The Bloody Jack Series, by L.A. Meyer. Bloody Jack is really a girl. Orphaned in London at the end of the 1700's, she lives with a street gang, then disguises herself as a boy and is hired onto a British Naval ship.
Great adventure, great characters, humor, suspense, great FUN.
Bloody Jack, L.A. Meyer
The Curse of the Blue Tattoo
Under the Jolly Roger
In the Belly of the Bloodhound
Mississippi Jack
Does My Head Look Big in this? Abdel-Fattah
Silent to the Bone, Konigsberg
Things Not Seen, Clements
Of Sound Mind, Ferris
Among the Hidden, Haddix
Harris & Me, Gary Paulsen
A Long Way from Chicago, Peck
Tangerine, Bloor
Samurai Shortstop, Gratz
Hunger Games,
The Book Thief,
Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, by Mildred Taylor.
There is a GREAT double biography called Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayers with Richard Heck and Helen Waterford.
Helen Waterford survived Aushschwitz and emigrated to the US. Heck was raised as a good German, joined the Hitler Youth, and later became the youngest pilot in the Luft Waff (air force.) He also emigrated to Canada and then the US after the war.
In 70's, these two people crossed paths, and began telling about their parallel journeys. The book is amazing.