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

A fast-paced fantasy epic set in ancient Rome that fuses archaeology, history, and mythological magic. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Ancient Rome

A Deaf educator uses a real-life historical Deaf community on Martha's Vineyard, in which 25% of the population was Deaf and all residents spoke a unique sign language, as the setting for this suspenseful tale about a scientist's visit to the island. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Nineteenth Century US | 1805

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 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 Jewish teenager helps her grandfather protect their fellow Jews from persecution in Inquisition-era Spain. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Medieval Spain | 1400s

A story of the American Revolution from children's literary legend Avi, in which a boy from a Loyalist family must choose sides in the burgeoning War for Independence. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

American Revolution | 1775

Based on the author's childhood experiences, a Muslim boy escapes to the US after ethnic tensions erupt into genocide in his Bosnian homeland in this rare exploration of Balkan history in children's literature. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Twentieth Century | 1992

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

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

The true story of the bear was adopted by a Canadian regiment in World War I and inspired Christopher Robin Milne to name his stuffed bear--who would later go on to star in his father's classic children's books--Winnie the Pooh. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

World War I

A modern American kid stuck at home during the pandemic learns about his Ukrainian grandmother's horrific experiences during the Holodomor famine engineered by the Stalinist Soviet government. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Twentieth Century | 1932

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

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 young girl separated from her father with the rise of the Berlin wall makes a daring escape to join him in West Berlin in one of many gripping historical fiction adventures by Jennifer A. Nielsen. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Cold War | 1965

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