Some of our favorite historical fiction for school-age children.
Historical Stories
Younger Elementary
In Knob Creek, Kentucky, in 1816, seven-year-old Abe falls into a creek and is rescued by his best friend, Austin Gollaher. See more historical fiction by this author, such as the Klondike Kid Trilogy.
Follow the adventures of Sir Gawain, the only undefeated knight in King Arthur's court, who eventually learns the value of friendship, courtliness, and courtesy after a challenge from the Green Knight.
Relates tales of Sir Lancelot, the bravest knight in King Arthur's court.
In Wyoming in the 1880s, a young boy fulfills his dream of finding a dinosaur skeleton on his father's ranch, outwits a man who would cheat him, and sells his find to a team of fossil hunters.
Tommy, the son of a Presbyterian minister in Augusta, Georgia, during the Civil War, must search his conscience to decide whether he should help a Yankee soldier escape and return home.
The fictional diary of a nine-year-old boy who, in 1716 sets off from North Carolina to become a sailor, but ends up a pirate instead. Look for these other historical diaries by this author: Castle Diary and Egyptian Diary.
When Papa advertises for a new wife to join his prairie family, Sarah appears from Maine. The children, Caleb and Anna, grow to love her very much but fear she is too homesick and will soon leave them. Read more books by this author about the Witting family and their life on the frontier.
In 1950s San Francisco Chinatown, 8 year-old Artie succeeds in fulfilling a foolish fireworks promise with the help of his Uncle Chester.
Older Elementary
Adam and Thomas, two nine-year-old Jewish boys who survive World War II, take refuge in the forest where they learn to forage and survive, soon meeting and helping other fugitives fleeing for their lives.
Challenged with circling the world at the end of the nineteenth century, three very different adventurers--avid bicyclist Thomas Stevens, fearless reporter Nellie Bly, and retired sea captain Joshua Slocum--embark on epic journeys.
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847. See also the sequel to this story: The Game of Silence.
In the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union, ten-year-old Sasha idolizes his father, a devoted Communist, but when police take his father away and leave Sasha homeless, he is forced to examine his own perceptions, values and beliefs.
The thirteen-year-old daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off. You might also like other historical novels by this author, such as The Loud Silence of Francine Green, The Midwife's Apprentice or Rodzina.
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.
It's 1962, and it seems the whole country is living in fear. Franny Chapman just wants some peace - but that's hard to get! Told with a visually stunning tapestry of Cold War news, ads, and “duck and cover” educational materials.
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.
In Korea in 1473, eleven-year-old Young-sup overcomes his rivalry with his older brother Kee-sup and combines his kite-flying skill with Kee-sup's kite-making skill in an attempt to win the New Year kite-fighting competition for the emperor. If you like this title you may also like A Single Shard, and When My Name was Keoko by the same author.
In 1958 Little Rock, Arkansas, painfully shy twelve-year-old Marlee sees her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student, helps her find her voice and fight against racism.
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother. (Also read the award-winning sequel, A Year Down Yonder.)
Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s. Look for more historical fiction titles by this author, such as Jip: His Story, The Master Puppeteer, and Bread and Roses, Too.
In 1766, a boy, Billy Marvel, is shipwrecked, rescued, and goes on to found a brilliant family of actors that flourishes in London until 1900--and nearly a century later, Joseph Jervis, runs away from home, seeking refuge with his uncle in London, and is captivated by the Marvel house, with its portraits and ghostly presences.
With love and determination befitting the "world's greatest family," twelve-year-old Deza Malone, her older brother Jimmie, and their parents endure tough times in Gary, Indiana, and later Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression. Look for more historical novels by this author.
Morning Girl, who loves the day, and her younger brother Star Boy, who loves the night, take turns describing their life on an island in pre-Columbian America; in Morning Girl's last narrative, she witnesses the arrival of the first Europeans to her world. You might also enjoy other historical novels by this author, such as Guests and Sees Behind Trees.
In 1848, while on a wagon train headed for Oregon, fourteen-year-old Francis Tucket is kidnapped by Pawnee Indians and then falls in with a one-armed trapper who teaches him how to live in the wild.
In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.
In the summer of 1968, eleven-year-old Delphine and her sisters travel from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to spend a month with their mother whom they barely know. There they discover their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
As the only girl in a Finnish American family of seven brothers, May Amelia Jackson resents being expected to act like a lady while growing up in Washington state in 1899.
Twelve-year-olds Anikwa, of the Miami village of Kekionga, and James, of the trading post outside Fort Wayne, find their friendship threatened by the rising fear and tension brought by the War of 1812.
Twelve-year-old Smith is a denizen of the mean streets of eighteenth-century London, living hand to mouth by virtue of wit and pluck. After deftly picking the pocket of an old man, he finds himself in a tough spot, which leads Smith on a breathtaking adventure.
In 1776, after witnessing the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, newly occupied by the British army, young Sophia Calderwood resolves to do all she can to help the American cause, including becoming a spy. Look for more historical fiction titles by this author.
A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.
In 1687 in Connecticut, Kit Tyler, feeling out of place in the Puritan household of her aunt, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and suddenly finds herself standing trial for witchcraft.
Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran.