HISTORICAL FICTION 1
AG FIC McK McKissack, Pat, 1944-. Nzingha, warrior queen of Matamba. New York : Scholastic,
2000.
Presents the diary of thirteen-year-old Nzingha, a sixteenth-century West African princess who loves to
hunt and hopes to lead her kingdom one day against the invasion of the Portuguese slave traders. (Royal
Diaries Series)
FIC Avi
Avi, 1937-. Iron thunder : the battle between the Monitor & the Merrimac : a Civil
War novel. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion Books for Children, c2007.
Thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll takes his place as head of the family after his father dies fighting for the
Union; but his job at the local ironworks, where he helps build an iron ship for the Union army, and his
loyalty come into question when he is approached by Confederate spies to sell secrets about the ship to the
South.
FIC Avi
Avi. 1937-. Who was that masked man, anyway? New York : Orchard Books, c1992.
In the early forties when nearly everyone else is thinking about World War II, sixth-grader Frankie
Wattleson gets in trouble at home and at school because of his preoccupation with his favorite radio
programs.
FIC Bis
Bishop, Claire Huchet. Twenty and ten. [New York] : Puffin Books, 1978, c1952.
During the Nazi occupation of France, twenty ordinary French kids in a boarding school agree to hide ten
Jewish children. Then German soldiers arrive. Will the children be able to withstand the interrogation and
harassment? It is based on a true story--one of many similar incidents that took place all over Europe
during World War II.
FIC Bla
Blakeslee, Ann R. A different kind of hero. 1st ed. New York : Marshall Cavendish,
c1997.
In 1881 twelve-year-old Renny, who resists his father's efforts to turn him into a rough, tough, brawling
boy, earns the disapproval of the entire mining camp when he befriends a newly arrived Chinese boy.
FIC Bor
Borden, Louise. The greatest skating race : a World War II story from the
Netherlands. 1st ed. New York : Margaret K. McElderry, c2004.
During World War II in the Netherlands, a ten-year-old boy's dream of skating in a famous race allows him
to help two children escape to Belgium by ice skating past German soldiers and other enemies.
FIC Bru
Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-. The arrow over the door. 1st ed. New York : Dial Books for
Young Readers, c1998.
In the year 1777, a group of Quakers and a party of Indians have a memorable meeting.
FIC Bru
Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-. Sacajawea : the story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. 1st ed. San Diego, CA : Silver Whistle, c2000.
Sacajawea, a Shoshoni Indian interpreter, peacemaker, and guide, and William Clark alternate in describing
their experiences on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the Northwest.
FIC Bun
Bunting, Eve, 1928-. SOS Titanic. 1st ed. San Diego : Harcourt Brace, 1996.
Fifteen-year-old Barry O'Neill, traveling from Ireland to America on the maiden voyage of the Titanic,
finds his life endangered when the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink.
HISTORICAL FICTION 2
FIC Car
Carbone, Elisa Lynn. Blood on the river : James Town 1607. New York : Viking,
2006.
Traveling to the New World in 1606 as the page to Captain John Smith, twelve-year-old orphan Samuel
Collier settles in the new colony of James Town, where he must quickly learn to distinguish between friend
and foe.
FIC Cor
Cornelissen, Cornelia. Soft Rain : a story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. New York
: Delacorte Press, 1998.
Soft Rain, a nine-year-old Cherokee girl, is forced to relocate, along with her family, from North Carolina
to the West.
FIC Cus
Cushman, Karen. Rodzina. New York : Clarion Books, c2003.
A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about
traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery.
FIC DeC
DeClements, Barthe. The bite of the gold bug : a story of the Alaskan gold rush.
New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Viking, 1992.
Bucky and his father, prospecting for gold in Alaska in 1898, must overcome storms, dangerous mountain
trails, and wilderness predators before confronting the final challenge of human treachery.
FIC Def
DeFelice, Cynthia C. The apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker. 1st ed. New York :
Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996.
After his family dies of consumption in 1849, twelve-year-old Lucas becomes a doctor's apprentice.
FIC Den
Denenberg, Barry. The journal of Ben Uchida, citizen #13559, Mirror Lake
Internment Camp. 1st ed. New York : Scholastic Inc., 1999.
Twelve-year-old Ben Uchida keeps a journal of his experiences as a prisoner in a Japanese internment
camp in Mirror Lake, California, during World War II. (My Name is America Series)
FIC Dor
Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. 1st ed. New York : Hyperion Books for Children,
c1992.
Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her younger brother Star Boy, who loves the night, take turns
describing their life on an island in pre-Columbian America; in Morning Girl's last narrative, she witnesses
the arrival of the first Europeans to her world.
FIC Edm
Edmonds, Walter Dumaux, 1903-. The matchlock gun. New York, NY : PaperStar,
1998, c1941.
In 1756, during the French and Indian War in upper New York state, ten-year-old Edward is determined to
protect his home and family with the ancient, and much too heavy, Spanish gun that his father had given
him before leaving home to fight the enemy.
FIC Erd
Erdrich, Louise. The porcupine year. 1st ed. New York, NY :
HarperCollinsPublishers, c2008.
In 1852, forced by the United States government to leave their beloved Island of the Golden Breasted
Woodpecker, fourteen-year-old Omokayas and her Ojibwe family travel in search of a new home.
FIC Fei
Fein, Eric. Mystery at Manzanar : a WWII internment camp story. Mankato, Minn.
: Stone Arch Books, c2009.
Fifteen-year-old Tommy, having been forced into a Japanese internment camp with the rest of his family,
investigates when another internee is attacked
HISTORICAL FICTION 3
FIC Fit
Fitzgerald, John Dennis. The Great Brain. New York : Puffin Books, 2004, c1969.
The exploits of the Great Brain of Adenville, Utah, are described by his younger brother, frequently the
victim of the Great Brain's schemes for gaining prestige or money. (The Great Brain Series)
FIC Gib
Giblin, James. The boy who saved Cleveland : based on a true story. 1st ed. New
York : Henry Holt, 2006.
During a malaria epidemic in late eighteenth-century Cleveland, Ohio, ten-year-old Seth Doan surprises his
family, his neighbors, and himself by having the strength to carry and grind enough corn to feed everyone.
FIC Gif
Giff, Patricia Reilly. Nory Ryan's song. New York : Delacorte Press, 2000.
When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and
ingenuity help her family and neighbors survive.
FIC Gri
Grimstone, David. A hero's quest. New York : Grosset & Dunlap, 2010, c2009.
Kidnapped and taken to Arena Primus for training as a potential gladiator, Decimus Rex is intent on
escaping captivity and knows the best way to do so is to outshine the other slaves as they endure such trials
as running on hot coals.
FIC Gut
Gutman, Dan. Babe & me : a baseball card adventure. 1st ed. New York : Avon
Books, 2000.
With their ability to travel through time using vintage baseball cards, Joe and his father have the
opportunity to find out whether Babe Ruth really did call his shot when he hit that homerun in the third
game of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs. (Baseball Card Series)
FIC Hah
Hahn, Mary Downing. Anna all year round. New York : Clarion Books, c1999.
Chronicles the sometimes funny, sometimes sad experiences of eight-year-old Anna with her friends and
family during a year in Baltimore just before World War I.
FIC Hob
Hoberman, Mary Ann. Strawberry Hill. 1st ed. New York : Little, Brown and Co.,
2009.
Ten-year-old Allie's family moves from urban New Haven to rural Stamford, Connecticut, in the midst of
the Great Depression.
FIC Hol
Holm, Jennifer L. Turtle in paradise. 1st ed. New York : Random House, c2010.
In 1935, when her mother gets a job housekeeping for a woman who does not like children, eleven-year-old
Turtle is sent to stay with relatives she has never met in far away Key West, Florida.
HISTORICAL FICTION 4
FIC How
Howard, Ellen. Log cabin wedding. 1st ed. New York : Holiday House, c2006.
Although it was her idea to bring together her family and that of a neighboring widow woman to reap the
harvest, Elvirey feels her heart "squeeze tight" at the thought of the widow and her Pap getting married.
FIC Hur
Hurwitz, Johanna. Faraway summer. New York : Morrow Junior Books, c1998.
In the summer of 1910, Dossi, a poor Russian immigrant from the tenements of New York, spends two
weeks with the Meade family on their Vermont farm, and all their lives are enriched by the experience
FIC Ken
Kent, Deborah. Blackwater Creek. Boston : Kingfisher, 2005.
Erika Nagy's family has come to California in search for gold; however, their bad luck has forced Erika to
go to work for their landlord, rancher Hart Latham, where she forms a special bond with an injured filly
named Arany.
FIC Laf
LaFaye, A. Worth. 1st ed. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers,
c2004.
After breaking his leg, eleven-year-old Nate feels useless because he cannot work on the family farm in
nineteenth-century Nebraska, so when his father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Nate
feels even worse.
FIC Law
Lawson, Robert, 1892-1957. Ben and me : a new and astonishing life of Benjamin
Franklin as written by his good mouse Amos. Boston : Little, Brown, [1988] c1939.
Banjamin Franklin's companion, Amos the mouse, recounts how he was responsible for Franklin's
inventions and discoveries.
FIC Lov
Love, D. Anne. The puppeteer's apprentice. New York : M.K. McElderry Books,
2003.
A medieval orphan girl called Mouse gains the courage she needs to follow her dreams of becoming a
puppeteer's apprentice.
FIC Mat
Matthaei, Gay. The ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle. Charlottesville, Va. :
Thomasson-Grant, c1994.
The fictional account of a young Sioux Indian, describing his childhood on the plains and his experiences at
the Carlisle School, where he is sent to learn the ways of the white world.
FIC Mit
Mitchell, Betsy, 1954-. Journey to the bottomless pit : the story of Stephen Bishop &
Mammoth Cave. New York : Viking, 2004.
In 1838, as the nation struggles with issues of slavery, seventeen-year-old Stephen Bishop serves his master
as a guide in Kentucky's Mammoth Cave and spends his free time exploring and discovering new passages
and rooms.
FIC Mye
Myers, Laurie. Lewis and Clark and me : a dog's tale. 1st ed. New York : Henry
Holt & Co., 2002.
Seaman, Meriwether Lewis's Newfoundland dog, describes Lewis and Clark's expedition, which he
accompanied from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.
FIC Nay
Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds. Emily's fortune. 1st ed. New York : Delacorte Press,
c2010.
While traveling to her aunt's home in Redbud by train and stagecoach, quiet young Emily and her turtle,
Rufus, team up with Jackson, fellow orphan and troublemaker extraordinaire, to outsmart mean Uncle
Victor, who is after Emily's inheritance.
HISTORICAL FICTION 5
FIC One
Oneal, Zibby. A long way to go. New York, N.Y., U.S.A : Viking, 1990.
An eight-year-old girl deals with the women's suffrage movement that rages during World War I.
FIC Pat
Patt, Beverly. Best friends forever : a World War II scrapbook. 1st ed. New York :
Marshall Cavendish Children, c2010.
Fourteen-year-old Louise keeps a scrapbook detailing the events in her life after her best friend, a JapaneseAmerican girl, and her family are sent to a relocation camp during World War II.
FIC Pau
Paulsen, Gary. Mr. Tucket. New York : Delacorte Press, c1994.
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.
FIC Pec
Peck, Richard, 1934-. A long way from Chicago. New York : Scholastic, c1998.
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit
their larger-than-life grandmother.
FIC Pec
Peck, Robert Newton. Soup 1776. New York : A.A. Knopf ; Distributed by Random
House, 1995.
Rob is caught up in his friend Soup's plan to help their town of Learning, Vermont, celebrate the Fourth of
July with a suitable pageant that sets the record straight about several of the town's citizens. (Soup Series)
FIC Pla
Platt, Richard. Roman diary : the journal of Iliona of Mytilini, who was captured by
pirates and sold as a slave in Rome, AD 107. 1st U.S. ed. Somerville, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2009.
Looks at life in ancient Rome through the fictional diary of Iliona, a girl traveling from Greece to Egypt
when her ship is boarded by pirates and she is captured and sold at auction as a slave to a Roman couple
who provide her with clothing, food, and an education, and allow her the freedom to explore the fascinating
empire.
FIC Pol
Polacco, Patricia. Pink and Say. New York : Philomel Books, c1994.
Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, a black soldier, during the Civil War, and their capture
by Southern troops. Based on a true story about the author's great-great-grandfather.
FIC Rya
Ryan, Pam Mu|oz. Riding freedom. 1st ed. New York : Scholastic Press, 1998.
A fictionalized account of Charley (Charlotte) Parkhurst who ran away from an orphanage, posed as a boy,
moved to California, and fooled everyone by her appearance.
FIC Sel
Selznick, Brian. The invention of Hugo Cabret : a novel in words and pictures. 1st
ed. New York : Scholastic Press, 2007.
When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station
in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are
jeopardized.
FIC Spi
Spires, Elizabeth. The mouse of Amherst. 1st ed. New York : Farrar Straus and
Giroux, c1999.
When she moves into Emily Dickinson's bedroom, Emmaline the mouse discovers her own propensity for
poetry.
HISTORICAL FICTION 6
FIC Tar
Tarshis, Lauren. The sinking of the Titanic, 1912. New York : Scholastic, c2010.
Ten-year-old George Calder's life changes forever as he, his little sister, Phoebe, and their Aunt Daisy set
out across the ocean on the "Titanic" in 1912. (I Survived Series)
FIC Tay
Taylor, Mildred D. The gold Cadillac. 1st ed. New York : Dial, 1987.
Two black girls living in the North are proud of their family's beautiful new Cadillac until they take it on a
visit to the South and encounter racial prejudice for the first time.
FIC Tay
Taylor, Sydney, 1904-. All-of-a-kind family. New York : Bantam Doubleday Dell,
1979, c1951.
The adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century.
(All-Of-a-Kind Family Series)
FIC Van
Van Leeuwen, Jean. Cabin on Trouble Creek. New York : Puffin Books, 2008,
c2004.
In 1803 in Ohio, two young brothers are left to finish the log cabin and guard the land while their father
goes back to Pennsylvania to fetch their mother and younger siblings.
FIC Vel
Walvoord, Linda. Rosetta, Rosetta, sit by me! / by Linda Walvoord ; illustrated by
Eric Velasquez. 1st ed. Marshall Cavendish, c2004.
In 1848, Rosetta, the nine-year-old daughter of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, becomes the only Black
student at Miss Tracy's Female Seminary in Rochester, New York, and while the students are pleased she is
there, the faculty is not. Includes facts about Frederick and Rosetta's lives.
FIC Whi
White, Ellen Emerson. Voyage on the great Titanic : the diary of Margaret Ann
Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912. New York : Scholastic, 1998.
In her diary in 1912, thirteen-year-old Margaret Ann describes how she leaves her lonely life in a London
orphanage to become a companion to a wealthy American woman, sails on the Titanic, and experiences its
sinking. (Dear America Series)
FIC Wil
Wilder, Laura Ingalls, 1867-1957. Farmer boy. Newly illustrated, uniform ed. New
York : Harper & Bros., 1953.
Nine-year-old Almanzo lives with his family on a big farm in New York State at the end of the nineteenth
century. He raises his own two calves, helps cut ice and shear sheep, and longs for the day he can have his
own colt. (Little House on the Prairie Series)
FIC Wil
Williams, Marcia, 1945-. My secret war diary, by Flossie Albright : my history of
the Second World War, 1939-1945. 1st U.S. ed. Cambridge, MA : Candlewick Press, 2008.
Follows a young girl's experience during World War II in a fictional journal about the author's own
memoirs in 1939 England.
FIC Yep
Yep, Laurence. The earth dragon awakes : the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
1st ed. New York : HarperCollinsPublishers, c2006.
Eight-year-old Henry and nine-year-old Chin love to read about heroes in popular "penny dreadful" novels,
until they both witness real courage while trying to survive the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
FIC Yep
Yep, Laurence. The journal of Wong Ming-Chung : a Chinese miner. New York :
Scholastic, 2000.A young Chinese boy nicknamed Runt records his experiences in a journal as he travels
from southern China to California in 1852 to join his uncle during the Gold Rush. (My Name is America
series)