Ann Rinaldi Books in Order

Rinaldi’s first novel centers on a school assignment that becomes more personal than expected. A teen narrator finds that writing honestly can expose family tensions, friendships, and uncomfortable truths.

In this early contemporary novel, Rinaldi follows a young woman facing the weight of promises made by and to the people she loves. Family loyalty becomes harder once truth enters the room.

Brie McQuade plans to leave her strict father and live with the mother who left years before. A punishment involving mysterious Miss Emily uncovers family secrets that change everything.

Jemima Emerson is fifteen when the American Revolution disrupts her family and her New Jersey town. Her stern tutor, John Reid, may be more complicated than the enemy she imagines.

Sixteen-year-old Brie dates kind, handsome Josh despite her father’s disapproval. When Josh shares the truth about himself, Brie has to rethink romance, friendship, and what love asks of her.

In wartime Richmond, a young Confederate supporter collects silk dresses for a military cause. A family secret forces her to question the beliefs, loyalties, and society she thought she understood.

Tempe Wick lives in Revolutionary New Jersey, where soldiers, shortages, and mutiny threaten her family. Her prized horse becomes central to a story of nerve, loyalty, and quick thinking.

Harriet Hemings, enslaved daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, faces a life-changing choice at Monticello. Leaving could mean freedom, but also passing, secrecy, and permanent separation.

Susanna English stands near the accusing girls of Salem and knows more than is safe to say. As hysteria grows, silence becomes its own kind of danger.

A Virginia family’s home becomes a crossroads of Civil War loyalties, soldiers, and secrets. As the conflict stretches from Bull Run toward Appomattox, private choices carry public consequences.

Rachel Marsh, an indentured servant in John Adams’s household, is caught between Boston patriots and British soldiers. Her friendship with a redcoat brings the Boston Massacre painfully close.

The Quilt Trilogy begins with a young girl facing family secrets stitched into the past. As she studies the stories around her, a quilt becomes a map of memory, loss, and belonging.

Becca becomes a servant in Peggy Shippen’s household and is drawn close to Benedict Arnold’s world. What looks like elegance soon turns into danger, deception, and treason.

On the World War II home front, a young girl tries to keep her family steady as fear, rationing, and wartime change press in. Growing up means learning what cheerfulness can and cannot hide.

In the second Quilt Trilogy novel, family history continues through grief, silence, and the scraps people save. The story follows another young heroine learning what the past can damage and heal.

Sarah Revere knows her father, Paul Revere, is carrying dangerous secrets through Boston. As revolution nears, she watches, questions, and discovers that patriot work can put a whole family at risk.

Phillis Wheatley is taken from Africa, enslaved in Boston, and taught to read and write. Her gift for poetry opens doors, but freedom and recognition remain painfully complicated.

The final Quilt Trilogy book turns again to family memory, secrets, and the clues left in handmade things. A young woman must decide how much of the past she is ready to open.

After Lincoln’s assassination, Emily Pigbush is pulled between grief, the Surratt family scandal, and her doctor uncle’s secret work with stolen bodies. Washington’s darkness becomes impossible to ignore.

On the Ohio frontier, Rebecca Galloway is drawn to Tecumseh and the world he represents. Their bond grows against rising conflict between Native nations and American settlers.

In Revolutionary South Carolina, Caroline Whitaker’s plantation home is occupied by British soldiers. Her mixed-race heritage, her father’s imprisonment, and her brother’s shifting loyalties force her into dangerous truths.

Annie Brown spends the tense summer of 1859 near Harpers Ferry, where her father, John Brown, gathers men for his raid. She becomes witness to his faith, flaws, and fatal resolve.

In divided Hagerstown, Maryland, Amelia tries not to choose sides in the Civil War. When a Confederate general threatens to burn the town, she and a friend search for a way to save it.

Twelve-year-old Nannie Little Rose records her first year at the Carlisle Indian School in 1880. Her diary follows homesickness, forced assimilation, friendship, and the struggle to hold onto herself.

Fanny McCoy watches the Hatfield-McCoy feud turn family pride into bloodshed. Her sister Roseanna’s love for a Hatfield deepens the danger, while a coffin quilt records the mounting losses.

In 1832 Connecticut, Prudence Crandall admits Black girls to her school and scandalizes white neighbors. Mary’s education becomes a test of courage as prejudice turns public and dangerous.

Jasper Jonathan Pierce, a fourteen-year-old indentured servant, keeps a journal of the Mayflower voyage and Plimoth’s first year. His view of survival is practical, frightened, and sharply observant.

Lizzy Enders is left at a Santa Fe convent after her mother dies on the trail. The mystery of the Loretto Chapel staircase frames her struggle with faith, grief, and belonging.

Sarah Wheelock flees an abusive home, disguises herself as a boy, and joins the Union Army. When her identity is discovered, she becomes a Pinkerton spy in Washington instead.

At Penncroft Farm, a boy named Lars uncovers Revolutionary War secrets with help from a ghostly friend. The mystery links his new home to old loyalties, hidden clues, and unfinished history.

Millicent MacCool will receive one powerful wish on her fourteenth birthday. But family rules, school pressure, and everyone else’s demands make her magical gift harder to use than she expected.

Thirteen-year-old Eulinda is enslaved in Georgia, separated from her brothers, and denied by the white father who owns her. Clara Barton’s work at Andersonville gives her a chance to face the past.

Oney Judge rises to become Martha Washington’s trusted personal servant, but trust does not make her free. As the truth of her enslavement sharpens, she must decide whether to run.

Patrick Henry’s daughters Patsy and Anne carry the burden of their mother’s hidden mental illness while their father campaigns for liberty. Family secrets make public ideals feel painfully complicated.

Mary Christian, daughter of Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian, is sent to school in London with a dangerous secret. She must hide her father’s name while longing to see him again.

Eighteen-year-old Sarah Tracy takes charge of Mount Vernon as the Civil War begins. Determined to protect George Washington’s home, she must use tact, nerve, and independence to keep it neutral.

Fifteen-year-old Rose leaves South Carolina after marrying Rene, a wealthy silk merchant, and enters a new life in New York. Her diary traces homesickness, marriage, and the search for independence.

Lady Jane Grey is clever, young, and trapped by Tudor ambition. When powerful relatives push her toward the throne, she becomes queen for nine days and learns how dangerous obedience can be.

In 1741 New York City, enslaved Phoebe watches fear of fires turn into accusations of revolt. When her friend Cuffee is implicated, she faces a terrible choice in a city ruled by panic.

This parallel novel follows Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley from very different childhoods toward their later bond in the White House. Rinaldi explores slavery, privilege, grief, and trust.

On a Texas plantation, Luli Holcomb’s family hides the truth of emancipation from Sis Goose, an enslaved girl raised as kin. When Union soldiers arrive, love and betrayal collide.

CeCe McGill travels south with her abolitionist uncle, who studies birds while secretly aiding the Underground Railroad. What she witnesses on plantations changes her understanding of slavery, courage, and freedom.

In Civil War Missouri, Juliet is caught between family loyalty, guerrilla violence, and the hard cost of choosing sides. As the conflict moves closer, she must decide what courage looks like.

Harriet Whitehead becomes a letter writer on a Virginia plantation and is drawn into the world around Nat Turner. Her sympathy, innocence, and one dangerous choice lead to consequences she cannot undo.

Young Elizabeth Tudor grows up under suspicion, shifting power, and deadly court politics. From her father’s court to her sister Mary’s reign, she learns how to survive long before she becomes queen.

During the siege of Vicksburg, thirteen-year-old Claire Louise watches family, friends, and neighbors split across the Civil War’s lines. Survival means choosing whom to trust when every side brings danger.

Caty Greene and her daughter Cornelia move among Revolutionary War heroes, rumors, and family secrets. When Cornelia questions her parentage, she must rethink love, reputation, and the power women can claim.

In Gettysburg, fourteen-year-old Tacy Stryker huddles at home while armies overrun the town. Her disabled brother David longs to fight, and the battle’s aftermath tests both siblings in painful, unexpected ways.

Eleven-year-old Leigh Ann Conners watches the Civil War reach her Georgia home, her brothers, and her family’s mill. One risky act meant to save the mill sends her into danger and forces her to grow up fast.