Children's Book Suggestions | Historical FictionUnpublished

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Technically, this series is more of a time travel story than true historical fiction, but there's no better way to introduce kids to world history than "the Jack & Annie books." (Bridging Fiction Grades 2-4)

Prehistoric

The first book in the popular I Survived series about surviving famous historical disasters from a child's point of view features one of the most dramatic moments in modern history: the sinking of the Titanic. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Twentieth Century US | 1912

An Asante boy is captured, sold into slavery, and escapes in this novel in verse from powerhouse author Kwame Alexander. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Nineteenth Century Africa & US | 1860

A medieval girl flees the Black Plague on foot, an experience that may be cathartic for kids still dealing with the ramifications of living through a global pandemic. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Medieval Europe | 1300s

LAFAYETTE! Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, written by a modern graphic novel artist who shares his name with a famous revolutionary war spy, tells engaging true stories from US history--including this tale of the Marquis de Lafayette, French solider and Revolutionary War hero.

American Revolution | 1777

Two enslaved children escape plantation life and take refuge among an off-the-grid community of formerly enslaved Black Americans in the Great Dismal Swamp. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Nineteenth Century US

A girl with a clubfoot blossoms when she's evacuated to the country as part of a World War II effort to move British children out of London during the Blitz. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 3-5)

World War II

The first in the popular series of lightly fictionalized memoirs about Wilder's childhood in the upper Midwest. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Nineteenth Century US | 1871

A brother and sister flee North Korea in this winter survival story set at the start of the Korean war. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Korean War | 1950

A tween boy moves to Alcatraz when his father becomes a guard at the famous prison. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Great Depression | 1935

Based on the author's experiences as a Vietnam War refugee, this novel in verse tells the story of a young girl's arrival in Alabama following the fall of Saigon in 1975. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Vietnam War | 1975

National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich draws on her Ojibwe heritage in this series of books inspired by 19th-century Indigenous communities in northern Minnesota. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Nineteenth Century US | 1847

Two girls escape the Chernobyl disaster in Communist-era Soviet Ukraine, sheltering with one girl's grandmother who secretly practices Jewish traditions. For another take on escaping Pripyat following the disaster, try Escape from Chernobyl by Andy Marino. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1986

A graphic novel about a Japanese Canadian boy whose love of baseball brings him solace while incarcerated during World War II. (Children's Graphic Novel Grades 3-5)

World War II

An American teenage boy lies about his age to join the Allied forces for the D-Day invasion of Normandy in this pulse-pounding adventure from bestselling author Alan Gratz. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7) World War II | 1944

A family road trip to Birmingham in September 1963 brings a Michigan family a little too close to one of the most devastating tragedies of the Civil Rights Era. Introduces kids to a difficult historical era with humor and grace. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Civil Rights Era | 1963

A fantasy novel grounded in the rootworker traditions of Gullah cultures in South Carolina, set against the backdrop of Civil Rights Movement. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Civil Rights Era | 1963

A trio of sisters spend the summer of 1968 with their estranged activist mother in Berkeley, where she tries to repair their relationship and sends the girls to a Black Panther-run summer camp. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1968

A tween girl spends the summer at her grandparents' retirement community in Florida in this graphic novel series starter about a middle schooler in the mid-1970s. (Young Teen Graphic Novels Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1970s

This entry in the popular Girls Survive series focuses on the Mt. St. Helens eruption of 1984, featuring a young girl escaping the eruption in a fast-paced survival story. A great choice for kids who've read all of the I Survived books and are looking for more short, approachable historical fiction survival stories. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Twentieth Century | 1984