Historical_Fiction_C.. - Fayetteville Free Library

Fayetteville Free Library
300 Orchard Street
Fayetteville, NY 13066
637-6374
http://www.fayettevillefreelibrary.org
3/09
Historical Fiction
-Chapter Books-
Historical Fiction Series:
American Girl Series (various authors)
Dear America Series (J FIC DEAR AMERICA)
My America Series (J FIC MY AMERICA)
Little House on the Prairie Series (J FIC WILDER)
Segregation and Integration (1950s and 1960s)
The Watsons go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul
Curtis. J FIC CURTIS
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are
drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama
in the summer of 1963.
The red rose box by Brenda Woods. J FIC WOODS
In 1953, Leah Hopper dreams of leaving the poverty and
segregation of her home in Sulphur, Louisiana, and when Aunt
Olivia sends train tickets to Los Angeles as part of her tenth
birthday present, Leah gets a first taste of freedom.
Immigration (1900s)
Dear Emma by Johanna Hurwitz. J FIC HURWITZ
In her letters to a Vermont friend, eighth grader Dossi, a Russian,
Jewish immigrant living in the Lower East Side of New York
City in 1910, shares her thoughts about her new brother-in-law,
the diphtheria epidemic, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Landed by Milly Lee. J FIC LEE
After leaving his village in southeastern China, twelve-year-old Sun is held at Angel
Island, San Francisco, before being released to join his father, a merchant living in the
area. Includes historical notes.
A voyage from Ireland: Fiona McGilray's story by Clare Pastore. J FIC PASTORE
Because of the potato famine in Ireland, Fiona and her brother leave their homeland and
arrive in America ready to reach for their dreams.
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm. J FIC HOLM
As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a
lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
Historical fiction includes realistic
stories that take place during a
certain time or event in history.
These stories help us understand
what it might have been like to
live during a different time in
history or experience a certain
event. Sometimes the book is
based on a true story, and
sometimes the story is from the
author’s imagination.
Colonial Period (1600s-1776)
The witch of blackbird pond by Elizabeth George Speare. J FIC SPEARE
Born in the Caribbean islands, Kit finds life in the Connecticut colony of her
relatives to be extremely bleak and lonely. When her only friendship is discovered, she finds herself accused of witchcraft.
American Revolution (1775–1783)
Women’s Rights Movement (1900s)
The hope chest by Karen Schwabach. J FIC SCHWABACH
When eleven-year-old Violet runs away from home in 1918
and takes the train to New York City to find her older sister
who is a suffragist, she falls in with people her parents would
call "the wrong sort," and ends up in Nashville, Tennessee,
where "Suffs" and "Antis" are gathered, awaiting the crucial
vote on the nineteenth amendment.
Johnny Tremain, a novel for old & young by Esther Forbes J FIC FORBES
When Johnny Tremain becomes a dispatch rider for the Committee of Public
Safety, he comes into contact with Sam Adams, John Hancock, and other Revolutionary leaders.
The bobbin girl by Emily Arnold McCully. J 305.42 MCC
A ten-year-old bobbin girl working in a textile mill in Lowell,
Massachusetts, in the 1830s, must make a difficult decision-will she participate in the first workers' strike in Lowell?
Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson. J FIC LAWSON
An account of certain episodes in the career of Paul Revere as revealed by his
horse, Scheherazade.
World War II (1939-1945)
Early Thunder by Jean Fritz. J FIC FRITZ
Traces a youth's growth to maturity as he resolves his political
conflicts in pre-revolutionary Salem, a center of high feeling
between the British and colonists.
Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell. J FIC O’DELL
Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in
the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her,
Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness.
The Riddle of Penncroft Farm by Dorothea Jensen J FIC
JENSON
Lars Olafson's move to a farm near Valley Forge brings him
friendship with the ghost of an eighteenth-century ancestor,
who recounts for him his adventures in that part of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution..
Felicity (American Girl) Series by Valerie Tripp. J FIC TRIPP
Nine-year-old Felicity experiences the American Revolution in Williamsburg,
VA.
The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen. J FIC PAULSEN
During World War II, a little boy is sent to live with his grandma, a cook in a camp for
workers building a road through the wilderness.
Good night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer. J FIC MAZER
After spending years fleeing from the Nazis in war-torn Europe, twelve-year-old Karin
Levi and her older brother Marc find a new home in a refugee camp in Oswego, New
York.
The key is lost by Ida Vos. J FIC VOS
When the Germans occupy Holland in 1940 and begin to persecute the Jews there,
twelve-year-old Eva and her family assume false names and move from one hiding
place to another.
Jacob's rescue: a Holocaust story by Malka Drucker. J FIC
DRUCKER
In answer to his daughter's questions, a man recalls the terrifying years of his childhood when a brave Polish couple, Alex
and Mela Roslan, hid him and other Jewish children from the
Nazis. Based on a true story.
Molly (American Girl) Series by Valerie Tripp. J FIC TRIPP
While her father is away fighting in World War II, Molly finds her life full of change.
The Great Depression (1929-1930s)
Bud, not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. J FIC CURTIS
Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his
father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.
Nowhere to call home by Cynthia DeFelice. J FIC DEFELICE
When her father kills himself after losing his money in the stock market crash, twelveyear-old Frances, now a penniless orphan, decides to hop aboard a freight train and live
the life of a hobo.
Kit (American Girl) Series by Valerie Tripp. J FIC TRIPP.
When her father's business closes because of the Great
Depression forcing Kit to make changes in her life, the nine-year
-old responds with resourcefulness.
American Revolution (1775–1783), continued
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. J FIC FORBES
After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.
Thomas in Danger by Bonnie Pryor. J FIC PRYOR
Having lost their home when the Revolutionary War reached
their part of rural Pennsylvania, Thomas and his family start a
new life running an inn in Philadelphia, where Thomas finds
new danger that takes him into captivity among the Iroquois.
Roll of thunder, hear my cry by Mildred D. Taylor. J FIC TAYLOR
A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of
the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its
children do not understand.
Attack of the Turtle by Drew Carlson. J FIC CARLSON
During the Revolutionary War, fourteen-year-old Nathan joins forces with his
older cousin, the inventor David Bushnell, to secretly build the first submarine
used in naval warfare.
Treasures in the Dust by Tracey Porter. J FIC PORTER
Eleven-year-old Annie and her friend Violet tell of the hardships endured by their families when dust storms, drought, and the Great Depression hit rural Oklahoma.
Civil War/Slavery (1861-1865)
A long way from Chicago by Richard Peck. J FIC PECK
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his
sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life
grandmother. Sequel: A Year Down Yonder.
Shades of gray by Carolyn Reeder. J FIC REEDER
At the end of the Civil War, twelve-year-old Will, having lost all his immediate family,
reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the
uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war.
The perilous road by William O. Steele. J FIC STEELE
Fourteen-year-old Chris, bitterly hating the Yankees for invading his Tennessee mountain home, learns a difficult lesson about the waste of war and the meaning of tolerance
and courage when he reports the approach of a Yankee supply troop to the Confederates, only to learn that his brother is probably part of that troop.
Which way freedom? by Joyce Hansen. J FIC HANSEN
Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union
regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort
Pillow, Tennessee.
The Amazing Thinking Machine by Dennis Haseley. J FIC HASELEY
During the Great Depression, while their father is away looking for work, eight-year-old
Patrick and thirteen-year-old Roy create a machine to help their mother make ends
meet, even as she is helping tramps.
Addy (American Girl) Series by Connie Rose Porter.
J FIC PORTER
Nine-year-old Addy Walker and her mother escape from their cruel
life of slavery in North Carolina to freedom in Philadelphia.
Civil War/Slavery (1861-1865), continued
Emma Eileen Grove by Kathleen Duey. J FIC DUEY
Twelve-year-old Emma receives unexpected friendship from a Black roustabout and a
Union soldier during an explosion on the steamboat Sultana in 1865.
Watcher in the Piney Woods by Elizabeth McDavid Jones. J FIC JONES
In 1865, while helping her family keep their Virginia farm going through the end of the
Civil War, twelve-year-old Cassie meets a Confederate deserter and a Yankee prisoner
of war and tries to discover who has been stealing from the farm.
Chance of a lifetime by Deborah Kent. J FIC KENT
Away from home during the battle of Vicksburg, fourteen-year-old Jacquetta returns to
find her parents gone and the plantation in Yankee hands, but with help from a slave
girl, she devises a plan to rescue the family's Morgan horses.
Trouble don't last by Shelley Pearsall J FIC PEARSALL
Samuel, an eleven-year-old Kentucky slave, and Harrison, the elderly slave who helped
raise him, attempt to escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
The Captive by Joyce Hansen. J FIC HANSEN
When Kofi's father, an Ashanti chief, is killed, Kofi is sold as a slave and ends up in
Massachusetts, where his fate is in the hands of Paul Cuffe, an African American shipbuilder who works to return slaves to their homeland in Africa.
Jip: His Story by Katherine Paterson. J FIC PATERSON
While living on a Vermont poor farm during 1855 and 1856, Jip
learns his identity and that of his mother and comes to understand
how he arrived at this place.
Pioneer and Frontier Life (1800s)
The Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
J FIC WILDER and J FIC MACBRIDE
The sign of the beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. J FIC SPEARE
Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in eighteenth-century Maine, a boy is
hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills.
Rachel's journal: the story of a pioneer girl by Marissa Moss. J FIC MOSS
In her journal, Rachel chronicles her family's adventures traveling by covered wagon on
the Oregon Trail in 1850.
Stop the train!: a novel by Geraldine McCaughrean. J FIC MCCAUGHREAN
Despite the opposition of the owner of the Red Rock Runner railroad in 1893, the new
settlers of Florence, Oklahoma, are determined to build a real town.
Pioneer and Frontier Life (1800s), continued
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan.
J FIC MACLACHLAN
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with
them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by
their new mother and hope that she will stay.
Worth by A. LaFaye. J FIC LAFAYE
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.
I'm sorry, Almira Ann by Jane Kurtz. J FIC KURTZ
Eight-year-old Sarah's high spirits help make her family's long journey from Missouri to
Oregon more bearable, though they do cause both her and her best friend Almira Ann
some problems.
Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. J FIC GIPSON
Travis and his dog Old Yeller live through a hard summer while his father drives a
herd from Texas to the Kansas market.
The boy who saved Cleveland: based on a true story by James Cross Giblin. J FIC
GIBLIN
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.
The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz. J FIC FRITZ
Ten-year-old Ann overcomes loneliness and learns to appreciate the importance of her
role in settling the wilderness of western Pennsylvania.
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. J FIC BRINK
Chronicles the adventures of eleven-year-old Caddie growing up with her six brothers
and sisters on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.
Black-eyed Susan: a novel by Jennifer Armstrong.
J FIC ARMSTRONG
Ten-year-old Susie and her father love living on the South
Dakota prairie with its vast, uninterrupted views of land and sky,
but Susie's mother greatly misses their old life in Ohio.