Historical Fiction (Tamariki).

Get transported back to the past and learn all about history without setting foot in classroom with this selection of Historical themed fiction. You'll read about fictional, (and sometimes real) people; about how they lived and what they felt.

Updated August 21, 2024
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The wolves of Willoughby Chase
Aiken, Joan
Paper Book
Can you go a little faster? Can you run? Long ago, at a time in history that never happened, England was overrun with wolves. But as Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia discover, real danger often lies closer to home. Their new governess, Miss Slighcarp, doesn't seem at all nice. She...
Little men
Alcott, Louisa May
Paper Book
With two young sons of her own, and twelve rescued orphan boys filling the unusual school at Plumfield, Jo March - now Mrs Jo Bhaer - couldn't be happier. But the boys have a habit of getting into scrapes, and their mischievous antics call for the warm and affectionate support of the whole March...
Little women
Alcott, Louisa May
Paper Book
Louisa May Alcott's classic tale of four sisters in a deluxe hardcover edition,with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co. Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters...
Chains
Anderson, Laurie Halse.
Paper Book
From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling first novel in the historical middle grade The Seeds of America trilogy that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual. As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old...
Tuck everlasting
Babbitt, Natalie.
Paper Book
The beloved children's classic with more than more than 10 million copies sold. From Newbery Honor and E. B. White Award-winning author Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting is a spellbinding modern-day masterpiece about immortality, friendship, and growing up that's...
Tiger, tiger
Banks, Lynne Reid
Paper Book
A swashbuckling tale set in Ancient Rome. The setting of this novel is Ancient Rome, where Caeser is all-powerful, Christians are heretics who must die, and animals are mere playthings, to be baited, challenged and destroyed... Two tiger cubs are transported on a frightening voyage from their home...
The secret garden
Burnett, Frances Hodgson
Paper Book
Celebrate an unforgettable classic with this gorgeously repackaged edition, featuring the timeless art of Tasha Tudor. Just in time for the movie adaptation starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters! This beautiful hardcover edition includes Tasha Tudor's iconic illustrations in...
What Katy did
Coolidge, Susan
Paper Book
Includes a character guide, a story quiz, a which-character-are-you-like quiz, information on being a girl in the 19th century, directions to make a pin cushion, and splendiferous vocabulary I mean to do something grand. I don't know what, yet; but when I'm grown up I shall find...
King of shadows
Cooper, Susan
Paper Book
I lay very still, with all my senses telling me that I had gone mad. The plague? Nobody's had the plague for centuries . . . Nathan Field, a talented young actor, arrives at the newly rebuilt Globe Theatre in London to play Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. As rehearsals begin,...
Hunter
Cowley, Joy.
Paper Book
In this riveting book, world-renowned author Joy Cowley brings together two very different worlds, giving us a rare glimpse of the remarkable human spirit that connects us all. When fourteen-year-old Jordan and her young brothers learn they'll have to ride a rickety plane home for the holidays, they...
The snow goose
Gallico, Paul
Paper Book
Philip Rhayader lives alone in an abandoned lighthouse on the desolate Great Marsh of Essex. One afternoon, a hauntingly beautiful child, Fritha, visits Rhayader, bringing with her an injured snow goose. At first Fritha is scared of Rhayader, with his sinister hump and crooked hand, but he is gentle...
Lizzie's wish
Geras, Ade?le.
Paper Book
On a visit to her cousins in London, Lizzie's passion for trees and plants is fuelled by a visit to the newly opened Kew Gardens. Like her cousin, who wants to defy her middle-class upbringing and become a nurse, Lizzie has the ambition and the will to go against the conventions of Victorian life...
The red umbrella
Gonzalez, Christina Diaz
Paper Book
The Red Umbrella is the moving tale of a 14-year-old girl's journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan--an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro's revolution.   In 1961, two years...
No safe harbour
Hill, David
Paper Book
The bells stopped, so suddenly that their sound quivered in the air. For the first time in an hour, the loudspeakers spoke, but this time the words were different. 'We are about to abandon ship. All passengers proceed immediately to the starboard side. We are about to...
I am David
Holm, Anne
Paper Book
'You must get away tonight,' the man had told him. David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone - who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won't catch...
The evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Kelly, Jacqueline.
Paper Book
In this witty historical fiction middle grade novel set at the turn of the century, an 11-year-old girl explores the natural world, learns about science and animals, and grows up. A Newbery Honor Book. "The most delightful historical novel for tweens in many, many years. ....
When Hitler stole pink rabbit
Kerr, Judith
Paper Book
This semi-autobiographical classic, written by the beloved Judith Kerr, tells the story of a Jewish family escaping Germany in the days before the Second World War. This beautiful new edition celebrates the fifty year anniversary of an adventure that Michael Morpurgo...
Sarah, plain and tall
MacLachlan, Patricia
Paper Book
This beloved Newbery Medal-winning book is the first of five books in Patricia MacLachlan's chapter book series about the Witting family. Set in the late nineteenth century and told from young Anna's point of view, Sarah, Plain and Tall tells the story of how Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton comes...
Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, L. M.
Paper Book
The celebrated classic about a red-headed orphan and the family who falls in love with her. The Cuthberts are in for a shock. They are expecting an orphan boy to help with the work at Green Gables - but a skinny red-haired girl turns up instead. Highly spirited Anne Shirley charms her way...
Listen to the moon
Morpurgo, Michael
Paper Book
The stunning novel set during World War One from Michael Morpurgo, the nation's favourite storyteller and multi-million copy bestseller. May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies - injured, thirsty, lost......
Twist of gold
Morpurgo, Michael.
Paper Book
Sean and Annie have one chance to escape the potato famine and plague in Ireland. They survive a shipwreck and land safely in America searching for their father. But their new land is one of hardship and they live in poverty on the streets of Boston. However, their adventure is just beginning.<...
The railway children
Nesbit, E.
Paper Book
Family! Friendship! Adventure! Mystery!Roberta, Peter, and Phyllis have their lives turned upside down when their father mysteriously has to go away. The railway becomes the centre of their new life, but little do they know what wonders and changes it will bring to them - maybe even the answer to...
Pollyanna
Porter, Eleanor H.
Paper Book
If you love a good story, then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure and return to again and again.When orphan Pollyanna is sent to live with her bad-tempered aunt, she realizes that many of the folk in...
The silver sword
Serraillier, Ian.
Paper Book
An unforgettable story of life during and after the Second World War, based on true accounts. For readers of The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Diary of Anne Frank. This is a story of many different things. Of a terrible war and an occupied...
Black Beauty
Sewell, Anna
Paper Book
Black Beauty is a handsome, sweet-tempered colt with a strong spirit. As a young colt he is free to gallop in the fresh green meadows with his beloved mother, Duchess, and their kind master. But when his owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty goes from a life of comfort and kindness to one of...
Heidi
Spyri, Johanna
Paper Book
The classic story of a little orphan girl in the Swiss Alps, with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co. At the age of five, little orphan Heidi is sent to live with her grandfather in the Alps. Everyone in...
Treasure Island
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paper Book
The eagle of the Ninth
Sutcliff, Rosemary.
Paper Book
Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth is the classic story of a young Roman centurion sent out to recover the infamous Ninth Legion's missing symbol of honor. Over a million copies sold worldwide, it was adapted to a major motion picture (The Eagle) starring Channing Tatum...
Mary Poppins
Travers, P. L.
Paper Book
An exquisite flagship gift edition of an iconic classic, illustrated by the former Waterstones Children's Laureate, Lauren Child. When Mary Poppins arrives at their house on a gust of the East Wind and slides up the bannister, Jane and Michael Banks's lives are turned magically upside down...
Josie under fire
Turnbull, Ann.
Paper Book
1941. London is suffering from the Blitz and the country is gripped by patriotic fervour. Josie finds it hard to understand her brother's decision to be a conscientious objector. But when she moves to a new school and gets drawn into tormenting one of her classmates, Josie learns what it means to...
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Twain, Mark
Paper Book
"The classic novel by celebrated American author Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells of a teenage misfit accompanied by an escaping slave, Jim, as the two float down the Mississippi River by raft. As their journey unfolds, Huck and Jim encounter adventure, danger, and a deftly...
Little house on the prairie
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
Paper Book
Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie is the third book in the award-winning Little House series, which has captivated generations of readers. This edition features the classic black-and-white artwork from Garth Williams.  Laura Ingalls...

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