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Historical Fiction chapter books.
Arranged chronologically
11,000 Years Lost; Peni Griffin, 2007
[9,000 BCE]
Fascinated with the archaeological dig that is going on near her Texas home, eleven-year-old Esther
is taken back in time to the Pleistocene era and discovers first-hand how people lived at that time.
Includes a list of sources and author's notes.
Orphan of the Sun; Gill Harvey 2006. j F HARVEY G
[1550-1000 BCE]
Meryt-Re, a thirteen-year-old orphan living in Set-Maat, Egypt, during the building of the pharaohs'
tombs, tries to come to terms with her ability to see the truth in dreams while also attempting to
determine who is trying to overthrow the village foreman.
Horse Road; Troon Harrison, 2012. j F HARRISON
[2000 yrs. ago]
In ancient central Asia, thirteen-year-old Kallisto, a superb equestrian, and her friend
must warn their families and protect the Ferghana horses from invading Chinese armies.
Rover; Jackie French 2007. j F FRENCH
[1020 CE]
Captured by Vikings, young Hekja is taken as a slave to Greenland by the daughter of Erik
the Red, and accompanied by no one from her homeland but her loyal dog, shares
adventures with her new mistress, who is determined to make a name for herself as her father and
brother have.
Blood Red Horse; K.M. Grant 2004. j F GRANT
[1190]
A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers and those around them as
they fight with King Richard I against Saladin's armies during the Third Crusades.
Kite Fighters; Linda Sue Park 2000. j F PARK
[1473]
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.
Shakespeare Stealer; Gary Blackwood 1998. j F BLACKWOO
[1600]
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. Sequels.
Winter People; Joseph Bruchac 2002. j F BRUCHAC
[1759]
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.
Calico Bush; Rachel Field, 1931. j F FIELD
[1760]
A pioneer story of Marguerite, a young French orphan in the New World, who promises to serve the
Sargent family for six long years in return for shelter, food and clothing.
Chains; Laurie Halse Anderson, 2008. j F ANDERSON
[1770s]
After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during
the Revolutionary War. Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award. Sequel: Forge.
Johnny Tremain; Esther Forbes 1943. j F FORBES
[1776]
After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of
Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.
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Ben and Me; Robert Lawson 1939. j F LAWSON R
[1780]
Benjamin Franklin's companion, Amos the mouse, recounts how he was responsible for
Franklin's inventions and discoveries.
Nory Ryan’s Song; Patricia Giff 2000. j F GIFF P
[1845]
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.
Birchbark House; Louise Erdrich, 1999. j F ERDRICH
[1847]
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.
Gifts from the Sea; Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, 2003. j F KINSEY-W
[1850s]
Quila and her father, living alone in a remote Maine lighthouse in the 1850s, find their lives
profoundly changed when a baby washes ashore and they decide to keep her as part of their family.
Newsgirl; Lisa Ketchum, 2009. j F KETCHUM
[1851]
In the spring of 1851 San Francisco is booming. 12-year-old Amelia Forrester has just arrived with
her family and they are eager to make a new life in Phoenix City. But the mostly male town is not
that hospitable to females and Amelia decides she will earn more money as a boy. Cutting her hair
and donning a cap, she joins a gang of newsboys, selling Eastern newspapers for a fortune.
Boston Jane: an adventure; Jennifer Holm, 2001. j F HOLM J
[1854]
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. Two sequels follow.
Home is with our Family; Joyce Hansen, 2010. j F HANSEN J
[1855]
Maria Peterson is looking forward to turning thirteen in 1855, attending abolitionist meetings and
listening to inspiring speakers like Sojourner Truth. But her thirteenth year brings unexpected
changes: the city of New York wants to turn her community, Seneca Village, into an enormous
"Central Park."
Elijah of Buxton; Christopher Curtis 2007. j F CURTIS C
[1859]
In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, a haven for
slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying
preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.
Great Turkey Walk; Kathleen Karr 1998. j F KARR K
[1860]
In 1860, a somewhat simple-minded fifteen-year-old boy attempts to herd one thousand turkeys
from Missouri to Denver, Colorado, in hopes of selling them at a profit. Funny.
Exiled: Memoirs of a Camel; Kathleen Karr, 2004. j F KARR K
[1850-60]
A first-person narrative from a camel's viewpoint about being sent from Egypt to serve in the United
States Camel Corps, and life on the Mojave Desert before and during the Civil War.
Jayhawker; Patricia Beatty 1991. j F BEATTY P
[1860]
In the early years of the Civil War, teenage Kansan farm boy Lije Tulley becomes a Jayhawker, an
abolitionist raider freeing slaves from the neighboring state of Missouri, and then goes undercover
there as a spy.
Iron Thunder: the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac; Avi 2007. J F AVI [1862]
Tom's job as an assistant to Captain John Ericsson, the inventor of the Monitor, makes him a target
of Confederate spies.
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The case of the deadly desperados by Caroline Lawrence, 2012. J F LAWRENCE
[1862]
In 1862 Nevada Territory, after finding his foster parents murdered and scalped, twelve-year-old
Pinky Pinkerton, son of a railroad detective and a Sioux Indian, inherits a valuable deed and must
hide from dangerous Whittlin Walt and his gang of desperados.
Rodzina; Karen Cushman 2003. j F CUSHMAN
[late 1800s]
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.
Misadventures of Maude March; Audrey Couloumbis 2005. j F COULOUMB [late 1800s]
After the death of the stern aunt who raised them since they were orphaned, eleven-yearold Sallie and her fifteen-year-old sister escape their self-serving guardians and begin an
adventure resembling those in the dime novels Sallie loves to read. Funny. Sequel.
Fair Weather; Richard Peck 2001. j F PECK R
[1893]
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.
Jason’s Gold; Will Hobbs 1999. j F HOBBS W
[1897]
When news of the discovery of gold in Canada's Yukon Territory in 1897 reaches fifteen-year-old
Jason, he embarks on a 10,000-mile journey to strike it rich. Sequel.
Lumber Camp Library; Natalie Kinsey-Warnock 2002. j FY KINSEY-W
[late 1800s]
Ruby wants to be a teacher, but after her father's death in a logging accident she must quit
school to care for her ten brothers and sisters, until a chance meeting with a lonely old
blind woman transforms her life.
Sarah, Plain and Tall; Patricia MacLachlan 1987. j FY MACLACHL
[late 1800s]
When their father invites a mail-order bride to come visit with them in their prairie home,
Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay. Sequels.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate; Jacqueline Kelly, 2009. j F KELLY
[1899]
In central Texas in 1899, eleven-year-old Callie Vee Tate is instructed to be a lady by her mother,
learns about love from the older three of her six brothers, and studies the natural world with her
grandfather.
The Locked Garden; Gloria Whelan 2009. j F WHELAN G
[1900]
After their mother dies of typhoid, Verna and her younger sister Carlie move with their father, a
psychiatrist, and stern Aunt Maude to an asylum for the mentally ill in early-twentieth-century
Michigan, where new ideas in the treatment of mental illness are being proposed, but old prejudices
still hold sway.
Dragonwings; Laurence Yep, 1975. j F YEP
[1903]
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.
Girls of Lighthouse Lane; Kinkade & Tamar 2005. j F KINKADE
A series about four friends aged 12-14 in 1905-06, living on Cape Light.
[1905]
Billy Creekmore; Tracey Porter 2007. j F PORTER T
[1905]
In 1905, ten-year-old Billy is taken from an orphanage to live with an aunt and an uncle of whose
existence he was previously unaware. He enjoys his first taste of family life until his work in a coal
mine and his involvement with a union bring trouble. He then joins a circus in hopes of finding his
father.
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Journey to the River Sea; Eva Ibbotson 2001. j F IBBOTSON
[1910]
Sent with her governess to live with the dreadful Carter family in exotic Brazil in 1910, Maia endures
many hardships before fulfilling her dream of exploring the Amazon River.
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry; Mildren Taylor 1976. j F TAYLOR M
[1929]
The beginning of the story of Cassie, growing up in a black family living in the South during the
1930's, faced with prejudice and discrimination the children don't understand. Sequels.
Long Way from Chicago; Richard Peck 2005. j F PECK R
[1929]
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression
to visit their larger-than-life grandmother. Followed by Year Down Yonder.
The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtise, 2012. j F CURTIS C
[1929]
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.
Moon over Manifest; Clare Vanderpool, 2010. J F VANDERPOOL
[1936]
Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is sent to stay with an old friend of her fathers in Manifest,
Kansas. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden
cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the
Rattler.
Storm in the Barn; Matt Phelan 2009. J GN STORM
[1937]
In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local
bullies, his father's failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal
with the effects of the Dust Bowl- a sinister figure with a face like rain. It's hard to trust what you
see with your own eyes, and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes. This is a
graphic novel. Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award.
Elephant Run; Roland Smith, 2007. j F SMITH R
[1941]
Nick endures servitude, beatings, and more after his British father's plantation in Burma is
invaded by the Japanese in 1941, and when his father and others are taken prisoner and
Nick is stranded with his friend Mya, they plan a daring escape on elephants, risking their
lives to save Nick's father and Mya's brother from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Lily’s Crossing; Patricia Giff 1997. j F GIFF P
[1944]
During a summer spent at Rockaway Beach in 1944, Lily's friendship with a young Hungarian
refugee causes her to see the war and her own world differently.
When my Name was Keoko; Linda Sue Park 2002. j F PARK L
[1939-45]
With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive
occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture
entirely.
Kira-Kira; Kadhata 2004, Newbery 2005. j F KADOHATA
[1950-60]
Chronicles the close friendship between two Japanese-American sisters growing up in rural Georgia
during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the despair when one sister becomes terminally ill.
One Crazy Summer; Rita Williams-Garcia, 2010. J F WILLIAMS
[1968]
In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with
the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold
welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the
intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
Winner of the Scott O’Dell Award.
Revised 3/2013