Historical Fiction

30 BCE-999 AD

Moss, Marissa. Galen: My Life in Imperial Rome. (J Moss)
Twelve-year-old Galen describes his life as a slave in Rome under the Emperor Augustus. Features hand-printed text, drawings and marginal notes. 30 BCE

Speare, Elixabeth George. The Bronze Bow. (J Speare)
When the Romans brutally kill Daniel bar Jamin's father, the young Palestinian searches for a leader to drive them out, but comes to realize that love may be a more powerful weapon than hate. 30 AD

Sutcliff, Rosemary. Song for a Dark Queen. (J Sutcliff)
The life of Boadicea (Boudicca), queen of the Iceni, who led them and other British tribes in a valiant but futile revolt against the Romans. 62 AD

Yolen, Jane. Sword of the Rightful King: A Novel of King Arthur. (J Yolen)
Merlinnus the magician devises a way for King Arthur to prove himself the rightful king of England--pulling a sword from a stone--but trouble arises when someone else removes the sword first. 550 AD

Tingle, Rebecca. The Edge on the Sword. (J Tingle)
In ninth-century Britain, fifteen-year-old Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred of West Saxony, finds she must assume new responsibilities much sooner than expected when she is betrothed to Ethelred of Mercia in order to strengthen a strategic alliance against the Danes. 918 AD

1000-1500

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. At the Crossing-Places. (J Crossley-Holland)
In late twelfth-century England, the thirteen-year-old Arthur goes to begin his new life as squire to Lord Stephen at Holt, where crusaders ready themselves. Sequel to: The Seeing Stone. 1189 AD

Cadnum, Michael. The Book of the Lion. (J Cadnum)
In 12th century England, after his master, a maker of coins for the king, is brutally punished for alleged cheating, seventeen year old Edmund finds himself traveling to the Holy Land as squire to a knight crusader on his way to join the forces of Richard Lionheart. 1189 AD

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Seeing Stone. (J Crossley-Holland)
In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gives him a magical seeing stone which shows him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to have many parallels to his own. 1189 AD

McCaughrean, Geraldine. The Kite Rider. (J McCaughrean)
In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. 1260 AD

Cushman, Karen. Catherine, Called Birdy. (J Cushman)
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. 1290 AD

Gray, Elizabeth Janet. Adam of the Road. (J Gray)
Eleven year old Adam finds himself traveling the road as a minstrel searching market towns and fairs for his father and beloved dog. 1294 AD

Cushman, Karen. Matilda Bone. (J Cushman)
Fourteen year old Matilda, an apprentice bonesetter and practitioner of medicine in a village in medieval England, tries to reconcile the various aspects of her life, both spiritual and practical. 1300 AD

Cushman, Karen. The Midwife's Apprentice. (J Cushman)
In medieval England, a homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife and, in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart and a place in this world. 1325 AD

Avi. Crispin: The Cross of Lead. (J Avi)
Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret. 1327 AD

De Angeli, Marguerite. The Door in the Wall. (J De Angeli)
The dramatic story of Robin, physically disabled son of a great lord, who proves his courage and wins his king's recognition-set in 14th century England. 1330 AD

Williams, Larua. The Executioner's Daughter. (J Williams)
Thirteen year old Lily, daughter of the town's executioner living in 15th century Europe, decides whether to fight against her destiny or to rise above her fate. 1400's

Park, Linda Sue. The Kite Fighters. (J Park)
In Korea in 1473, eleven-year-old Young-sup overcomes his rivalry with his older brother Kee-sup, who as the first-born son receives special treatment from their father, and combines his kite-flying skill with Kee-sup's kite-making skill in an attempt to win the New Year kite-fighting competition. 1473

Konigsburg, E.L. The Second Mrs. Giaconda. ( J Konigsburg)
Relates, from the point of view of his servant Salai, how Leonardo daVinci came to paint the Mona Lisa. 1490 AD

Schein, Miriam. I Sailed with Columbus. (J Schein)
Describes Columbus' first voyage of discovery as seen through the eyes of a twelve year old ship's boy. 1492 AD

Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. (J Dorris)
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. 1492 AD

1500-1700

O'Dell, Scott. The Amethyst Ring. (J O'Dell)
Spanish seminarian Julian Escobar, known to the Mayas as Lord Kukulcan and worshipped as a god, witnesses the fall of the Mayan and Incan civilizations with the coming of Cortes and Pizarro. 1519-1540 AD

Meyer, Carolyn. Doomed Queen Anne. (J Meyer)
In 1520, thirteen-year-old Anne Boleyn, jealous of her older sister's beauty and position at court, declares that she will one day be queen of England, and that her sister will kneel at her feet. 1520 AD

Yolen, Jane. The Queen's Own Fool. (J Yolen)
When twelve year old Nicola leaves Troupe Brufort and serves as the fool for Mary, Queen of Scots, she experiences the political and religious upheavals in both France and Scotland. 1542-1587 AD

Meyer, Carolyn. Beware, Princess Elizabeth. (J Meyer)
After the death of her father, King Henry VIII, in 1547, thirteen-year-old Elizabeth must endure the political intrigues and dangers of the reigns of her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary before finally becoming Queen of England eleven years later. 1547-1553 AD

Pope, Elizabeth Marie. The Perilous Gard. (J Pope)
While imprisoned in a remote castle, a young girl becomes involved in a series of events that leads to an underground labyrinth peopled by the last practitioners of druidic magic. 1558 AD

Blackwood, Gary. The Shakespeare Stealer. (J Blackwood)
A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet", but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty. 1600 AD Sequel: Shakespeare's Scribe.

Bulla, Clyde Robert. A Lion to Guard Us. (J Bulla)
Left on their own in 17th century London, three impoverished children draw upon all their resources to stay together and make their way to the Virginia colony in search of their father. 1609-1610 AD

Dorris, Michael. Guests. (J Dorris)
Moss and Trouble, an Algonquin boy and girl, struggle with the problems of growing up in the Massachusetts area during the time of the first Thanksgiving. 1621 AD

Sturtevant, Katherine. At the Sign of the Star. (J Sturtevant)
In 17th century London, Meg, who has little interest in cooking, needlework, or other homemaking skills, dreams of becoming a bookseller and someday inheriting her widowed father's book store. 1677

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Witch of Blackbird Pond. (J Speare)
Kit Tyler left her luxurious home in Barbados to visit her Puritan aunt in colonial Connecticut. While there, she became friendly

Petry, Ann. Tituba of Salem Village. (J Petry)
Tituba, taken from her own land to be a slave in New England, finds herself at the center of the Salem Witch Trials where she is condemned for consorting with the devil. 1692 AD

1700-1800

Dalgliesh, Alice. The Courage of Sarah Noble. (J Dalgliesh)
Remembering her mother's words, an eight year old girl finds courage to go alone with her father to build a new home in the wilderness and to stay with the Indians when her father goes back to bring the rest of the family west to Connecticut. 1707

Moore, Robin. The Man with the Silver Oar. (J Moore)
In 1718, fifteen-year-old Daniel leaves his guardian uncle's Quaker household to stowaway on a ship in pursuit of a pirate captain bent on raiding the coast of North America before returning to port in Hispaniola. 1718

Speare, Elizabeth George. Calico Captive. (J Speare)
When Miriam is captured in an Indian raid during the French and Indian War, she faces a harrowing march north, a life of slavery and a decision that will affect the rest of her life. 1754

Edmonds, Walter Dumaux. The Matchlock Gun. (J Edmonds)
In 1756, during the French and Indian War in upper New York state, ten-year-old Edward is determined to protect his home and family with the ancient, and much too heavy, Spanish gun that his father had given him before leaving home to fight the enemy.

Durrant, Lynda. The Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell. (J Durrant)
After being captured by a group of Delaware and given to their leader as a replacement for his dead granddaughter, twelve year old Mary Campbell must travel west with them to Ohio. 1759

Nixon, Joan Lowery. Caesar's Story. (J Nixon)
After having been a slave on Carter's Grove plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia, since childhood, Caesar finally finds a way to plan his own future. 1759

Bruchac, Joseph. The Winter People. (J Bruchac)
As the French and Indian War rages in October of 1759, Saxso, a fourteen-year-old Abenaki boy, pursues the English rangers who have attacked his village and taken his mother and sisters hostage. 1759

Avi. Encounter at Easton. (J Avi)
The doomed flight of two young indentured servants from their unkind master brings together an unlikely assortment of people in a mid 18th century Pennsylvania town. A sequel to: Night Journeys. 1768

Avi. Night Journeys. (J Avi)
Two indentured servants escape into Pennsylvania and receive help from an unexpected source. 1768

Speare, Elizabeth George. The Sign of the Beaver. (J Speare)
Left alone to guard the family's wilderness home in 18th century Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills. 1768

Shaik, Fatima. Melitte. (J Shaik)
In 1772, years of mistreatment force thirteen year old Melitte to decide whether or not to run away from the Frenchman who has kept her as a slave on his poor Louisiana farm and leave the young girl who is the only person who ever loved her. 1772

Forbes, Esther. Johnny Tremain. (J Forbes)
A Bostonian silversmith's apprentice becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the Revolutionary War. 1773

Fritz, Jean. Early Thunder. (J Fritz)
Traces a youth's growth to maturity as he resolves his political conflicts in pre-Revolutionary Salem, a center of high feeling between the British and colonists. 1775

Peck, Robert Newton. Rabbits and Redcoats. ( J Peck)
In May 1775, two boys participate in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys and befriend a young British soldier. 1775

Woodruff, Elvira. George Washington's Socks. (J Woodruff)
In the midst of a backyard campout, ten year old Matt and four other children find themselves transported back into the time of George Washington and the American Revolution, where they begin to live American history firsthand and learn the sober realities of war. 1776

O'Dell, Scott. Sarah Bishop. (Teen O'Dell)
Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother who take opposite sides in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah Bishop struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness. 1776

Collier, James Lincoln. My Brother Sam is Dead. (J Collier)
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolutionary War when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town. 1777

Avi. The Fighting Ground. (J Avi)
Thirteen year old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real war is being fought within himself. 1778

Collier, James Lincoln. War Comes to Willy Freeman. (J Collier)
A free thirteen year old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears. 1778

Van Leeuwen, Jean. Hannah's Helping Hands. (J Van Leeuwen)
In 1779 in Fairfield, Connecticut, Hannah and her family try to maintain a sense of normalcy as the Revolutionary War rages around them, threatening to destroy their way of life. 1779-- Sequal: Hannah's Winter of Hope

Collier, James Lincoln. The Bloody Country. (J Collier)
In the mid 18th century, a family moves from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and becomes involved in a property conflict between the two states. 1780

Myers, Annal. The Keeping Room. (J Myers)
Left in charge of the family by his father who joins the Revolutionary War effort, thirteen year old Joey undergoes such great changes that he fears may be betraying his beloved parent. 1780

Fritz, Jean. The Cabin Faced West. (J Fritz)
It takes a visit from George Washington to make Ann Hamilton, a pioneer girl tending a vegetable garden in the hills of Western Pennsylvania, feel the challenge of her own times. 1784

Collier, James Lincoln. Jump Ship to Freedom. (J Collier)
A fourteen year old slave, anxious to buy freedom for himself and his mother, escapes from his dishonest master and tries to find help in cashing the soldier's notes received by his father for fighting in the Revolution. 1787

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Fever, 1793. (J Anderson)
In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen year old Matilda Cook learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is force to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic. 1793

Fleischman, Paul. Path of the Pale Horse. (J Fleischman)
Lep, an apprentice to a doctor, helps his master take care of yellow fever victims in Philadelphia during the epidemic of 1793. 1793

1800-1850

Roop, Peter. Girl of the Shining Mountains: Sacagawea's Story. (J Roop)
Sacagawea describes how, at the age of sixteen, she becomes part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and serves as their interpreter and guide, surviving many dangerous adventures on their trek through the wilderness. 1804-1806

Whelan, Gloria. Once On This Island. (J Whelan)
Twelve year old Mary and her older brother and sister tend the family farm on Michigan's Mackinac Island while their father is away fighting the British in the War of 1812. 1812

Hausman, Gerald. Tom Cringle: Battle on the High Seas. (J Hausman)
During the War of 1812, a thirteen-year-old officer in the British navy records in his logbook his capture by pirates off the coast of Jamaica. 1812, Sequel Tom Crigle: The Pirate and the Patriat.

McCully, Emily Arnold. The Bobbin Girl. (J McCully)
A ten year old bobbin girl working in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1830s, must make a difficult decision-will she participate in the first workers' strike in Lowell? 1830

Blos, Joan. A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32. (J Blos)
A journal of a fourteen year old girl records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father's remarriage and the death of her best friend. 1830-1832

Avi. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. (J Avi)
As the lone "young lady" on a transatlantic voyage, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous and the crew rebellious. 1832.

Yep, Laurence. The Serpent's Children. (J Yep)
In 19th century China, a young girl struggles to protect her family from the threat of bandits, famine, and an ideological conflict between her father and brother. 1839

Whealan, Gloria. Night of the Full Moon. (J Whelan)
When she sneaks away to visit her friend, a young girl living on the Michigan frontier is caught up in the forced evacuation of a group of Potawatomi Indians from their tribal lands. 1840

Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer. (J Fox)
Kidnapped by the crew of an Africa-bound ship, a thirteen year old boy discovers to his horror that he is on a slaver and his job is to play music for the exercise periods of the human cargo. 1840

Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie. (J Paterson)
An impoverished Vermont farm girl, Lyddie Worthen, is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts. 1843

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Nory Ryan's Song. (J 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. 1845. Sequel: Maggie's Door.

Bunting, Eve. The Haunting of Kildoran Abbey. (J Bunting)
Caught in the grip of severe famine, eight hungry homeless children in Ireland join forces for one simple mission: to steal food from the rich and feed the poor. 1847

Paulsen, Gary. Mr. Tucket. (J Paulsen)
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. Other books in the series: Call Me Francis Tucket, Tucket's Ride, Tucket's Gold and Tucket's Home. 1847-1849

Cushman, Karen. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. (J Cushman)
In 1849, twelve year old California Morning Whipple, who renames herself Lucy, is distraught when her mother moves the family from Massachusetts to a rough California mining town. 1849

1850-1900

Fleischman, Sid. Bandit's Moon. (J Fleischman)
Twelve year old Annyrose relates her adventures with Joaquin Murieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s. 1850

Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. (J Hopkinson)
A young slave stitches a quilt with a map pattern which guides her to freedom in the North. 1850

De Angeli, Marguerite. Thee, Hannah! (J De Angeli)
Nine year old Hannah, a Quaker living in Philadelphia just before the Civil War, longs to have some fashionable dresses like other girls but comes to appreciate her heritage and its plain dressing when her family saves the life of a runaway slave. 1850s

Paterson , Katherine. Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom. (J Paterson)
Abducted from his home by bandits, fifteen year old Wang Lee is rescued from slavery by a mysterious girl who introduces him to the Taiping Tienkuo, a secret society partly based on Christian principles and dedicated to the overthrow of the Manchu government. 1850-1853

Van Leeuwen, Jean. Bound for Oregon. (J Van Leeuwen)
A fictionalized account of the journey made by nine year old Mary Ellen Todd and her family from their home in Arkansas westward over the Oregon Trail in 1852.

Paulsen, Gary. Nightjohn. (J Paulsen)
Twelve year old Sarny's brutal life as a slave becomes even more dangerous when a newly arrived slave offers to teach her how to read. 1853

Holm, Jennifer. Boston Jane. (J Holm)
Schooled in the lessons of etiquette for young ladies of 1854, Miss Jane Peck of Philadelphia finds little use for manners during her long sea voyage to the Pacific Northwest and while living among the American traders and Chinook Indians of Washington Territory. 1854

Armstrong, Jennifer. Steal Away. (J Armstrong)
In 1855, two thirteen year old girls, one white and one black, run away from a southern farm and make the difficult journey north to freedom, living to recount their story forty-one years later to two similar young girls. 1855

Paterson, Katherine. Jip: His Story. (J Paterson)
While living on a Vermont poor farm during 1855 and 1856, Jip learns his identity and that of his mother and comes to understand how he arrived at this place. 1855-1856

Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils. (J Hunt)
Jethro Creighton comes of age during the turbulent years of the American Civil War. 1861

Keith, Harold. Rifles for Watie. (J Keith)
Jeff Bussey becomes a scout and soldier in the West and sees the Civil War from both sides. 1861

Hahn, Mary Downing. Hear the Wind Blow. (J Hahn)
With their mother dead and their home burned, a thirteen-year-old boy and his little sister set out across Virginia in search of relatives during the final days of the Civil War. 1865

Paulsen, Gary. Soldier's Heart: A Novel of the Civil War. (J Paulsen)
Eager to enlist, fifteen year old Charley has a change of heart after experiencing both the physical horrors and mental anguish of Civil War combat. 1861-1865

Rinaldi, Ann. Amelia's War. (J Rinaldi)
When a Confederate general threatens to burn Hagerstown, Maryland, unless it pays an exorbitant ransom, twelve year old Amelia and her friend find a way to save the town. 1864

O'Dell, Scott. Sing Down the Moon. (J O'Dell)
A young Navajo girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of the white soldiers. 1864

Reeder, Carolyn. Shades of Gray. (J Reeder)
At the end of the Civil War, twelve year old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war. 1865

Yep, Laurence. Dragon's Gate. (J Yep)
When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a fifteen year old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Sequel to: Mountain Light. 1867

MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain and Tall. (J MacLachlan)
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay. 1870's -- Sequel: Skylark

Wilder, Laura Ingals. Little House in the Big Woods. (J Wilder)
Laura, her sister Mary, her pa and her ma lived the lives of pioneers in a small cabin in the Big Woods of Wisconsin. Others in the series are: Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, On The Banks of Plum Creek, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years. 1870's

O'Dell, Scott. Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. (J O'Dell)
In the late 19th century, a young Nez Perce girl relates how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender. 1877

Cushman, Karen. Rodzina. (J Cushman)
A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery. 1881

Conrad, Pam. My Daniel. (J Conrad)
Ellie and Stevie learn about a family legacy when their grandmother tells them stories about her brother's historical quest for dinosaur bones on their Nebraska farm. 1885

Thomas, Joyce Carol. I Have Heard of a Land. (J Thomas)
Describes the joys and hardships experienced by an African-American pioneer woman who staked a claim for free land in the Oklahoma territory. 1889

Peck, Richard. Fair Weather: A Novel. (J Peck)
In 1893, thirteen-year-old Rosie and members of her family travel from their Illinois farm to Chicago to visit Aunt Euterpe and attend the World's Columbian Exposition which, along with an encounter with Buffalo Bill and Lillian Russell, turns out to be a life-changing experience for everyone. 1893

Conrad, Pam. Prairie Songs. (J Conrad)
Louisa's life in a loving pioneer family on the Nebraska prairie is altered by the arrival of the new doctor and his beautiful, tragically frail wife. 1895

Hobbs, Will. Jason's Gold. (J Hobbs)
When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory reaches fifteen year old Jason, he embarks on a 10,000-mile journey to strike it rich. 1897

1900-1939

Lenski, Lois. Strawberry Girl. (J Lenski)
The story of the feud between the Slaters and the Boyers in Florida during the 1900s. 1900

Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings. (J Yep)
In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine. 1903

Whelan, Gloria. Angel on the Square. (J Whelan)
In 1913 Russia, twelve-year-old Katya eagerly anticipates leaving her St. Petersburg home, though not her older cousin Misha, to join her mother, a lady in waiting in the household of Tsar Nicholas II, but the ensuing years bring world war, revolution, and undreamed of changes to her life. 1913

Foreman, Michael. War Game. (J Foreman)
During World War I, four English friends and their comrades find temporary relief from the brutal and seemingly endless struggle in the trenches when, on an extraordinary Christmas Day, they celebrate the holiday with their German enemies. 1914

Hesse, Karen. Letters From Rifka. (J Hesse)
In her letters to her cousin, a young Jewish girl chronicles her family's flight from Russia and her own experiences when she must be left in Belgium for a while when the others emigrate to America. 1919

Fritz, Jean. Homesick, My Own Story. (J Fritz)
The author's fictionalized version, though all the events are true, of her childhood in China in the 1920s. 1920's

Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. (J Curtis)
Ten year old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father-the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids. 1929

Hesse Karen. Out of the Dust. (J Hesse)
In a series of poems, fifteen year old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression. 1929

Armstrong, William. Sounder. (J Armstrong) (1969)
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog, Sounder. 1930's

Ayres, Katherine. Macaroni Boy. (J Ayres)
In Pittsburgh in 1933, sixth-grader Mike Costa notices a connection between several strange occurrences, but the only way he can find out the truth about what's happening is to be nice to the class bully. 1933

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. (J Taylor)
A black family living in the South during the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination that their children don't understand. 1933

Kerr, Judith. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. (J Kerr)
Recounts the adventures of a nine year old Jewish girl and her family in the early 1930s as they travel from Germany to England. 1933

Uchida, Yoshiko. A Jar of Dreams. (J Uchida)
A young girl grows up in a closely-knit Japanese American family in California during the 1930s, a time of great prejudice. 1935

Peck, Richard. A Year Down Yonder. (J Peck)
During the Depression, fifteen year old Mary Alice, initially apprehensive about leaving Chicago to spend a year with her fearsome, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois, gradually begins to better understand and admire her grandmother's unusual qualities. Sequel to: A Long Way to Chicago: a Novel in Stories. 1937

Ackerman, Karen. The Night Crossing. (J Ackerman)
Having begun to feel the persecution that all Jews are experiencing in their Austrian city, Clara and her family escape over the mountains into Switzerland. 1938

1939-1945

Westall, Robert. Blitzcat. (J Westall)
During World War II a black cat journeys all across war-ravaged England in an effort to track down her beloved master. 1939-1945

Matas, Carol. Daniel's Story. (J Matas)
Daniel, whose family suffers as the Nazis rise to power in Germany, describes his imprisonment in a concentration camp and his eventual liberation. 1939-1945

Drucker, Malka. Jacob's Rescue: A Holocaust Story. (J Drucker)
In answer to his daughter's questions, a man recalls the terrifying years of his childhood when a brave Polish couple hid him and other Jewish children. Based on a true story. 1939-1945

Rinaldi, Ann. Keep Smiling Through. (J Rinaldi)
A ten year old girl living in middle-class America during World War II learns the painful lesson that doing what's right is not always an easy thing to do. 1939-1945

Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche. (J Innocenti)
During World War II, a young German girl's curiosity leads her to discover something far more terrible than the day-to-day hardships and privations that she and her neighbors have experienced. 1939-1945

Vos, Ida. Anna is Still Here. (J Vos)
Thirteen year old Anna, who was a "hidden child" in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II, gradually learns to deal with the realities of being a survivor. 1945

Vos, Ida. Hide and Seek. (J Vos)
A young Jewish girl living in Holland tells of her experiences during the Nazi occupation, her years in hiding and the aftershock when the war finally ends. 1940

Pearson, Kit. The Sky is Falling. (J Pearson)
The experiences of a young girl and her small brother who are evacuated to Canada at the beginning of World War II and find that they will be staying with complete strangers. Sequels are: Looking at the Moon and The Lights Go on Again. 1940

Matas, Carol. Greater Than Angels. (J Matas)
Anna, a teenaged German refugee, relates how she and other Jewish children were cared for by the citizens of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, during the German occupation. 1940-1945

Westall, Robert. The Machine Gunners. (J Westall)
After an air raid, a group of English children hide a German machine gun from adults who are looking for it. 1941

Lisle, Janet Taylor. The Art of Keeping Cool. (J Lisle)
Robert and his cousin Elliot uncover long-hidden family secrets while staying in their grandparents' Rhode Island town, where they also become involved with a German artist who is suspected of being a spy. 1942

Cutler, Jane. My Wartime Summers. (J Cutler)
Over four memorable summers, Ellen and her friends follow the war taking place far away that touches all their lives.1942-1945

Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. (J Lowry)
During the German occupation of Denmark, ten year old Annemarie learns how to be strong and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.1943

Giff, Patricia Reilly. Lily's Crossing. (J Giff)
During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach, Lily's friendship with a young Hungarian refugee causes her to see the war and her own world differently. 1944 Sequel: Willow Run.

Levitin, Sonia. Annie's Promise. (J Levitin)
Her experiences at a summer camp in the California mountains give twelve year old Annie Platt new insight into her over-protective family of German-Jewish immigrants. 1945

Forman, James. My Enemy, My Brother. (J Forman)
After being liberated from the concentration camp, Daniel Baratz, the only surviving member of his family, leaves Poland to emigrate to a new life in Israel. 1945

Roy, Jennifer Rozines. Yellow Star. (J Roy)
From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation. 1939-1945

1945-Present

Lord, Bette Bao. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. (J Lord)
A Chinese child comes to Brooklyn where she becomes Americanized at school, in her apartment building, and by her love for baseball. 1947

Szablya, Helen. The Fall of the Red Star. (J Szablya)
Fourteen year old Stephen takes up arms and joins the resistance in the Hungarian Revolution. 1948

Hill, Kirkpatrick. The Year of Miss Agnes. (J Hill)
Ten year old Fred (short for Frederika) narrates the story of school and village life among the Athapascans in Alaska when Miss Agnes arrived as the new teacher. 1948

Russell, Ching Yeung. First Apple. (J Russell)
Living in China during the late 1940s, a young girl works to save enough money to buy an apple to give her grandmother for her birthday. 1949

Paterson , Katherine. Park's Quest. (J Paterson)
Eleven year old Park makes some startling discoveries when he travels to his grandfather's farm in Virginia to learn about his father who died in the Vietnam War. 1961-1975

Sacks, Margaret. Beyond Safe Boundaries. (J Sacks)
Elizabeth comes of age in South Africa as her older sister joins a secret group opposed to the country's racial policies 1963

Curtis, Christonper. The Watsons Go to Birmingham. (J Curtis)
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

Mary Cheney Library
586 Main Street
Manchester, CT 06040
(860) 645-0577
http://library.townofmanchester.org/children.html

Whiton Memorial Branch Library
100 North Main Street
Manchester, CT 06042
(860) 643-6892

Updated 1/09