Historical Fiction

 

After the War, by Carol Matas.
After being released from Buchenwald at the end of World War II, fifteen-year-old Ruth risks her life to lead a group of children across Europe to Palestine.

Ajeeman and His Son, by James Berry.
Captured and shipped to Jamaica as slaves, Ajeemah and his son Atu respond in different ways to a life of oppression and adversity.

Beyond the Burning Time, by Kathryn Lasky.
When, in the winter of 1691, accusations of witchcraft surface in her small New England village, twelve-year-old Mary Chase fights to save her mother from execution.

Bone Wars, by Kathryn Lasky.
Thad, a teen scout in the 1870s, finds his destiny linked to three rival teams of paleontologists who search for bones as the Plains Indians prepare for war.

Bull Run, by Paul Fleischman.
Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.

Catherine, Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman.
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures, beyond the usual role of women, and her efforts to avoid being married off.

A Circle Unbroken, by Sollace Hotze.
After living with Sioux Indians for seven years, teenage Rachel Porter must face prejudice and misunderstanding when she is restored to her family in 1845.

Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers.
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.

Fever 1793, by Laure Halse Anderson.
In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.

A Gathering of Days, by Joan W. Blos.
The journal of a 14-year-old girl, kept the last year she lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage, and the death of her best friend.

Land of Hope, by Joan Lowery Nixon.
Rebekah, a fifteen-year-old Jewish immigrant arriving in New York City in 1902, almost abandons her dream of getting an education when she is forced to work in a sweatshop.

Mr. Tucket, by Gary Paulsen.
In 1848, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.

Primrose Way, by Jackie F. Koller.
A recent arrival to the New World in 1633, sixteen-year-old Rebekah, a missionary's daughter, befriends a Native American woman and begins to question whether these "savages" need saving after all.

The Raging Quiet, by Sherryl Jordan.
In this novel set in the Middle Ages, 16-year-old Marnie is shunned when she befriends the local madman, whom she discovers is only deaf, not mad.

The Return, by Sonia Levitin.
Desta is one of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews who is secretly airlifted to Jerusalem in "operation Moses."

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, and The Road to Memphis, by Mildred Taylor.
The trilogy follows the Logan family through the Depression and into World War II, as they confront tragic loss and joyful triumphs. By the age of 17, Cassie Logan is dreaming of college and law school, but still battling horrific racism. Prequel to this trilogy The Land.

The Ruby in the Smoke, by Philip Pullman.
The death of her father and the theft of a priceless ruby are twin mysteries which challenge sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart in Victorian England.

Stones in Water, by Donna Jo Napoli.
After being taken by German soldiers from a local movie theater along with other Italian boys including his Jewish friend, Roberto is forced to work in Germany. He escapes into the Ukrainian winter, before desperately trying to make his way back home to Venice.

True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, by Avi.
Caught in a mutiny at sea, Charlotte Doyle discovers unknown personal strength and abilities.

Witch Child, by Celia Reese.
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.

Witness, by Karen Hesse.
A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

Wolf by the Ears, by Ann Rinaldi.
Harriet Hemmings, believed to be the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, and one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings, faces constant conflict between the black and white worlds.