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Children's books

Join in for children's book recommendations.

Time travel books - quite niche requests

50 replies

CatBusStop · 15/05/2026 12:08

Hi, DD (12) loves history and would like some fiction recommendations where ideally historical characters (Tudors onwards) time travel to modern day. But would also consider modern-day characters travelling back in time.
My only suggestion so far was Voices After Midnight by Richard Peck.
Thanks!

OP posts:
Fifthtimelucky · 15/05/2026 13:38

Most of the time travel books I can think of are modern day travellers going back in time.

I’d recommend:

A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley (partly set in Tudor times)
The Ghosts by Antonia Barber
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce
The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy Boston

Will have a think to see if I can remember any more.

Edited to add Moondial by Helen Cresswell.

DisplayPurposesOnly · 15/05/2026 13:41

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer

Daisy62 · 15/05/2026 13:46

Charlotte Sometimes - by Penelope Farmer - two girls from different times swap places (part of a trilogy),

The Time Traveller Trilogy (Janis MacKay) - she might find this too young though, recommended for 9-12y

Rawrrawr1 · 15/05/2026 13:55

A traveller in time was my absolute favourite at that age.
Have a massive soft spot for Moondial when it was on the BBC

Jellycatrabbit · 15/05/2026 13:58

Susan Cooper, King of Shadows - young American goes back to Tudor London.

Hard to get hold of, but Antonia Forests The players Boy is similar.

Beswitched by Kate Saunders, modern girl ends up in 1920s boarding school, not quite what you asked for but hilarious.

Other than Greene Knowe, I also can't think of many going the other way.

LilyLemonade · 15/05/2026 14:00

Before the Coffee Gets Cold?

champagnetrial · 15/05/2026 14:18

Stig of the Dump

porridgewithsalt · 15/05/2026 15:08

Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow. Nine books 😀

MargaretThursday · 15/05/2026 17:09

Hard to get hold of, but Antonia Forests The players Boy is similar

That's not a time travel story.
It's set in Shakespeare times, with an ancestor of Nicola Marlow.

One of my favourite books along with the sequel.

AuContrairePubicHair · 15/05/2026 17:13

The Dark Is Rising books by Susan Cooper.

Moondial by Helen Cresswell.

MondayYogurt · 15/05/2026 17:16

Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park?

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/05/2026 17:19

The Secret Lake by Karen Inglis and Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Helford and the usborne time traveller books for non fiction.

SpookedMackerel · 15/05/2026 17:20

Hard to think of any going in that direction.
If it’s the modern-day setting that she likes, then maybe ghost stories would appeal - the Ghost of Thomas Kempe and the Revenge of Samuel Stokes are by the same author.
The Fate of Jeremy Visick is another. But they might be on the cusp of too young for her, worth a try though.

Not quite the right brief but The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court might be worth considering.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/05/2026 17:21

The time travelling cat and the Tudor treasure

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/05/2026 17:22

The Ian Mortimer books Time Travellers might be interesting.

PeatandDieselfan · 15/05/2026 17:23

The Ice Whisperers by Helenka Stachera

The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively

Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park

The Haunting of Chas McGill by Robert Westall

Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (more parallel universe/traveling through time than historical time travel)

Rosemary Sutcliff could be worth a look - eg Warrior Scarlet, Eagle of the Ninth - she wrote amazing childrens' historical fiction (not time travel.)

The Letter to the King by Tonke Dragt - not time travel, and fictional historical fantasy, but a cracking read for any 8-15 year old who enjoyed any of the above....

CraftyYankee · 15/05/2026 17:26

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, not sure about the age rating for that though.

boys3 · 15/05/2026 17:27

I’d second the Time Riders books by Alex Scarrow as suggested by another pp.

HedgehogsOnTheWall · 15/05/2026 17:29

The Tale of Truthwater Lake by Emma Carroll

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 15/05/2026 17:31

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/05/2026 17:22

The Ian Mortimer books Time Travellers might be interesting.

I would endorse this...

www.timetravellersguides.com/

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/05/2026 17:34

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 15/05/2026 17:31

I would endorse this...

www.timetravellersguides.com/

Those are what I meant yes. The only thing a 12 year old might not like is he goes into detail about executions which is a bit gory.

RaininSummer · 15/05/2026 18:12

Jody Taylor chronicles of st Mary's series is great. I think there is at least one where it's Tudors but they are all a good read.

ChessieFL · 15/05/2026 18:15

RaininSummer · 15/05/2026 18:12

Jody Taylor chronicles of st Mary's series is great. I think there is at least one where it's Tudors but they are all a good read.

They are, but there’s a reasonably graphic sex scene in the first one which wouldn’t really be suitable for a 12yo!

parietal · 15/05/2026 18:18

Longbow Girl is excellent - time travel and solid history and a really good story.

pollyhemlock · 15/05/2026 18:36

Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes is a good read. Two present day children find a cryonic chamber with two children from the 1950s in suspended animation and wake them up. ( A kind of Adam Adamant scenario if you’re really ancient like me). The two children have to adapt to the modern world.

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