Kids and Families

Revolutionary War Era Fiction for Older Readers

Cast Two Shadows by Ann Rinaldi. Harcourt Brace, 1998.
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.

An Enemy Among Them by Deborah H. DeFord. Houghton Mifflin, 1987.
A young Hessian soldier questions his loyalty to his king after fighting with the British in America during the Revolutionary War and spending time as a prisoner in the home of a German American family from Pennsylvania.

The Fighting Ground by Avi. Lippincott, 1984.
Thirteen-year-old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real war is being fought within himself.

Guns for General Washington: a Story of the American Revolution by Seymour Reit. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990.
Frustrated with life under siege in George Washington's army, nineteen-year-old Will Knox and his brother Colonel Henry Knox undertake the task of moving 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the dead of winter.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. Houghton Mifflin, 1943.
A fourteen year-old silversmith apprentice finds himself tragically injured and fighting in the Revolutionary war. Newbery Award Winner.

Mary Alice Peale, Philadelphia, 1777 by Kathleen Duey. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996.
When her wounded brother returns from battle, twelve-year-old Mary must get help for him without telling her father, a wealthy Tory, who has disowned his son for joining General Washington's Continental Army.

A Message for General Washington by Vivian Schurfranz. Silver Moon Press, 1998.
Twelve-year-old Hannah accepts the challenge of sneaking behind enemy lines to deliver a message to General Washington which will result in the British surrender at Yorktown.

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier. Four Winds Press, 1974.
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.

Night Raiders Along the Cape by John F. Waters. Silver Moon Press, 1997.
When British raids off the coast of New England become more frequent, young Asa must row through the night to warn his friends on the Massachusetts coast of an impending attack.

The Rifle by Gary Paulsen. Harcourt Brace, 1995.
A priceless, hand-crafted rifle, fired throughout the American Revolution, is passed down through the years until it fires on a fateful Christmas Eve of 1994.

Sarah Bishop by Scott O'Dell. Houghton Mifflin, 1980.
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.

Saratoga Secret by Betsy Sterman. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1998.
In 1777, as General Burgoyne and his British troops invade the Upper Hudson River Valley, sixteen-year-old Amity must carry a secret message to the Continental army to give warning of an impending attack.

The Secret of Sarah Revere by Ann Rinaldi. Harcourt Brace, 1995.
Paul Revere's daughter describes her father's "rides" and the intelligence network of the patriot community prior to the American Revolution.

Thomas by Bonnie Pryor. Morrow Junior Books, 1998.
In the early years of the Revolutionary War, eleven-year-old Thomas and his family escape a bloody massacre at Wyoming Valley and endure innumerable hardships as they try to make their way to Philadelphia.

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