams during the tense period surrounding the 1770 Massacre…
. Fortuitously timed, a novel that illuminates a moment from our past that has strong parallels to recent events. Bibliography.’–Kirkus Reviews

Finishing Becca

An independent minded young maid tells the story of social climber Peggy Shippen and how she influenced Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of the Patriot forces. Revolutionary Philadelphia is brought to life as Becca seeks to find her missing pieces while exploring the complicated issues of the war between the impoverished independence men and the decadent British Tories. This tale of treachery comes alive under Rinaldi s pen. Kirkus Reviews

Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons

Kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold as a slave in 1761, a young girl is purchased by the wealthy Wheatley family in Boston. Phillis Wheatley–as she comes to be known–has an eager mind and it leads her on an unusual path for a slave–she becomes America’s first published black poet. ‘Strong characterization and perceptive realism mark this thoughtful portrayal.’–Booklist

The Second Bend in the River

Rebecca Galloway is a busy pioneer girl in the Ohio Territory. Over the years, her friendship with Tecumseh, the respected Shawnee chief, grows into love. Rebecca must choose a future on her family homestead, or with the man she loves.

My Heart Is on the Ground

Acclaimed historical novelist Ann Rinaldi makes her ‘Dear America’ debut with the diary of a Sioux girl who is sent to a government run boarding school to learn the white man’s customs and language.

The Coffin Quilt

Fanny McCoy has lived in fear and anger ever since that day in 1878 when a dispute with the Hatfields over the ownership of a few pigs set her family on a path of hatred and revenge. From that day forward, along the ragged ridges of the West Virginia Kentucky line, the Hatfields and the McCoys have operated not withing the law but within mountain codes of their own making. In 1882, when Fanny’s sister Roseanna runs off with young Johnse Hatfield, the hatred between the two clans explodes. As the killings, abductions, raids, and heartbreak escalate bitterly and senselessly, Fanny, the sole voice of reason, realizes that she is powerless to stop the fighting and must learn to rise above the petty natures of her family and neighbors to find her own way out of the hatred.

Amelia’s War

As the Civil War rages, Amelia’s Maryland town is beset by divisions. Even she and her best friend Josh disagree. Amelia vows not to take sides, until the Confederate troops march into town…
led by Josh’s uncle.

The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce

By promising seven years of labor to a fellow traveler, Jasper earns passage aboard the Mayflower and closes the door on his troubled past. His document of the arduous ocean crossing and first year in the New World shows your child his physical and spiritual growth as he learns the strengths and weaknesses in himself, his Puritan people, and his Native American neighbors. Ages 9 12 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7

Girl in Blue

The year is 1861. When spirited teenager Sarah Louisa learns that she is to be married off to her despicable neighbor, she runs away from home. Disguising herself as a boy, Sarah boldly joins the army and before long is a soldier in the Civil War. Sarah navigates the joys and hardships of army life, all the while struggling to keep her true identity a secret. But Sarah’s real adventure is only just beginning. A chance encounter with a detective soon draws her into a web of mystery, intrigue, and romance and Sarah’s courage will be put to the test as never before.

Mine Eyes Have Seen

A bound edition of two titles in the Horrible Histories series. ‘The Terrible Tudors’ gives details of Tudor life, including cruel kings such as Henry VIII. ‘The Slimy Stuarts’ is full of facts about James I, suffering school children, revolting Roundheads and crafty Cavaliers.

Numbering All the Bones

It is 1864. The Civil War is coming to an end, and Southern slaves are slowly gaining their freedom. But for 13 year old Eulinda, a house slave on a plantation in Kentucky, it is the most difficult time of her life. Her yonger brother, falsely accused of stealing, has been sold. Then her older brother Neddy runs away. And Eulinda is left alone in a household headed by a cruel mistress and a master who will not acknowledge that Eulinda is his daughter. With her trademark attention to detail and historical accuracy, Ann Rinaldi weaves a gripping tale of a girl caught between two worlds.

Millicent’s Gift

Millicent has been waiting all her life for this moment to arrive her fourteenth birthday and the receiving of her Gift: the power to have one wish come true. For one time in her life, she can change absolutely anything she wants. But as her birthday draws near, Millicent gets glimpses of just how much her Gift will change her life, and she begins to have doubts. She begins to wonder if such an awesome power is a gift or a burden. Then, on a moonlit night, in the time it takes one bullet to travel twenty feet, Millicent’s world comes crashing down around her, and she is forced to face the full responsibility of her Gift.

Taking Liberty

When I was four and my daddy left, I cried, but I understood.

He became part of the Gone.

The only life Oney Judge has ever known is servitude. As part of the staff of George and Martha Washington, she isn’t referred to as a slave. She is a servant and a house servant at that, a position of influence and respect on the plantation of Mount Vernon. When she rises to the position of personal servant to Martha Washington, her status among the household staff black and white is second to none. She is Lady Washington’s closest confidante and, for all intents and purposes, a member of the family or so she thinks.

Slowly, Oney’s perception of her life with the Washingtons begins to crack as she realizes the truth: No matter how close she becomes with Lady Washington, no matter what secrets they share, she will never be a member of the family. And regardless of what they call it, it’s still slavery and she’s still a slave.

Oney must make a choice: Does she stay where she is, comfortable, with this family that has loved her and nourished her and owned her since the day she was born? Or does she take liberty her life into her own hands and, like her father, become one of the Gone?

Told with immense power and compassion, Taking Liberty is the extraordinary true story of one young woman’s struggle to take what is rightfully hers.

Sarah’s Ground

All my life I have done what my family wanted. I have performed and made them happy. Until now. Now I have broken out on my own Sarah Tracy has spent her entire life under constant supervision, always under the thumb of one older sibling or another. Now, at eighteen it’s time for her to get married, so she is sent to dinner parties, plays, teas, soirees, talks, and chaperoned walks always accompanied, always watched. Sarah’s tired of it tired of being shipped around, tired of being reminded that it’s time to find a suitable husband. She knows that a husband is definitely not what she wants. But the year is 1861 and it’s not proper for girls of Sarah’s age to be single or independent. Then Sarah sees an advertiseme*nt looking for a young woman to oversee Mount Vernon, the beloved, though now dilapidated, family home of George Washington. Intent on securing the position, she lies to her family and her potential employer, and she becomes mistress of this decaying symbol of American freedom. And then comes the American Civil War. As battles rage around her, Sarah is determined to create a haven of peace at Mount Vernon. With consummate skills, feminine wiles, and a true sense of diplomacy, Sarah single handedly manages to keep Mount Vernon out of the war. But while she is able to influence generals, soldiers, and even the president, she learns she doesn’t hold such sway over her own heart as she also discovers true love. Based on a true story, this is the amazing tale of one girl’s path to womanhood.

Mutiny’s Daughter

What if? In the most famous mutiny in the world, Fletcher Christian risked imprisonment by leading a rebellion aboard the HMS Bounty in 1789. But what happened to Fletcher Christian after that? There were stories that he survived a vicious massacre in the South Pacific and boarded a ship back to England. We know that he had several children by his Polynesian wife, including a daughter named Mary. Could he and Mary have reunited in England? Respected writer of historical fiction Ann Rinaldi brings her magic touch to the fascinating prospect What if? and weaves an enthralling tale told through the words of Fletcher Christian’s fourteen year old daughter, Mary. Behind the privileged walls of her new boarding school, Mary struggles to fit in, trying not to reveal the identity of her father, who dishonored his family name. Rollicking adventures await Mary as she ventures out into London’s crowded streets, desperately searching to see her father’s loving face one more time.

Brooklyn Rose

It’s 1900 the dawn of a new century and never in her wildest dreams did fifteen year old Rose Frampton ever think she’d leave her family and home on the peaceful shores of her island plantation in South Carolina…
especially not to live with a new husband in the land of the Yankees. But she is doing just that. Rose’s new life with her handsome and wealthy husband in Brooklyn, New York, is both scary and exciting. As mistress of the large Victorian estate on Dorchester Road, she must learn to make decisions, establish her independence, and run an efficient household. These tasks are difficult enough without the added complication of barely knowing her husband. As romance blossoms and Rose begins to find her place, she discovers that strength of character does not come easily but is essential for happiness. Writing in diary form, Ann Rinaldi paints a sensual picture of time and place and gives readers an intimate glimpse into the heart of a child as she becomes a woman.

Nine Days a Queen

I had freckles. I had sandy hair. I was too short. Would my feet even touch the ground if I sat on the throne? These are the words of lady Jane Grey, as imagined by celebrated author Ann Rinaldi. Jane would become Queen of England for only nine days before being beheaded at the age of sixteen. Here is a breathtaking story of English royalty with its pageantry, privilege, and surprising cruelty. As she did in her previous novel Mutiny’s Daughter, Ms. Rinaldi uses powerful, evocative writing to bring to life a teenage girl caught in the grip of stirring times. Ages 12

The Color of Fire

Someone is setting fires in New York City. It is 1741 and, as a colony of Britain, America is at war with Spain. The people in New York City are on a heightened state of alert, living in fear of Catholics acting as Spanish secret agents. Phoebe, an enslaved girl, watches as the town erupts into mass hysteria when the whites in New York City convince themselves that the black slaves are planning an uprising. Her best friend, Cuffee, is implicated in the plot, and the king’s men promise to let him go if he names names. Several people are hanged and many more are burned at the stake, but the mob won’t rest until they find a mastermind behind the plan, someone Catholic and white and there’s suspicion that Phoebe’s teacher Mr Ury is a priest.

The Redheaded Princess

Growing up, Elizabeth fears she can never be Queen. Although she is the King’s daughter, no woman can ever hope to rule over men in England, especially when her mother has been executed for treason. For all her royal blood, Elizabeth’s life is fraught with danger and uncertainty. Sometimes she is welcome in the royal court; other times she is cast out into the countryside. With her position constantly changing, the Princess must navigate a sea of shifting loyalties and dangerous affections. At stake is her life for beheading is not uncommon among the factions that war for the Crown. With the vivid human touch that has made her one of the foremost writers of historical fiction, Ann Rinaldi brings to life the heart and soul of the young Elizabeth I. It’s a portrait of a great leader as she may have been as she found her way to the glorious destiny that lay before her.

Juliet’s Moon

War is turning Juliet Bradshaw’s world upside down. Her brother, Seth, rides with William Quantrill’s renegade Confederate army, but he’s helpless when the Yankees arrest Juliet along with the wives and sisters of Quantrill’s soldiers as spies. Imprisoned in a dilapidated old house in Kansas City, Juliet is one of a handful of survivors after the building collapses, killing most of the young girls inside. When she’s reunited with her brother, Juliet finds the life she had previously known is gone. Surrounded by secrets, lies, murder, and chaos, she must determine just how far she will go to protect the people and things she holds dear.

The Letter Writer

Eleven year old Harriet Whitehead is an outsider in her own family. She feels accepted and important only when she is entrusted to write letters for her blind stepmother. Then Nat Turner, a slave preacher, arrives on her family’s plantation and Harriet befriends him, entranced by his gentle manner and eloquent sermons about an all forgiving God. When Nat asks Harriet for a map of the county to help him spread the word, she draws it for him wanting to be part of something important. But the map turns out to be the missing piece that sets Nat s secret plan in motion and makes Harriet an unwitting accomplice to the bloodiest slave uprising in U.S. history. Award winning historical novelist Ann Rinaldi has created a bold portrait of an ordinary young girl thrust in to a situation beyond her control.

My Vicksburg

Claire Louise Corbet has never had trouble making up her mind. She knows what she wants and how to get it. But when the Yankee soldiers shell their town, she begins to discover that decisions are not always black and white, and they are anything but easy. For forty seven days, the Union army lays siege to the town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, forcing Claire Louise and her family to flee their home to live in the safety of a nearby cave. When her beloved brother Landon, a doctor in the Union army, shows up one day with a wounded Confederate soldier named Robert, Claire Louise knows there’s more to the story than she is being told. Eventually she learns that Robert is responsible for allowing an order from Robert E. Lee to fall into Union hands, causing the South to lose the Battle of Antietam. As a captain in the army, Landon is honor bound to turn Robert over to authorities. But if he does, Robert will most assuredly be tried for treason. This knowledge weighs heavily on Claire Louise as she takes it upon herself to make a difficult choice between family and friend…
and live with the consequences of her decision.

Leigh Ann’s Civil War

Leigh Ann Conners is spunky and determined. Although she often finds herself in trouble, she loves her two older brothers dearly and would do anything to make them proud. When the Yankees arrive in Roswell, Georgia, Leigh Ann places a French flag upon the family’s mill. She hopes the Yankees will then spare the mill from destruction, but her actions have disastrous results. Sent north with the women and children who worked in the mill all branded traitors for making fabric for Confederate uniforms Leigh Ann embarks on a journey that requires her to find her own inner strength. Only then will she be able to rise above the war raging around her.

The Family Greene

Cornelia Greene is fed up with gossip about her mother. Caty Littlefield Greene was once a beautiful young bride who lifted the troops spirits at Valley Forge, but Cornelia knows that rumors of Caty’s past indiscretions hurt Nathanael Greene, Cornelia s adored father. Yet Caty claims that she s just a flirt, and that flirting is a female necessity a woman s only means of power. Cornelia s concern with her mother s reputation abruptly fades to the background when she learns that Nathanael Greene may not be her father. As she searches for the truth, she makes unexpected discoveries that lead her to a new understanding of love and family.

The Last Full Measure

As Confederate and Union soldiers take over their town, the local residents can do little more than hunker down in their homes while cannon and gunfire explode around them. But the battles are not only fought between soldiers. At home, fourteen year old Tacy and her disabled brother lock horns as David struggles with his desire to go to war. He has strong principles, and it tortures him to allow others to fight while he does nothing. In the aftermath of this great and terrible battle, in whichso many soldiers sacrifice their lives for their beliefs, David gives his last full measure and leaves Tacy struggling to make sense out of it all.