Not only are children introduced to major events, but they also meet ordinary people and learn how they lived, what they believed and valued, and how they shaped and were shaped by their times.

As they read historical fiction, young people can visualize the sweep and adventure of history and discover how their present and future is connected to the people and events of times gone by.

Date

1290

Cushman, Karen. CATHERINE, CALLED BIRDY.
A thirteen-year-old avoids being married.

1500

Cushman, Karen. THE MIDWIFE’S APPRENTICE.
A homeless girl gains a place in the world despite hardships and obstacles.

1600

Dorris, Michael. GUESTS.
Moss and Trouble, an Algonquin boy and girl, struggle with the problems of growing up.

1687

Speare, Elizabeth George.  THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND.
Kit befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community.

1691

Lasky, Kathryn. BEYOND THE BURNING TIME.
As accusations of witchcraft surface, Mary fights to save her mother from execution.

1746

Sutcliff, Rosemary. FLAME-COLORED TAFFETA.
Darmis and her friends become involved with smugglers and a young man who may be a spy.

1768

Speare, Elizabeth George. THE SIGN OF THE BEAVER.
An unexpected friendship helps Matt survive during his months alone on the New England frontier.

1770

Rinaldi, Ann. THE FIFTH OF MARCH: A Story of the Boston Massacre.
Rachel, an indentured servant, is caught up in the colonists’ unrest.

1774

Fritz, Jean. EARLY THUNDER.
Daniel reexamines his loyalty to England as the conflict divides the town.

1778

Avi. THE FIGHTING GROUND.
Twenty-four hours as a soldier changes Jonathan’s perception of war.

1830

Blos, Joan W. A GATHERING OF DAYS: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832.
Catherine writes about her widowed father, a matchmaking neighbor, her best friend Cassie, and a local thief.

1849

Cushman, Karen. THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE.
A family moves to a rough California mining town.

1850

Paulsen, Gary. NIGHTJOHN.
Sarny’s life becomes more dangerous when a newly-arrived slave offers to teach her to read.

Paterson, Katherine. JIP: HIS STORY.
Raised on a Vermont poor farm, an orphan cares for the local "lunatic" as he comes to terms with his own identity.

1862

Stolz, Mary. A BALLAD OF THE CIVIL WAR.
A Union soldier recalls his life with his brother and the events that led them to fight different sides in the Civil War.

1863

Holland, Isabelle. BEHIND THE LINES.
During the New York draft riots, a young Irish Catholic girl helps an African-American escape from an angry mob.

1867

Krensky, Stephen. THE IRON DRAGON NEVER SLEEPS.
Winnie meets a Chinese boy and discovers the role of his people in completing the transcontinental railroad.

1868

Reeder, Carolyn. SHADES OF GRAY.
After losing his family to the Yankees, Will is sent to live with an uncle who refused to fight for the North or the South in the Civil War.

1890

Conrad, Pam. PRAIRIE SONGS.
Louisa’s life on the Nebraska prairie is altered by the arrival of a new doctor and his tragically frail wife.

1900

Taylor, Mildred D. THE WELL: David’s Story.
David’s family shares their well water with both white and black neighbors in an atmosphere of potential racial violence.

1912

Bunting, Eve. SOS TITANIC.
Barry is travelling from Ireland to America when he finds his life endangered.

1932

Talyor, Mildred D. MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE.
All the black passengers on the Jackson City bus are forced to give up their seats to the late-arriving white passengers.

1934

Hesse, Karen. OUT OF THE DUST.
Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on a wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl.

1936

Cochrane, Patricia. PURELY ROSIE PEARL.
A migrant family endures the hardships of the Depression.

1942

Cutler, Jane. MY WARTIME SUMMERS.
Ellen and her friends follow the war far away, but it still touches their lives.

1943

Lowry, Lois. NUMBER THE STARS.
Anne Marie helps shelter her Jewish friends from the Nazis during the German occupation.

Orlev, Uri.  LYDIA, QUEEN OF PALESTINE.
Amid the chaos of war and her parents’ divorce, Lydia is sent to live on a kibbutz.

1944

Giff, Patricia Reilly. LILY’S CROSSING.
Two children spend the summer sharing secrets, lies, and worries over the war.

1945

Yep, Laurence. HIROSHIMA.
The atomic bomb and its effects on Sachi, who becomes a Hiroshima Maiden.

1947

Lord, Bette. IN THE YEAR OF THE BOAR AND JACKIE ROBINSON.
A Chinese girl moves to Brooklyn and begins to feel at home with new friends and baseball.

1967

Talbert, Marc. THE PURPLE HEART.
Luke finds it difficult to adjust when his troubled father returns from Vietnam.