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Here are some of our favorite historical fiction books for kids. These titles can be found in the Juvenile section of the library, unless otherwise noted.
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The Lucky Ones
by Linda Williams Jackson
In 1967, when his teacher loans him a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 11-year-old Ellis Earl Brown is amazed to encounter a family worse off than his own and wonders if happy endings only come in books.
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Echo Mountain
by Lauren Wolk
When twelve-year-old Ellie and her family lose livelihood and move to a mountain cabin in 1934, she quickly learns to be an outdoors woman and, when needed, a healer.
NOTE: This book is shelved in the Teen Middle section of the library.
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Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
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Grasping Mysteries: Girls who Loved Math
by Jeannine Atkins
A novel-in-verse profiles the important achievements of seven groundbreaking women in math and science, including Caroline Herschel, Florence Nightingale and Katherine Johnson.
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Maddy and the Monstrous Storm: A Schoolhouse Blizzard Survival Story
by Julie Gilbert
Thirteen-year-old Maddy Rollag struggles with prairie life on her aunt and uncle's farm in Dakota Territory, but on January 12, 1888, when a blizzard threatens to trap Maddy and her classmates inside their damaged schoolhouse, she finds the courage and strength to lead them to safety. Includes historical notes, a glossary, and discussion questions.
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Starting from Seneca Falls
by Karen Schwabach
A centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment follows the story of an orphaned survivor of the Irish Potato Famine who runs away from abusive caretakers to 1848 Seneca Falls, New York, where her prospects are shaped by the suffrage activism of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
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A Place to Hang the Moon
by Kate Albus
In World War II England, orphaned siblings William, Edmund, and Anna are evacuated from London to live in the countryside where they bounce from home to home in search of someone willing to adopt them permanently.
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View from Pagoda Hill
by Michaela MacColl
Ning, a Chinese American girl, struggles to find her place in the world and is forced to leave her home in Shanghai to go to America with a father she barely knows.
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Maria and the Plague: A Black Death Survival Story
by Natasha Deen
The people of fourteenth-century Florence, Italy, starving after years of bad weather and natural disasters, now face the Black Plague but twelve-year-old Maria is determined to survive.
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When the World was Ours
by Liz Kessler
Torn apart by the historical events leading up to World War II, three friends from 1936 Vienna are scattered to different countries as darkness spreads throughout Europe, impacting their families and their bonds with each other.
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Show Me a Sign
by
Ann Clare LeZotte
The Deaf librarian and author of T4 draws on the true history of a thriving 19th-century Deaf community on Martha’s Vineyard in the story of a girl whose proud lineage is threatened by land disputes with the Wampanoag and a ruthlessly ambitious scientist.
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We Dream of Space
by
Erin Entrada Kelly
Joining their fellow seventh graders to watch the 1986 Challenger launch, three siblings struggle with respective difficulties including falling grades, an out-of-control temper, and depressed NASA ambitions.
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Prairie Lotus
by
Linda Sue Park
A young half-Asian girl arriving in 1880s America struggles to adjust to new surroundings while navigating the almost unanimous prejudice of the townspeople in her heartland community.
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The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
by
Brenda Woods
Gabriel, twelve, gains new perspective when he becomes friends with Meriwether, a Black World War II hero who has recently returned to the unwelcoming Jim Crow South.
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All the Greys on Greene Street
by
Laura Tucker
When her father goes missing leaving behind a cryptic note and everyone around her begins acting strange, twelve-year-old Olympia knows she must find her dad in order to figure out what is going on.
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How I Became a Spy: A Mystery of WWII London
by Deborah Hopkinson
An unlikely young spy in World War II London forges a detective team with a strong-willed American girl, his Jewish refugee friend, and his trusty pup to decipher a notebook containing clues about a young woman's disappearance.
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The Mad Wolf's Daughter
by Diane Magras
The youngest member of a Scottish medieval war band must free her family from a castle prison after knights attack her home, a quest that is marked by her brothers' perspectives about courage, a helpful witch, and a bandit with a dark link to her past.
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Last of the Name
by Rosanne Parry
Arriving in 1863 New York City with his older sister, 12-year-old Danny reluctantly pretends to be a girl in order to accompany his sister into domestic service and avoid recruitment into the army, a deception that is complicated by his love for Irish dancing and brewing tensions between the Irish and their free black neighbors.
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Orange for the Sunsets
by Tina Athaide
Two 12-year-old best friends who have never cared about their differences are torn apart by president Idi Amin's decision to expel Indians from 1972 Uganda, an order that is complicated by an educational opportunity and escalating community unrest.
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The Journey of Little Charlie
by Christopher Paul Curtis
Striking a deal with a formidable local in the aftermath of his father's death, 12-year-old Charlie, the child of sharecroppers, agrees to track down a band of thieves only to confront a difficult moral choice when he learns the true identities and circumstances of his targets.
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Forsyth County Public Library | #WeKnowBooks
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