Kids and Families

Historical Fiction for Teens

Early History | Middle Ages and the Renaissance | Colonial Revolutionary America | Civil War | Twentieth Centry | World War I | Great Depression | World War II | Vietnam War

Early History

The Edge of the Sword by Rebecca Tingle
In ninth-century Britain, fifteen-year-old Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred of West Saxony, finds she must assume new responsibilities much sooner than expected when she is betrothed to Ethelred of Mercia in order to strengthen a strategic alliance against the Danes.

Escape from Egypt by Sonia Levitin
When Moses comes to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land, Jesse, a Hebrew slave, finds his life changed by his growing faith in God and his attraction to the half-Egyptian,
half-Syrian Jennat.

Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline Cooney
In ancient Sparta, young Anaxandra must assume a false identity to ensure her safety. She guards against the jealousy and suspicion of Helen, the beautiful wife of King Meneleus, whose actions will trigger a tragic war with Troy.

Pharaoh's Daughter by Julius Lester
A fictionalized account of a Biblical story in which an Egyptian princess rescues a Hebrew infant who becomes a prophet of his people while his sister finds her true self as a priestess to the Egyptian gods.

Troy by Adele Geras
Told from the point of view of the women of Troy, portrays the last weeks of the Trojan War, when women are sick of tending the wounded, men are tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses find ways to stir things up.

Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett
In the eleventh century the teenage princess Anna Comnena fights for her birthright, the throne to the Byzantine Empire, which she fears will be taken from her by her younger brother John because he is a boy.

The Beduin's Gazelle by Frances Temple
In 1302, two cousins of the nomadic Beni Khalid tribe who are betrothed become separated by political intrigue between warring tribes. Sequel to the Ramsay Scallop.

The Book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum
In twelfth-century England, after his master, a maker of coins for the king, is brutally punished for alleged cheating, seventeen-year-old Edmund finds himself traveling to the Holy Land as squire to a knight crusader on his way to join the forces of Richard Lionheart.

The Burning Time by Carol Matas
After her father's sudden death, fourteen-year-old Rose Rives finds that sixteenth-century France is a dangerous place for women, when some greedy, vindictive men charge her mother and others with being witches.

Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli
Frustrated with the restrictions her gender imposes on her life, fourteen-year-old Donata, disguised as a boy, sneaks out of her noble family's house to roam the streets of late sixteenth-century Venice and then must confront the repercussions of her actions.

Dove and Sword by Nancy Garden
In 1455 in France, Gabrielle is visited by Pierre d'Arc, a brother of Joan of Arc, and with him reminisces about their childhood together in Domremy and Joan's subsequent trial and burning at the stake at Rouen twenty-four years before.

The Examination by Malcom Bosse
Fifteen-year-old Hong and his older brother Chen face famine, flood, pirates, and jealous rivals on their journey through fifteenth century China as Chen pursues his calling as a scholar.

Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen
As English armies invade Scotland in 1306, eleven-year-old Princess Marjorie, daughter of the newly crowned Scottish king, Robert the Bruce, is captured by England's King Edward Longshanks and held in a cage on public display.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Set in 17th-century Delft, this historical novel intertwines the art of Johannes Vermeer with his life and that of a maiden servant in his household. From the few facts known about the artist, Chevalier creates the reality of the Netherlands.

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade by Diane Wilson
Oyuna tells her granddaughter the story of how love for her horse enabled her to win a race and bring good luck to her family living in Mongolia in 1339.

Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
Fourteen-year-old Matilda, an apprentice bonesetter and practitioner of medicine in a village in medieval England, tries to reconcile the various aspects of her life, both spiritual and practical.

Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks
In twelfth-century Jerusalem, orphaned sixteen-year-old Pagan is assigned to work for Lord Roland, a Templar knight, as Saladin's armies close in on the Holy City.

Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen
When twelve-year-old Nicola leaves Troupe Brufort and serves as the fool for Mary, Queen of Scots, she experiences the political and religious upheavals in both France and Scotland.

Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple
At the turn of the fourteenth century in England, fourteen-year-old Elenor finds her betrothal to an ambitious lord's son launching her on a memorable pilgrimage to far-off Spain.

Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty.

Spider's Voice by Gloria Skurzynski
Because he is a young mute person who can hear, Aran becomes involved in the adventures of Eloise and Abelard, France's most famous lovers, who lived during the twelfth century.

Colonial and Revolutionary America 1400's to 1800's

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.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.

Broken Days by Ann Rinaldi
In 1811, life with her Aunt Hannah in Salem, Massachusetts, becomes even more difficult for fourteen-year-old Ebie with the arrival of a half-Indian girl who claims to be the daughter of Hannah's sister, Thankful, and with the threat of impending war.

Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South by Ann Rinaldi
In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war.

Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac
Eleven-year-old Ohkwa'ri and his twin sister must make peace with a hostile gang of older boys in their Mohawk village during the late 1400s.

Fever 1793 by Laurie 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.

Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers
Follows a family's two hundred forty-one year history, from the capture of an African boy in the 1750s through the lives of his descendants, as their dreams and circumstances lead them away from and back to the small plot of land in South Carolina that they call the Glory Field.

Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Joseph Burchac
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.

Winter People by Joseph Bruchac
As the French and Indian War rages in October of 1759, Saxso, a fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy, pursues the English rangers who have attacked his village and taken his mother and sisters hostage

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.

Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood
In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from England to the American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of developments in the political unrest there that may spell defeat for the patriots and change the course of history.

Civil War

The Heart Calls Home by Joyce Hanson
After the Civil War, former slave Obi Booker tries to make a new life on a South Carolina island while waiting to be joined by his beloved Easter, who is studying in the North. Sequel to “Out from this Place”.

Nightjohn by Gary Paulsen
Twelve-year-old Sarny's brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly arrived slave offers to teach her how to read.

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
As he faces battle in the Civil War for the first time, a young Union soldier gains maturity and some peace of mind as he comes to grips with his conflicting emotions.

The River Between Us by Richard Peck
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.

Sooner by Patricia Calvert
With the realization that his father may not return now that the Civil War is over, thirteen-year-old Tyler finds himself the man of their Missouri farm and the master of a new dog, the strikingly colored Sooner. Sequel to “Bigger”.

Twentieth Centry

Earthquake at Dawn by Kristina Gregory
A novelization of twenty-two-year-old photographer Edith Irvine's experiences in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, as seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old Daisy, a fictitious traveling companion.

Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
Up until 1915, Vahan has been the pampered son of a wealthy and influential Armenian family. Then overnight his world is destroyed when Turkish leaders begin the systematic massacre of the Armenian population of Turkey.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is a vivid portrait of life and death in a turn-of-the-century American meat-packing factory. A grim indictment that led to government regulations of the food industry, The Jungle is Sinclair's extraordinary contribution to literature and social reform.

Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril and Romance by Marthe Jocelyn
In 1901, fourteen-year-old Mable Riley dreams of being a writer and having adventures while stuck in Perth County, Ontario, assisting her sister in teaching school and secretly becomin friends with a neighbor who holds scandalous opinions on women's rights.

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance,takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.

An Ocean Apart, A World Away by Lensey Namioka
Picking up where Ties that Bind, Ties that Break left off, this story focuses on Ailin’s friend Yanyan, who pursues her dreams of becoming a doctor by enrolling in an American university. Yanyan finds that adjusting to American life of the 1920s can be just as difficult as the restrictive life she left behind in China.

Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensy Namioka
Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A story about a lawyer in a small Alabama town in the 1930’s whose defense of a black man arouses the town’s prejudice and hostility.

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.

World War I

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Remarque
Paul and his classmates enthusiastically enlist to fight in the War, but soon find out the realities of war.

Art of Keeping Cool by Janet Taylor Lisle
In 1942, Robert and his cousin Elliot uncover long-hidden family secrets while staying in their grandparents' Rhode Island town, where they also become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy.

Bat 6 by Virginia Euwer Wolff
In small town, post-World War Oregon, twenty-one 6th grade girls recount the story of an annual softball game, during which one girl's bigotry comes to the surface

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
A love story between an ambulance driver and an English nurse set againt the brutality of World War I.

My Brother, My Sister and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
Living as refugees in Japan in 1947 while trying to locate their missing father, thirteen-year-old Yoko and her older brother and sister must endure a bad fire, injury, and false charges of arson, theft, and murder.

Pictures, 1918 by Jeanette Ingold
Coming of age in a rural Texas community in 1918, fifteen-year-old Asia assists in the local war effort, contemplates romance with a local boy, and expands her horizons through her pursuit of photography.

Great Depression

Esperanza Rising by Pam Muoz Ryan
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

Extra Innings by Robert Newton Peck
After a tragic airplane crash that claims the lives of most of his family, sixteen-year-old Tate goes to live with his wealthy great-grandfather and his adopted black great-aunt Vidalia and he finds unexpected solace in the stories of her childhood spent travelling with a Depression-era Negro baseball team.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The story of the Joads, set during the Great Depression, as they struggle to make ends meet.

A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard 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.

Nowhere to Call Home by Cynthia Defelice
When her father kills himself after losing his money in the stock market crash, twelve-year-old Frances, now a penniless orphan, decides to hop aboard a freight train and live the life of a hobo.

World War II

Boys from St. Petri by Bjarne Reuter
A group of young men begin a series of increasingly dangerous protests against the German invaders of their Danish homeland.

The Gadget by Paul Zindel
In 1945, having joined his father at Los Alamos, where he and other scientists are working on a secret project to end World War II, thirteen-year-old Stephen becomes caught in a web of secrecy and intrigue.

Greater Than Angles by Carol Matas
Anna, a teenaged German refugee, relates how she and other Jewish children were cared for by the citizens of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, during the German occupation.

Other Bells for Us to Ring by Robert Cormier
When her father is transferred to an army camp in Massachusetts during the Second World War, Darcy feels isolated in her French-Canadian neighborhood until she meets the vivacious Kathleen Mary O'Hara and learns about Catholicism.

Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes
Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the Battle of the Bulge.

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Sheltering an escaped prisoner of war is the beginning of some shattering experiences for a twelve-year-old girl in Arkansas.

Two Suns in the Sky by Miriam Bat-Ami
In 1944, an Upstate New York teenager named Christine meets and falls in love with Adam, a Yugoslavian Jew living in a refugee camp, despite their parents' conviction that they do not belong together.

Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi
A young Korean girl survives the oppressive Japanese and Russian occupation of North Korea during the 1940s, to later escape to freedom in South Korea.

Vietnam War

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.

Jesse by Gary Soto
Jesse and his brother Abel hope that by enrolling in Fresno City College, they can escape a life of working in the fields or being drafted for the Vietnam War.

Life History of a Star by Kelly Easton
For more than a year, fourteen-year-old Kristin uses her diary to record her confused thoughts about the physical changes brought on by adolescence and the emotional strain on her family of living with the "ghost" of her beloved older brother who was physically and mentally destroyed while serving in Vietnam.

Stranded in Harmony by Barbara Shoup
While struggling with the changes he faces during his senior year in a small Indiana town, Lucas gains insight through a unique friendship with a former Vietnam war protester.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Twenty-two stories of men who fought in Vietnam told by looking at the personal items they carried with them.

-Compiled from various websites

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