Stories about teen girls from around the World

Anna of Byzantium ~Tracy Barrett
In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy.

The Dark Light ~Mette Newth
While enduring a bleak existence in a hospital for lepers in Norway during the early 1800s, Tora tries to find meaning in a life surrounded by death.

A Girl Named Disaster ~Nancy Farmer
While fleeing from Mozambique to Zimbabwe to escape an unwanted marriage, Nhamo, struggles to escape drowning and starvation and in so doing comes close to the luminous world of the African spirits.

Go and Come Back ~Joan Abelove
Alicia, a young tribeswoman living in a village in the Amazonian jungle of Peru, tells about the two American women anthropologists who arrive to study her people's way of life.

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade ~Diane Lee Wilson
In early fourteenth-century China, Oyuna tells her granddaughter of her girlhood in Mongolia and how love for her horse enabled her to win an important race and bring good luck to her family.

Mary, Bloody Mary ~Carolyn Meyer
Mary Tudor, who would reign briefly as Queen of England during the mid sixteenth century, tells the story of her troubled childhood as daughter of King Henry VIII.

Matilda Bone ~Karen Cushman
An apprentice bonesetter and practitioner of medicine in a village in medieval England tries to reconcile the various aspects of her life, both spiritual and practical.

Name Me Nobody ~Lois-Ann Yamanaka
Abandoned by her mother at age three, overweight and teased at school, Emi-Lou struggles to come of age in her middle school years in Hawaii.

One Bird ~Kyoko Mori
After her mother abandons them, Megumi tries to understand her father's need for his mistress while dealing with her own aching isolation.

The Raging Quiet ~Sheryl Jordan
Suspicious of Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.

The Return ~Sonia Levitin
Desta and the other members of her Falasha family, Jews suffering from discrimination in Ethiopia, finally flee the country and attempt the dangerous journey to Israel.

The Roller Birds of Rampur ~Indi Rana
An Indian teenager raised in England returns to India to find her identity.

The Sacrifice ~Diane Matcheck
When her father's death leaves her orphaned and an outcast among her Apsaalooka (Crow) people, Weak-one-who-does-not-last sets out to avenge his death and prove that she, not her dead twin brother, is destined to be the Great One.

Shadow Spinner ~Susan Fletcher
When physically disabled Marjan joins the Sultan's harem in ancient Persia, she gathers for Shahrazad the stories that will save the queen's life.

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind ~Suzanne Fisher Staples
Torn between allegiance to her family and her growing independence and strength, Shabanu tells the story of her life as a member of a nomadic tribe in the Pakistani desert.

Shiva's Fire ~Suzanne Fisher Staples
In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her mystical art.

Shizuko's Daughter ~Kyoko Mori
After her mother's suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother's family and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.

Song of Be ~Lesley Beake
A young Bushman woman, searching in the desert for the peace she remembers from her childhood, realizes that she and her people must reconcile new personal and political realities with ancient traditions.

The Spring Tone ~Kazumi Yumoto
Plagued by headaches and nightmares, Tomomi tries to make sense of her grandmother's death, her little brother's obsession with saving sick and abandoned cats and her fear that she is becoming a monster.

Ties That Bind, Ties That Break ~Lensey Namioka
Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.