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

A baby with a powerful destiny is adopted by an abbey full of monks in this modern classic from beloved author Kate DiCamillo. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Medieval Europe

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

A monk, a Jewish refugee, and a psychic peasant join forces in this medieval road trip story loosely inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Medieval France | 1242

A Chinese American girl who dreams of being a dressmaker and her white father try to make their home in pioneer era LaForge, South Dakota in a story inspired by the author's childhood love of Little House on the Prairie. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Nineteenth Century US | 1880

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

The author of Wonder crafts a masterful horse story about a boy's search for his missing father. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Nineteenth Century US | 1860

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

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

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

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 Jewish girl feels caught in the middle when her older sister elopes with an Indian American man after interracial marriage is legalized in the US. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1967

A classic novel from Gary D. Schmidt about a Protestant boy who learns to love Shakespeare during an independent study class held while his Catholic and Jewish classmates take religious studies classes. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1967

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

A young girl moves through grief and finds her voice after her dad dies of AIDS at the height of the mid-1980s AIDS epidemic. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1987