International Settings in Fiction for Kids and Teens

 

Australia

 

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

  

Does My Head Look Big in This? By Randa Abdel-Fattah

• See also: Religion

 

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah

• Pub Date: 2017
• High school interest
• Diversity: Muslim protagonist
• See also: In the News, Multiple Narrators 
• Michael and Mina manage to connect despite their conflicting values. 

 

Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati

• Pub Date: 2013
• Middle and high school interest
• See also: Religion, Goal Oriented Girls 
• An Orthodox Jewish girl pursues her dream of ballet in secret because her parents would not approve. 

 

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

• Pub Date: 2014
• High school interest
• Sky lives with her dad and brother above a St. Kilda record shop. 

 

Austria

 

The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap

• Pub Date: 2009
• High school interest
• See also: Historical, Based on Real People
• Theresa Maria is determined to find out what really happened to her father in this historical mystery. 

 

 

Canada

 

Queen of Hearts by Martha Brooks 

• Middle and high school interest 
• See also: Historical 

 

Tripping by Heather Waldorf

• Pub Date: 2009
• High school interest
• See also: Travel, Long Lost Parent, Disabilities 
• While traveling on a cross-country trip, Rainey learns that her birthmother wants to meet her.

 

Central America

 

Why are you Doing That? by Elisa Amado

• Pub Date: 2014
• Grades PreS-1 interest 
• See also: Questions
• A curious little boy asks questions of the people in his community to learn where his food comes from. 

 

 

Colombia

 

Juana & Lucas by Juana Medina

• Pub Date: 2016
• Grades 1-3 interest
• Juana does not like learning English. 

 

England

 

Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

• Pub Date: 2013
• Middle school interest
• Kasienka and her mother move from Poland to England in this novel in verse. 

 

No Shame No Fear by Ann Turnbull

• Pub Date: 2004 
• Middle/High School Interest 
• See also: Religion, Multiple Narrators, Historical Fiction, Making Decisions, Forbidden Romance
• William, a new convert to the Quaker religion, must keep his romance with Susanna, who was raised in a Quaker family, a secret from his father who would not approve.

 

Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown

• Pub Date: 2014  
• Middle and high school interest
• See also: Disguised, Historical, Trust No One
• Samantha gets recruited to do espionage work in Germany during World War I.

 

Before I Die by Jenny Downham

• High school interest 
• See also: Losing Virginity

 

Slam by Nick Hornby

• Pub Date: 2007
• High school interest
• See also: Connecting with Books, Pregnancy and Childbirth
• Sam's life changes drastically when his girlfriend announces she's pregnant. 

 

Mad Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller

• Pub Date: 2014
• High school interest 
• See also: Historical, Goal Oriented Girls, Marriage, Forbidden Romance, Artists
• Victoria Darling is determined to pursue an art career and be independent at a time when this wasn't typical for women. 

 

The Gilded Cage by Lucinda Gray

• Pub Date: 2016 
• High school interest 
• See also: Historical, Trust No One, Fish Out of Water

 

Mad Miss Mimic by Sarah Henstra

• Pub Date: 2017 
• High school interest
• See also: Historical

 

 

 

France

 

Gran You’ve Got Mail by Jo Hoestlandt

• Pub Date: 2006
• Grades 3-6 interest
• Translated from the French 
• Annabelle starts writing letters to her great-grandmother to practice her typing and the two get to be friends.

 

I Love I Hate I Miss my Sister by Amelie Sarn

 

Like a Thorn by Clare Vidal

• Pub Date: 2008 
• Middle and high school interest 
• Translated from the French 
• See also: Mother-Daughter Relationship, Abuse 
• Melie's mother treats her like a thorn in her side--abuse no one can see is the hardest to prove.

 

Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow by Faiza Guene

 

Germany

 

Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet

• 1989 East Berlin
• Middle School Interest
• See also: Disguised, Historical, Trust No One

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak 

• High school interest 
• See also: Historical

 

Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown

• Pub Date: 2014 
• England & Germany, 1914
• Middle and high school interest
• See also: Disguised, Historical, Trust No One
• Samantha gets recruited to do espionage work in Germany during World War I.

 

India

 

Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami

• Pub Date: 2016
• Grades 2-4 interest
• See also: Books & Libraries

 

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman

• Pub Date: 2014
• Middle and high school interest  
• See also: Religion, Coaches/Mentors, Disabilities
• On my blog: The Difference a Prosthetic can Make 
• Veda's dance teacher (and love interest) helps her connect to dance on a spiritual level.  

 

 

Ireland

 

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

• Pub Date: 2007
• High school interest
• See also: Historical 
• Shell's secret pregnancy and birth ends in a tragedy that becomes a local controversy. 

 

Through the Barricades by Denise Deegan

• Pub Date: 2016
• High school interest
• See also: Historical 
• Maggie and Daniel fall in love, but are separated by war. 

 

 

The Netherlands

 

On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis

• Pub Date: 2016
• High school interest
• See also: Dystopia, Making Decisions 
• Denise has to decide if she will take the spot offered on a spaceship leaving earth as a comet is about to hit or stay with her family (or maybe try to sneak them on the ship?). 

 

Pakistan

 

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

• Pub Date: 2018
• Grades 5-8 interest
• Amal may be in indentured service, but she still loves to read. 

 

 

Rwanda

 

Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You by Hanna Jansen 

• High school interest 
• See also: Historical 

 

 

Scotland

 

Wait for Me by Carolina Leech

• Pub Date: 2017
• High school interest 
• See also: Historical, Forbidden Romance
• Lorna begins a romance with Paul, a German POW working on her family's farm in Scotland.

 

 

Back to Read Around the World