Historical fiction for kids and teens about the Civil War
Discover the best historical fiction books for kids and teens about the Civil War. Engaging stories that bring history to life for young readers. Perfect for learning and adventure!
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The Last Silk Dress
by Ann Rinaldi
High-spirited, beautiful Susan Chilmark, fourteen, vows to do something meaningful to support the Confederacy during the Civil War. Despite the wishes of her mother, Susan and her best friend, Connie, collect silk dresses from all the ladies of Richmond to make a balloon that will be used to spy on the Yankees. But the issues behind the war aren't as obvious as Susan thinks. When she meets her dashing, scandalous older brother and discovers why he was banished from the family, Susan unlocks a Pandora's box of secrets that forces her to rethink and challenge the very system she was born into. Does she have the courage to do what is right even though it may hurt the ones she loves?
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My Brother's Keeper
by Mary Pope Osborne
Promising her brother that she would keep a record of events, Ginny writes about the happenings at Gettysburg, the great battle she saw fought there, and the speech given by President Lincoln.
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Amelia's War
by Ann Rinaldi
A riveting middle-grade Civil War drama by acclaimed author, Ann Rinaldi. Based on a true incident. As the Civil War rages, Amelia's Maryland town is beset by divisions. Even she and her best friend Josh disagree. Amelia vows not to take sides, until the Confederate troops march into town...led by Josh's uncle.
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Girl in Blue
by Ann Rinaldi
Determined to live her own life free of the controls of any man, Sara Louisa Wheelock disguises herself as a man and sets off from her home in Michigan to fight as a soldier in the Civil War. Reprint.
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When Will this Cruel War be Over?
by Barry Denenberg
The diary of a fictional fourteen-year-old girl living in Virginia, in which she describes the hardships endured by her family and friends during one year of the Civil War.
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The Journal of Rufus Rowe
by Sid Hite
In 1862, sixteen-year-old Rufus Rowe runs away from home and settles in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he documents in his journal the battle he watches unfold there.
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All Their Names Were Courage
by Sharon Phillips Denslow
In 1862, as William Burd fights in the Civil War, he exchanges letters with his sister, Sallie, who is also writing to Confederate and Union generals asking about their horses in order to write a book.
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The Journal of James Edmond Pease, a Civil War Union Soldier
by Jim Murphy
James Edmond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, keeps a journal of his experiences and those of "G" Company which he joined as a volunteer in the Union Army during the Civil War.
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A Voice from the Border
by Pamela Smith Hill
Where was life taking her? Fifteen-year-old Margaet Reeves O'Neill isn't likely to forget the day the war came home to Springfield, Missouri. That was the day her father left to join the Confederacy, fighting for principles he no longer believed in, but for a state he loved. It was also the day she met Percival Wilder, a flirtatious Yankee officer who, instead of being her enemy, became an intimate friend. Now Federal troops have arrived in Springfield. Reeves watches neighbors turn against one another--some supporting Secessionists, others the Union--and she witnesses generosity and bravery side by side with greed and looting. The life she took for granted--her home, family, the very truths she's always held dear--is changing before her eyes....
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A Light in the Storm
by Karen Hesse
Captures the emotions of a young Union girl who struggles to make sense of her shattered world as she lives in a state of harsh division during the first year of the Civil War. 120,000 first printing.
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In My Father's House
by Ann Rinaldi
For two sisters growing up surrounded by the Civil War, there is conflict both outside and inside their house.
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Numbering All the Bones
by Ann Rinaldi
It is 1864. The Civil War is coming to an end, and Southern slaves are slowly gaining their freedom. But for 13-year-old Eulinda, a house slave on a plantation in Kentucky, it is the most difficult time of her life. Her yonger brother, falsely accused of stealing, has been sold. Then her older brother Neddy runs away. And Eulinda is left alone in a household headed by a cruel mistress--and a master who will not acknowledge that Eulinda is his daughter. With her trademark attention to detail and historical accuracy, Ann Rinaldi weaves a gripping tale of a girl caught between two worlds.
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Annie, Between the States
by L. M. Elliott
With a stirring blend of historical fiction, based on the lives of true-life Confederate spies, this rich Civil War novel about an extraordinary young heroine is ideal for budding history enthusiasts.
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American Adventures: Joseph
by Bonnie Pryor
When Joseph Byers tumbles down a steep riverbank and is almost drowned, he discovers a cave that becomes a refuge for him and his friends, Zachary and David. Here they can escape the bitter divisions in their small town of Branson Mills, Kentucky. The nation is on the brink of Civil War, and in Branson Mills, most people favor the South. But Joseph's new stepfather, Henry Byers, is an abolitionist, and his stand against slavery causes trouble for Joseph. His beloved father owned slaves, but even that doesn't keep him from being an outcast at school. As the tensions in Branson Mills grow, Joseph finds it harder to deny the rightness of his stepfather's views. Finally he is forced to choose which side he's on. This gripping page-turner, set during one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history, makes for a powerful American Adventure.
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Three Against the Tide
by D. Anne Love
The Civil War truly hits home when Susanna's father is called to help the Confederate Army. Twelve-year-old Susanna is placed in charge of the family's South Carolina plantation and her two younger brothers. Then the Yankee soldiers invade their island, forcing Susanna and her brothers Neddie and Samuel to escape to their other home in Charleston. When a fire destroys their Charleston home, Susanna decides nothing will stop them from finding their father. Throughout the dangerous journey, Susanna can't help but question the traditions her family and most Southerners have been fighting to protect. Maybe it's time to stop going with the flow, and go up against the tide.
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Amelina Carrett Thibodeau Louisiana 1870
by Kathleen Duey
Amelina is left alone on her family's farm and the Yankee soldiers are so close, she can sometimes hear the gunfire.
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The War Within
by Carol Matas
Holly Springs, Mississippi, 1862 Hannah Green can't believe what happens to her family after the war breaks out. First, her sister Joanna falls in love with a Union soldier -- an enemy. Next, the same soldier tells Hannah and her family about General Grant's General Order #11, which commands all Jews to evacuate the territory for violating trade regulations. The Greens escape from Holly Springs just before their home is destroyed. They lose everything -- even their slaves, when Lincoln declares them free. Now, because she is Jewish, Hannah cannot go home to Mississippi -- a Confederate state that's dear to her heart. Confusion sets in. Who is on her side, and whose side does she want to be on?
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Evvy's Civil War
by Miriam Brenaman
In Virginia in 1860, on the verge of the Civil War, fourteen-year-old Evvy chafes at the restrictions that her society places on both women and slaves.
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Mountain Valor
by Gloria Houston
With her father and brothers gone to serve in the Civil War and her mother sick, teenage Valor ignores what is proper behavior for a girl and fights to defend her North Carolina mountain farm.
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The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan
by Jennifer Armstrong
Mairhe, who lives in an Irish slum in Washington, D.C., in the 1860s, struggles to come to grips with the impact of the Civil War on her family.
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Turn Homeward, Hannalee
by Patricia Beatty
During the closing days of the Civil War, plucky 12-year-old Hannalee Reed, sent north to work in a Yankee mill, struggles to return to the family she left behind in war-torn Georgia. "A fast-moving novel based upon an actual historical incident with a spunky heroine and fine historical detail."--School Library Journal. Author's note. "There are few authors who can consistently manage both to entertain and inform." --Booklist
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Maddie Retta Lauren
by Kathleen Duey
While trying to hide her horse, Maddie meets up with two Yankee soldiers who make her change her mind about who is right and who is wrong in the war between North and South.
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Defiant Dreams
by Cheri Michaels
Sixteen-year-old Serena McLairn, a beautiful Southern belle, tries not to let the Civil War ruin her life, but she soon finds herself behind Union lines, falling in love with a Yankee soldier