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- Tirzah Price
- Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich. This is the book I hand kids and parents who tell me they love Little House on the Prairie. Set in the 1840s, it’s about an Ojibway family living near Lake Superior.
- Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. When Esperanza and her family are forced to flee their privileged lives on a ranch in Mexico to a farm camp in California during the Great Depression, Esperanza must adapt to a new life of hard work and rise to meet the challenges of her new home.
- Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. Jobs are scarce in the 1930s, so when Turtle’s mama gets a job as a housekeeper for a lady who doesn’t like children, she’s sent to live with family she’s never met in Key West, Florida.
- One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. When sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are sent to stay with their mother, Cecile, in Oakland, California, for the summer, they’re excited for Disneyland and reconnecting with their mother.
- Little House on the Prairie (Little House, #3) Laura Ingalls Wilder.
- Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1) L.M. Montgomery.
- Little Women Louisa May Alcott.
- The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett.
- Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park (ages 8 – 12)
- Park writes a wonderfully touching multilayered story about a young half-Asian girl’s life during western expansion, frontier times. After Hana’s mother dies, her father moves the two of them to a small midwestern town.
- The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (ages 8 – 12)
- Gladiator School Book 1 Blood Oath by Dan Scott (ages 8 – 12)
Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian. London is poised on the brink of World War II. Eight-year-old Willie is evacuated to the English countryside and lands on Mr. Tom's doorstep, timid and scarred from abuse. With Mr. Tom’s help, Willie leaves behind his hateful past and learns to love a world he never knew existed, a world of friendship ...
People also ask
Are historical fiction books good for kids?
How can historical fiction help kids learn history?
What is a historical fiction book?
Are there any historical fiction picture books?
- American History: Pre-Civil War and Westward Expansion
- Slavery and The American Civil War
- Immigration and Ellis Island
- World War I
- The Great Depression
- World War II
- Civil Rights and The Great Migration
- The Cultural Revolution
2. Tricking The Tallymanby Jacqueline Davies
It is 1790, the year of the very first U.S. census. Phineas Bump must deliver a count that is “fair and true” of every citizen in his territory. But folks in the town of Tunbridge don’t want to be counted! So, when the determined Bump knocks on their doors, he finds…much more than he counted on! Will Tunbridge go down in history as the town that tricked the tallyman? You can count on it!
3. Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson
When Papa decides to pull up roots and move from Iowa to Oregon, he can’t bear to leave his precious apple trees behind. Or his peaches, plums, grapes, cherries, and pears. Oh, and he takes his family along too. But the trail is cruel—first there’s a river to cross that’s wider than Texas…and then there are hailstones as big as plums…and there’s even a drought, sure to crisp the cherries. Those poor pippins! Luckily, Delicious (the non-edible apple of Daddy’s eye) is strong—as young ‘uns rais...
5. Hornbooks and Inkwells By Verla Kay
Life in an eighteenth-century one-room schoolhouse might be different from today—but like any other pair of siblings, brothers Peter and John Paul get up to plenty of mischief! Readers follow the two as they work with birch-bark paper and hornbooks, play tricks on each other, get in trouble, and celebrate when John Paul learns to read and write.
8. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
Clara, a slave and seamstress on Home Plantation, dreams of freedom—not just for herself, but for her family and friends. When she overhears a conversation about the Underground Railroad, she has a flash of inspiration. Using scraps of cloth from her work in the Big House and scraps of information gathered from other slaves, she fashions a map that the master would never even recognize…
9. Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco
He was wounded in a fierce battle and left for dead in a pasture somewhere in Georgia when Pinkus found him. Pinkus’s skin was the color of polished mahogany, and he was flying Union colors like the wounded boy, and he picked him up out of the field and brought him to where the black soldier’s mother, Moe Moe Bay, lived. She had soft, gentle hands and cared for him and her Pink. But the two boys were putting her in danger, two Union soldiers in Confederate territory! They had to get back to t...
10. The Listeners by Gloria Whelan
Ella May lives on a plantation but she doesn’t live in the great house. She is a slave. It’s dark in the morning when Ella May heads to the fields to pick cotton. And it’s sunset when she comes home. But her day isn’t done, not yet. Ella May still has important work to do. She’s got to listen. Each night Ella May and her friends secretly listen outside the windows of their master’s house. The children listen in the hopes of gleaning information about their fates and those of their loved ones....
14. Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson
In this warm, poignant and highly praised story, a little girl hears how, long ago, another little red-haired girl—her great-grandmother—sailed across the sea with her older brother to join their immigrant parents in a strange new land called America.
15.When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest
When a young girl from a poor eastern European village learns that she must leave her beloved grandmother for a new life—and a new love—in America, they both feel that their hearts will break. The sure and inspired narrative by award-winning author Amy Hest is paired with paintings by P.J. Lynch that glow with warmth and carefully observed detail, creating an unforgettable tribute to the immigrant experience.
16. The Matchbook Diary by Paul Fleischman
When a little girl visits her great-grandfather at his curio-filled home, she chooses an unusual object to learn about: an old cigar box. What she finds inside surprises her: a collection of matchboxes making up her great-grandfather’s diary, harboring objects she can hold in her hand, each one evoking a memory. Together they tell of his journey from Italy to a new country, before he could read and write—the olive pit his mother gave him to suck on when there wasn’t enough food; a bottle cap...
20. Knit Your Bit by Deborah Hopkinson
Mikey’s dad has left home to fight overseas during World War I, and Mikey wants to do something BIG to help. When his teacher suggests that the class participate in a knitting bee in Central Park to knit clothing for the troops, Mikey and his friends roll their eyes—knitting is for girls! But when the girls turn it into a competition, the boys just have to meet the challenge. Based on a real “Knit-In” event at Central Park in 1918, Knit Your Bitshows readers that making a lasting contribution...
21. A Brave Soldier by Nicolas Debon
In August 1914, when war breaks out in Europe, Canadians rush to join the army to fight with the Allies, expecting to be home by Christmas. Everyone thinks the war will be over in a few months. But by the time the war ends in 1918, nearly 10 million soldiers and 13 million civilians are dead. The especially brutal conditions the soldiers face are portrayed in a spare, straightforward style that neither glorifies war nor dwells on the horror. No one reading this book will come away with anythi...
22. War Game: Village Green to No-Man’s-Land by Michael Foreman
Based on a true account of a soccer game played between the German and English troops in no-man’s land on Christmas Day in 1914 during World War I, this book tells the story of four young men who have recently enlisted and have found that war is not as glamorous as they had once thought. The young men get to realize their dream of playing soccer for England when the English and German sides hold a ceasefire on Christmas Day and they play a friendly game against one another.
24. The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia C. McKissack
Christmasalways comes to Nella’s house, but Santa Claus brings gifts only once in a while. That’s because it’s the Depression and Nella’s family is poor. Even so, Nella’s hoping that this year she and her two sisters will get a beautiful Baby Betty doll. On Christmas morning, the girls are beside themselves with excitement! There is Baby Betty, in all her eyelash-fluttering magnificence. “Mine!” Nella shouts, and claims the doll for herself. But soon she discovers that Baby Betty isn’t nearly...
26. The Babe and I By David A. Adler
It’s 1932 and hard times are everywhere. But life isn’t all bad. America still loves baseball, and Babe Ruth is the star of the game. And two boys are about to discover that with some creativity, hard work, and a little help from the Babe himself, they can do their part to help out their own team!
27. That Book Woman By Heather Henson
Cal is not the readin’ type. Living way high up in the Appalachian Mountains, he’d rather help Pap plow or go out after wandering sheep than try some book learning. Nope. Cal does not want to sit stoney-still reading some chicken scratch. But that Book Woman keeps coming just the same. She comes in the rain. She comes in the snow. She comes right up the side of the mountain, and Cal knows that’s not easy riding. And all just to lend his sister some books. Why, that woman must be plain foolish...
28.The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse
When Karen Hesse came upon a short article about cats out-foxing the Gestapo at the train station in Warsaw during WWII, she couldn’t get the story out of her mind. The result is this stirring account of a Jewish girl’s involvement in the Resistance. At once terrifying and soulful, this fictional account, borne of meticulous research, is a testament to history and to our passionate will to survive, as only Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse can write it.
29. The Yellow Star by Carmen Agra Deedy
Blending fact with legend, Deedy tells of Denmark’s King Christian X’s simple act of rebellion and courage, which served to unite his people against the Nazis. It is the king’s custom to ride through the streets of Copenhagen unguarded, counting on the love of his people to protect him. When the Nazis circulate the order that all Jews must wear yellow stars on their clothing, the king devises a way to protect them. He makes his morning rounds as is his custom, but wears a yellow Star of David...
31. One Candle By Eve Bunting
For one family the traditional Hanukkah celebration has a deeper meaning. Amidst the food and the festivities, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose begin their story—the one they tell each year. They pass on to each generation a tale of perseverance during the darkest hours of the Holocaust, and the strength it took to continue to honor Hanukkah in the only way they could. Their story reaffirms the values of tradition and family, but also shows us that by continuing to honor the tragedies and the triu...
36. More Than Anything Else By Marie Bradby
Nine-year-old Booker works with his father and brother at the saltworks but dreams of the day when he’ll be able to read.
37. If A Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks By Faith Ringgold
If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn’t sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for...
38. Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles
Joe and John Henry are a lot alike. They both like shooting marbles, they both want to be firemen, and they both love to swim. But there’s one important way they’re different: Joe is white and John Henry is black, and in the South in 1964, that means John Henry isn’t allowed to do everything his best friend is. Then a law is passed that forbids segregation and opens the town pool to everyone. Joe and John Henry are so excited they race each other there…only to discover that it takes more than...
42. Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-Li Jiang
When Tai Shan and his father, Baba, fly kites from their roof and look down at the crowded city streets below, they feel free, like the kites. Baba loves telling Tai Shan stories while the kites—one red, and one blue—rise, dip, and soar together. Then, a bad time comes. People wearing red armbands shut down the schools, smash store signs, and search houses. Baba is sent away, and Tai Shan goes to live with Granny Wang. Though father and son are far apart, they have a secret way of staying clo...
- Katherine Willoughby
Apr 5, 2023 · Centered around the 9/11 attacks, this book blends the stories of two teen girls from different time periods. In the present day, 16-year-old Jesse is dealing with her father’s grief and her brother’s death on 9/11. Back in 2001, Alia, a 16-year-old Muslim girl, finds herself stuck in a Manhattan building on that fateful day.
date newest ». post a comment ». 410 books based on 145 votes: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, Johnny Tremain by Esther F...
