Open Books Challenge 2026: Set in America Between 1600-1800

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "Set in America between 1600-1800, to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
Rochester Public Library RPL Staff
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Open Books Challenge 2026: Set in America Between 1600-1800

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are some ideas that fit the 2026 category "Set in America between 1600-1800, to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence."

Happy Reading!

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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...
Loyalty
Avi
Paper Book
Newbery Medalist Avi explores the American Revolution from a fresh perspective in the story of a young Loyalist turned British spy navigating patriotism and personal responsibility during the lead-up to the War of Independence. When his father is killed by rebel vigilantes,...
Revolutionary Mary : the true story of one woman, the Declaration of Independence, and America's fight for freedom
Blumenthal, Karen
Paper Book
A bold picture book biography about Mary Katharine Goddard, the only woman whose name is printed on the Declaration of Independence, by award-winning authors Karen Blumenthal and Jen McCartney, and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley. Who was Mary Katharine Goddard? ...
Hour of the witch : a novel
Bohjalian, Chris
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the acclaimed author of The Flight Attendant: "Historical fiction at its best.... The book is a thriller in structure, and a real page-turner, the ending both unexpected and satisfying" (Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the...
The indigo girl : a novel
Boyd, Natasha
Paper Book
In this incredible story of ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice, an extraordinary sixteen-year-old girl in Colonial South Carolina defies all expectations to achieve her dream. The year is 1739. Eliza Lucas is sixteen years old when her father leaves her in charge of their family's three...
Slewfoot : a tale of bewitchery
Brom
Paper Book
A USA TODAY BESTSELLER! Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it. Connecticut, 1666: An ancient spirit awakens in a dark wood. The wildfolk call him...
Caleb's crossing
Brooks, Geraldine.
Paper Book
A bestselling tale of passion and belief, magic and adventure from the author of The Secret Chord and of March, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Bethia Mayfield is a restless and curious young woman growing up in Martha's Vineyard in the 1660s amid a small band of...
Flight of the sparrow : a novel of early America
Brown, Amy Belding.
Paper Book
A historical novel based on the life of Mary Rowlandson ""An authentic drama of Indian captivity...A compelling, emotionally gripping tale."--Eliot Pattison, author of the Mystery of Colonial America series" "She suspects that she has changed too much to ever fit easily into English society...
To the bone
Bruzas, Alena
Paper Book
This gripping, shocking, and exquisitely crafted survival story reveals the truth of America's colonial history in a powerful new way--visceral and breathtaking. After the long journey from England, Ellis arrives in America full of hope. James Fort is where a better life will...
The judge hunter
Buckley, Christopher
Audiobook
In the latest comic novel from Christopher Buckley, a hapless Englishman embarks on a dangerous mission to the New World in pursuit of two judges who helped murder a king. London, 1664. Twenty years after the English revolution, the monarchy has been restored and Charles II sits on the...
Alexander Hamilton
Chernow, Ron.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller, and the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton! Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow presents a landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father who galvanized, inspired, scandalized, and shaped the newborn...
The fort
Cornwell, Bernard.
Audiobook
"The most prolific and successful historical novelist in the world today." --Wall Street Journal "Readers who haven't discovered Bernard Cornwell don't know what they are missing." --New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn From the New York Times bestselling author of...
American demagogue : the Great Awakening and the rise and fall of populism
Dickey, Jeff
Paper Book
A New York Times bestselling historian examines how demagoguery and the populism it inspires--for good and ill--is embedded in the very soul of our nation. In November 1739, the American colonies felt an earthquake. It arrived not in the form of a natural...
Never caught : the Washingtons' relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong
Paper Book
Spy ring
Durst, Sarah Beth
Paper Book
Two modern-day kids discover the truth about an American Revolutionary War-era female spy through a treasure-hunt adventure in their hometown of Setauket, New York. With codewords and secret signals perfected, best friends Rachel and Joon are ready to spend their summer...
Independence lost : lives on the edge of the American Revolution
DuVal, Kathleen.
Paper Book
In an entirely new, global perspective on the Revolutionary period, Kathleen DuVal reveals personal stories such as that of Irish trader Oliver Pollock, Scottish plantation owners James and Isabella Bruce, and Creek leader Alexander McGillivray for whom the American Revolution was more complicated...
Hamilton and Peggy! : a revolutionary friendship
Elliott, L. M.
Paper Book
* Promotion in the HarperCollins Children's Books Booth at major institutional conferences, including extensive ARC distribution * School and Library social media outreach, including book talk written by a YA librarian * Pitch author for speaking engagements at school and library...
The seamstress of Acadie : a novel
Frantz, Laura
Paper Book
In a land torn apart by conflict, can love mend the tattered pieces? As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada's Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family--French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain...
Written in my own heart's blood : a novel
Gabaldon, Diana.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The eighth book in Diana Gabaldon's acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series--season 8 coming in March 2026! "Features all the passion and swashbuckling that fans of this historical fantasy series have come to...
The ruin of all witches : life and death in the New World
Gaskill, Malcolm
Paper Book
A gripping story of a family tragedy brought about by witch-hunting in Puritan New England that combines history, anthropology, sociology, politics, theology and psychology. "The best and most enjoyable kind of history writing. Malcolm Gaskill goes to meet the past on its own terms...
The pirate's wife : the remarkable true story of Sarah Kidd
Geanacopoulos, Daphne Palmer
Paper Book
The dramatic and deliciously swashbuckling story of Sarah Kidd, the wife of the famous pirate Captain Kidd, charting her transformation from New York socialite to international outlaw during the Golden Age of Piracy Captain Kidd was one of the most notorious pirates to ever prowl the...
A million quiet revolutions
Gow, Robin
Paper Book
Robin Gow's A Million Quiet Revolutions is a modern love story, told in verse, about two teenaged trans boys who name themselves after two Revolutionary War soldiers. A lyrical, aching young adult romance perfect for fans of The Poet X, Darius the Great is Not Okay, and...
The mark of the king
Green, Jocelyn
Paper Book
Sweeping Historical Fiction Set at the Edge of the Continent After being imprisoned and branded for the death of her client, twenty-five-year-old midwife Julianne Chevalier trades her life sentence for exile to the fledgling 1720s French colony of Louisiana, where she hopes to be...
The vaster wilds
Groff, Lauren
Paper Book
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023 NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, ESQUIRE, VOGUE, LA TIMES, SLATE, HARPER'S BAZAAR and others "Part historical, part...
Lafayette! : a Revolutionary War tale
Hale, Nathan
Paper Book
Meet French nobleman and American Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette in author-illustrator Nathan Hale's New York Times bestselling Hazard Tales graphic novel series. STARRED REVIEW *"Action-packed. . . . A must-buy." --School Library Journal...
The love letter
Hauck, Rachel
Paper Book
The daughter of Hollywood royalty, Chloe is determined to make her mark--and find romance. Screenwriter Jesse believes she's perfect to play the role of Esther, the woman whom his Revolutionary War grandfather loved. Will a love letter from the past have change their future ...
The scarlet letter
Hawthorne, Nathaniel
Paper Book
An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo. Other titles in the couture-inspired collection include Jane Eyre, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice.Ruben Toledo's breathtaking drawings have appeared in...
Magic lessons
Hoffman, Alice
Paper Book
In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.<...
The physick book of Deliverance Dane
Howe, Katherine.
Audiobook
Harvard graduate student Connie Goodwin needs to spend her summer doing research for her doctoral dissertation. But when her mother asks her to handle the sale of Connie's grandmother's abandoned home near Salem, she can't refuse. As she is drawn deeper into the mysteries of the family house, Connie...
In the house in the dark of the woods
Hunt, Laird
Paper Book
The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations -- witchcraft in colonial America -- wrapped up in a lyrical novel of psychological suspense. "Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods." In this horror story set in colonial...
Dangerous crossing : the revolutionary voyage of John Quincy Adams
Krensky, Stephen.
Audiobook
Based on John Adams' journal, Stephen Krensky's action-packed historical novel is a riveting account of a true-life secret voyage to France. Join John Adams and his ten-year-old son John Quincy as they board the 24-gun frigate Boston on a blustery February day in 1778. They brave towering seas,...
Hester : a novel
Lico Albanese, Laurie
Paper Book
Named a Most Anticipated Book for Fall 2022 by Goodreads * Washington Post * New York Post * BuzzFeed * PopSugar * Business Insider * An October 2022 Indie Next List Pick * An October 2022 LibraryReads Pick "A hauntingly beautiful-...
Scar : a Revolutionary War tale
Mann, Jennifer Ann
Paper Book
On a hot summer day in a quiet frontier settlement, a bloody raid leads to an even bloodier conflict. A young Mohawk warrior and a patrotic farm boy have survived the battle, but can they survive the night? Sixteen-year-old Noah Daniels wants nothing more than to fight in George...
Anna Strong : a spy during the American Revolution
Marsh, Sarah Glenn
Paper Book
The thrilling true story of the female spy who helped save the American Revolution Anna Smith Strong (1790-1812) was a fearless woman who acted as a spy for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Recruited by Washington's spymaster, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, she joined the Culper Ring, a...
North woods : a novel
Mason, Daniel
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR A WASHINGTON POST TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR * FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD AND THE MARK TWAIN AMERICAN VOICE IN LITERATURE AWARD A sweeping novel...
Scarlet widow
Masterton, Graham
Ebook
They said the killings were the word of Satan. But Beatrice Scarlet, the apothecary's daughter, detects the hands of men... New Hampshire, 1756: The god-fearing farmers of Sutton are suffering divine punishment for unknown sins. Crops fail, cows die and fish are poisoned by their water. Six pigs,...
A mercy
Morrison, Toni
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The acclaimed Nobel Prize winner reveals what lies beneath the surface of slavery. But at its heart, like Beloved, it is the story of a mother and a daughter--a mother who casts off her daughter in order to save her, and a daughter who may never exorcise that...
Beheld : a novel
Nesbit, TaraShea
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Fiction Book of 2020 Most Anticipated Books of 2020 - Vogue, Medium, LitHub Honoree for the 2021 Society of Midland Authors Prize Finalist for the 2021 Ohioana Book...
1774 : the long year of Revolution
Norton, Mary Beth
Paper Book
From one of our most acclaimed and original colonial historians, a groundbreaking book tracing the critical "long year" of 1774 and the revolutionary change that took place from the Boston Tea Party and the First Continental Congress to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. A...
An outbreak of witchcraft : a graphic novel of the Salem Witch Trials
Noyes, Deborah
Paper Book
A gripping tale of paranoia at its worst, this bewitching narrative nonfiction graphic novel visually imagines the haunting details behind the Salem witch trials. From 1692 to 1693, fear reigned in the small village of Salem, Massachusetts. The night Abigail...
Killing the witches : the horror of Salem, Massachusetts
O'Reilly, Bill
Paper Book
The instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller! Killing the Witches revisits one of the most frightening and inexplicable episodes in American history: the events of 1692 and 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. What...
An etrog from across the sea
Olitzky, Kerry M.
Praise for An Etrog from Across the Sea by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen: Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner Papa has promised to bring home a perfect etrog for Sukkot from his journey across the sea. Leah and Aaron go to the docks every...
Heart of American darkness : bewilderment and horror on the early frontier
Parkinson, Robert G.
Paper Book
We are divided over the history of the United States, and one of the central dividing lines is the frontier. Was it a site of heroism? Or was it where the full force of an all-powerful empire was brought to bear on Native peoples? In this startingly original work, historian Robert Parkinson...
The traitor's wife
Pataki, Allison.
Paper Book
A riveting historical novel about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the cunning wife of Benedict Arnold and mastermind behind America's most infamous act of treason . . . Everyone knows Benedict Arnold--the Revolutionary War general who betrayed America and fled to the British--as history's most notorious...
This here is love : a novel
Perry, Princess Joy L.
As the seventeenth century burns to a close in Tidewater, Virginia, America's character is wrought in the fires of wealth, race, and freedom. Young Bless, the only child left to her enslaved mother, stubbornly crafts the terms of her vital existence. She stands as the lone bulwark between...
Mayflower : a story of courage, community, and war
Philbrick, Nathaniel.
Paper Book
From the perilous ocean crossing to the shared bounty of the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrim settlement of New England has become enshrined as our most sacred national myth. Yet, as bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick reveals in his spellbinding new book, the true story of the Pilgrims...
Barkskins : a novel
Proulx, Annie.
Paper Book
Now a mini-series on National Geographic! A Washington Post Best Book of the Year & a New York Times Notable Book From the Pulitzer Prize-­­winning author of The Shipping News and "Brokeback Mountain" comes the New York Times bestselling epic about...
Blood slaves
Redmond, Markus
For fans of Ryan Coogler's Sinners and readers of Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, and Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, this ingenious reimagining of the vampire origin story set during the early days of American slavery blends alternate history with...
A Ben of all trades : the most inventive boyhood of Benjamin Franklin
Rosen, Michael J.
Paper Book
A rousing biography from Michael J. Rosen and Matt Tavares reveals how Benjamin Franklin's boyhood shaped his amazingly multifaceted life. Young Benjamin Franklin wants to be a sailor, but his father won't hear of it. The other trades he tries -- candle maker, joiner, boot closer...
Rebel spy
Rossi, Veronica
Paper Book
A reimagining of the story behind Agent 355--a New York society girl and spy for George Washington during the Revolutionary War--perfect for fans of Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key and the novels of Julie Berry. Rebellious Frannie Tasker knows little about the war between...
If the tide turns
Rueckert, Rachel
Set in the Golden Age of Pirates and the shadowy aftermath of the Salem witch trials, this vivid, gorgeously written novel inspired by a captivating true story combines high-seas adventure, star-crossed longing, and the emotionally satisfying tale of one strong-willed young woman determined to...
Her name was Mary Katharine : the only woman whose name is on the Declaration of Independence
Schwartz, Ella
Paper Book
A rousing picture book biography of the only woman whose name is printed on the Declaration of Independence. Born in 1738, Mary Katharine Goddard came of age in colonial Connecticut as the burgeoning nation prepared for the American Revolution. As a businesswoman...
Rise to rebellion
Shaara, Jeff
Paper Book
Jeff Shaara dazzled readers with his bestselling novels Gods and Generals, The Last Full Measure, and Gone for Soldiers. Now the acclaimed author who illuminated the Civil War and the Mexican-American War brilliantly brings to life the American Revolution, creating a...
Taking Manhattan : the extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Paper Book
A New Yorker Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Best Book of 2025 One of Literary Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 The author of The Island at the Center of the World offers up a thrilling narrative of how New York--that brash, bold,...
This land is their land : the Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the troubled history of Thanksgiving
Silverman, David J.
Paper Book
Ahead of the 400th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving, a new look at the Plymouth colony's founding events, told for the first time with Wampanoag people at the heart of the story.In March 1621, when Plymouth's survival was hanging in the balance, the Wampanoag sachem (or chief),...
Golden Hill : a novel of old New York
Spufford, Francis
Ebook
A Wall Street Journal Top Ten Fiction Book of the Year * A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year * A Seattle Times Favorite Book of the Year * An NPR Best Book of the Year * A Kirkus Reviews Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year * A Library Journal...
The thrifty guide to the American Revolution : a handbook for time travelers
Stokes, Jonathan W.
Paper Book
The only guidebook you need for your next time travel vacation! The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution provides useful information for the practical time traveler, like- - Where can I find a decent hotel room in colonial New England? Are major credit cards...
Washington's gay general : the legends and loves of Baron von Steuben
Trujillo, Josh
Ebook
In this graphic novel biography, author Josh Trujillo and illustrator Levi Hastings tell the true story of one of the most important, but largely forgotten, military leaders of the American Revolution, Baron Von Steuben, who brought much-needed knowledge to the inexperienced and ill-prepared...
Love thy neighbor : the Tory diary of Prudence Emerson
Turner, Ann Warren.
Paper Book
At the brink of the American Revolution, Prudence Emerson finds her friends and neighbors turning against her and her family, who remain loyal to the British King. The drama of the American Revolution is brought to life through the eyes of a Prudence Emerson, who tells the story...
The Mayflower bride
Woodhouse, Kimberley
Paper Book
Mary Elizabeth Chapman boards the Speedwell in 1620 seeking a better life in the New World. William Lytton embarks on the Mayflower looking for opportunities, and is offered one by a man from the Virginia Company. The season is far too late for good sailing, but reaching land is no better as food is...
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