Just a few Really Good Historical Fiction books for kids
Discover the best historical fiction books for kids! Our curated list features engaging and educational reads that bring history to life for young readers.
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The Smuggler's Treasure
by Sarah Masters Buckey
Sent to live with relatives in New Orleans during the War of 1812, eleven-year-old Elisabet determines to find a smuggler's treasure to ransom her imprisoned father.
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The Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare
A young woman brought up in Barbados comes to live with her uncle in Connecticut, and finds their Puritan way of life difficult after her unconventional upbringing.
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Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
A historical novel based on an actual narrative. In 1754, on the brink of the French and Indian war, young Miriam Willard and her older sister's family are captured in an Indian raid on Charleston, N.H., where they are held for ransom.
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Trouble's Daughter
by Katherine Kirkpatrick
Susanna Hutchinson is nine years old in l643, when her mother, Anne, has a vision that leads the family to settle in the wilderness where the Dutch and the Native tribes are at war. Anne is infamous throughout the Colonies for her religious freethinking, and her visions have brought the family in and out of trouble. One horrifying afternoon, Lenape warriors massacre Susanna's family and take her captive. Though haunted by grief, she adapts to the ways of the Lenape people. When she begins to have spirit dreams, she is terrified that she has inherited her mother's powers. But Susanna comes to see that these powers are her destiny and the bridge between her two worlds.
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Nory Ryan's Song
by Patricia Reilly Giff
When a terrible blight attacks Ireland's potato crop in 1845, twelve-year-old Nory Ryan's courage and ingenuity help her family and neighbors survive.
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Shiva's Fire
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.
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Behind the Bedroom Wall
by Laura E. Williams
Thirteen-year-old Korinna must decide whether to report her parents to her Hitler youth group when she discovers that they are hiding Jews in a secret space behind Korinna's bedroom wall.
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Color Me Dark
by Pat McKissack
Eleven-year-old Nellie Lee Love records in her diary the events of 1919, when her family moves from Tennessee to Chicago, hoping to leave the racism and hatred of the South behind.
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Gideon's People
by Carolyn Meyer
Torn between youthful rebellion and their traditional heritages, two boys from very different cultures--one Amish, one Orthodox Jew--discover just how similar they really are.
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Morning Girl
by Michael Dorris
Morning Girl and Star Boy grapple with timeless, universal issues such as experiencing simultaneous anger and love toward family members and the quest to discover the true self.