Author
Rosemary Sutcliff
2 books here
Black Ships Before Troy
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 820L · 2005
Sutcliff's verse retelling makes the Iliad breathable for 10-year-olds without dumbing it down; the humanity of both sides—Greeks and Trojans—stays front and center, and the language is genuinely beautiful.
The Eagle of the Ninth. 1400 Grundwörter.
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 820L · 1988
The gold standard of historical adventure for this age—Sutcliff's prose is genuinely literary, the world-building is rigorous, and Marcus's disabled protagonist arc (written in 1954, still ahead of most books now) teaches courage without sentimentality.