Children's Book Suggestions | Historical Fiction

Historical fiction uses relatable stories to make famous time periods and events come alive for young readers.

Browse for additional historical fiction books in the online catalog. For readers who want facts and information about different historical eras or significant events, check out the 900 section in the Children's Nonfiction collection.

Updated February 29, 2024
LINCC (Libraries in Clackamas County) Oregon City Public Library
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Catherine, called Birdy
Cushman, Karen.
Paper Book
A 1995 Newbery Honor Book  Catherine, a spirited and inquisitive young woman of good family, narrates in diary form the story of her fourteenth year--the year 1290. A Newbery Honor Book.

A spunky teen girl avoids her embroidery, plays pranks, and tries to avoid an arranged marriage in this Newbery Honor-winning classic. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Medieval England | 1290

Little house in the big woods
Wilder, Laura Ingalls
CD
Five year old Laura Ingalls and her family, Pa, Ma, Mary and Baby Carrie, live in a snug log cabin in the woods of Wisconsin, a full days walk from the nearest town, Pepin. Lauraleads a traditional farm life: spending time churning butter and making cheese and maple syrup. Laura goes to town for...

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

Al Capone me lava la ropa
Choldenko, Gennifer
Paper Book
It's 1935 and twelve-year-old Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved to Alcatraz, the infamous island that's home to criminals like Roy Gardner, Machine Gun Kelly, and, of course, Al Capone. Kids living in Alcatraz --because their parents work in the prison-- are all cowed by the clever,...

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

The birchbark house
Erdrich, Louise.
Paper Book
"[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children's stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at 'them' as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich,...

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

The Wednesday wars
Schmidt, Gary D.
Paper Book
In this Newbery Honor-winning novel, Gary D. Schmidt tells the witty and compelling story of a teenage boy who feels that fate has it in for him. Seventh grader Holling Hoodhood isn't happy. He is sure his new teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates his guts. Throughout the school year,...

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

One crazy summer
Williams-Garcia, Rita.

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


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