American Historical Fiction 17th and 18th Century

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

Brady, Esther Wood Toliver’s Secret During the Revolutionary War, a ten-year-old girl crosses enemy lines to deliver a loaf of bread containing a message for the patriots.

Bulla, Clyde Robert A Lion to Guard Us Left on their own in seventeenth-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.

Carbone, Elisa Blood on the River: James Town 1607 Traveling to the New World in 1606 as the page to Captain John Smith, twelve-year-old orphan Samuel Collier settles in the new colony of James Town, where he must quickly learn to distinguish between friend and foe.

Carlson, Drew Attack of the During the Revolutionary War, fourteen-year-old Nathan joins forces with his older cousin, the inventor , to secretly build the first used in naval warfare.

Clapp, Patricia I’m Deborah Sampson Relates the experiences of the woman who disguised herself as a man in order to enlist and fight in the .

Collier, James Lincoln My Brother Sam Is Dead Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.

Curtis, Alice Turner A Little Maid of Colony During the Revolutionary War, Anne Nelson journeys with Indians, is imprisoned, escapes, and helps capture an English .

Dalgliesh, Alice The Courage of Sarah Noble 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.

Duble, Kathleen Benner The Sacrifice Two sisters, aged ten and twelve, are accused of witchcraft in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1692 and await trial in a miserable prison while their mother desperately searches for some way to obtain their freedom.

Durrant, Lynda Betsy Zane, the Rose of Fort Henry. In 1781 twelve-year-old Elizabeth Zane leaves to return to her brothers' homestead near Fort Henry in what is now West Virginia, where she plays an important role in the final battle of the American Revolution.

Elliott, L.M. Give Me Liberty Follows the life of thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Dunn, from May 1774 to December 1775, as he serves his indentureship with a music teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia, and witnesses the growing rift between patriots and loyalists, culminating in the American Revolution.

Field, Rachel Calico Bush In 1743, thirteen-year-old Marguerite Ledoux travels to Maine as the indentured servant of a family that regards her as little better than the Indians that threaten them, but her strength, quick thinking and courage surprise them all.

Forbes, Esther After injuring his hand, a silversmith's apprentice in becomes a messenger for the in the days before the American Revolution. Fritz, Jean Early Thunder In pre-revolutionary Salem, fourteen-year-old Daniel begins to re-examine his loyalty to the King as the conflict between Tories and patriots increasingly divides the townspeople.

Giff, Patricia Reilly Storyteller Forced to spend months at an aunt's house, Elizabeth feel a connection to her ancestor Zee, whose picture hangs on the wall, and who reveals her story of hardships during the Revolutionary War as Elizabeth comes to terms with her own troubles.

Hoobler, Dorothy Priscilla Foster : the Story of a Salem Girl Hannah hears Granny Priss recount her involvement in the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the terrible consequences that occured when Granny Priss, as a young girl, joined Ann Putnam in accusing many innocent women of being witches.

Karr, Kathleen Worlds Apart In 1670, soon after arriving in the Carolinas with a group of colonists from England, fifteen-year-old Christopher West befriends a young Sewee Indian, Asha-po, and learns some hard lessons about survival, slavery, and friendship.

Kirkpatrick, Katherine Redcoats and Petticoats Members of a family in the village of Setauket on Long Island are displaced by the Redcoats and serve as spies for the Revolutionary Army of .

Nixon, Joan Lowery Maria's story, 1773 In Williamsburg, Virginia, two years before the start of the American Revolution, nine-year-old Maria worries that her mother will lose her contract to publish official reports and announcements of the British government because she prints anti-British articles in their family-run newspaper.

Odell, Scott Sarah Bishop 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.

Paulsen Gary Woods Runner From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled woodsman, sets out toward City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Indians who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community.

Pryor, Bonnie Thomas In the early years of the Revolutionary War, eleven-year-old Thomas and his family escape a bloody massacre at Wyoming Valley and endure innumerable hardships as they try to make their way to Philadelphia.

Rinaldi, Ann The Fifth of March: a story of the Fourteen-year-old Rachel Marsh, an indentured servant in the Boston household of John and Abigail Adams, is caught up in the colonists' unrest that eventually escalates into the massacre of March 5, 1770.

Schwabach, Karen A Pickpocket's Tale When Molly, a ten-year-old orphan, is arrested for picking pockets in London in 1731, she is banished to America and serves as an indentured servant for a family that expects her to follow their Jewish traditions.

Van Leeuwen, Jean Hannah's Helping Hands In 1779 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.

Waters, John Night Raiders Along the Cape When British raids off the coast of New England become more frequent, young Asa must row through the night to warn his friends on the Massachusetts coast of an impending attack. American Historical Fiction 19th Century

Banks, Sara Harrell Abraham's battle : a novel of Gettysburg In 1863, as the Civil War approaches his home in Gettysburg and he realizes that a big battle is about to begin, a freed slave named Abraham decides to join the ambulance corps of the Union Army.

Beatty, Patricia Turn Homeward, Hannalee Twelve-year-old Hannalee Reed, forced to relocate in Indiana along with other Georgia millworkers during the Civil War, leaves her mother with a promise to return home as soon as the war ends.

Blackwood, Gary Second sight In Washington, D.C., during the last days of the Civil War, a teenage boy who performs in a mind reading act befriends a clairvoyant girl whose frightening visions foreshadow an assassination plot.

Clapp, Patricia The Tamarack Tree : a novel of the siege of Vicksburg An eighteen-year-old English girl finds her loyalties divided and all her resources tested as she and her friends experience the terrible physical and emotional hardships of the forty-seven day siege of Vicksburg in the spring of 1863.

Collins, Pat Lowery Daughter of Winter In the mid-nineteenth-century shipbuilding town of Essex, Massachusetts, twelve-year-old Addie learns a startling secret about her past when she escapes servitude by running away to live in the snowy woods and meets an elderly Wampanoag woman.

Durrant, Lynda Imperfections In 1862 Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, fourteen-year-old Rosemary Elizabeth strives to fit in with the Shaker sisters of this "Heaven on Earth," but yearns to be reunited with her mother and siblings from whom she was separated when they sought refuge from her abusive father.

Erdrich, Louise The Birchbark House 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.

Fleischman, Paul Bull Run Northerners, Southerners, generals, couriers, dreaming boys, and worried sisters describe the glory, the horror, the thrill, and the disillusionment of the first battle of the Civil War.

Fletcher, Susan Dadblamed Union Army Cow During the Civil War, a devoted cow follows her owner when he joins the Union Army and, despite all his efforts to send her home, stays with him and his regiment until the end of the war.

Helgerson, Joseph Crows & Cards In 1849, Zeb's parents ship him off to St. Louis to become an apprentice tanner, but the naive twelve-year-old rebels, casts his lot with a cheating riverboat gambler, while a slave and an Indian medicine man try to get Zeb back on the right path.

Hurst, Carol Otis Torchlight In 1864, fifth-grader Charlotte befriends an Irish-American girl at school and tries to understand the prejudices between the Irish and the Yankees in her town of Westfield, Massachusetts.

Keith, Harold Rifles for Watie The story of Jeff Bussey, a farm boy living in 1861, who joins the Union army and goes on an important mission to discover how Stand Watie and his Confederate Cherokee Rebels are receiving repeating rifles from northern manufacturers.

Kelly, Jacqueline The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate 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 latter of which leads to an important discovery.

Lyons, Mary Letters from a Slave Boy Fictionalized look at the life of Joseph Jacobs, son of a slave, told in the form of letters that he might have written during his life in pre-Civil War.

Miller, Sarah Miss Spitfire : Reaching Helen Keller At age twenty-one, partially-blind, lonely but spirited Annie Sullivan travels from Massachusetts to Alabama to try and teach six-year-old Helen Keller, deaf and blind since age two, self-discipline and communication skills.

Morrow, Barbara Olenyik A Good Night for Freedom Hallie discovers two runaway slaves hiding in Levi Coffin's home and must decide whether to turn them in or help them escape to freedom.

Napoli, Donna Jo The King of Mulberry Street In 1892, Dom, a nine-year old stowaway from Naples, Italy, arrives in New York and must learn to survive the perils of street life in the big city.

Paterson, Katherine Lyddie Impoverished Vermont farm girl Lyddie Worthen is determined to gain her independence by becoming a factory worker in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s.

Philbrick, Rodman Mostly True Adventures of Homer P Figg Twelve-year-old Homer, a poor but clever orphan, has extraordinary adventures after running away from his evil uncle to rescue his brother, who has been sold into service in the Civil War.

Pryor, Bonnie Joseph : a Rumble of War, 1861 After his stepfather becomes an abolitionist, ten- year-old Joseph struggles with his own thoughts about slavery as he sees its divisive power in his small Kentucky town.

Rinaldi, Ann Come Juneteen Fourteen-year-old Luli and her family face tragedy after failing to tell their slaves that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made them free.

Sanchez, Anita The Invasion of Sandy Bay In 1814, as the War of 1812 rages, twelve-year-old Lemuel Brooks tries to save the sleepy fishing village of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts,

Spain, Susan Rosson The Deep Cut Considered "slow" by his father, Lonzo tries his best to help his family in Culpeper, Virginia, during the Civil War and comes to some decisions about how to live his life.

Wisler, G. Clifton The Drummer Boy of Vicksburg In this fact-based story, fourteen-year-old drummer boy Orion Howe displays great bravery during a Civil War battle at Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Wyss, Thelma Hatch Bear Dancer : the Story of a Ute Girl In late nineteenth-century Colorado, Elk Dress Girl, sister of Ute chief Ouray, is captured by Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, rescued by the white "enemy," and finally returned to her home.

American Historical Fiction 20th Century

Brown, Don The Train Jumper Jumping freight trains during the Great Depression leads fourteen- year-old Collie to a friendship with men and boys on their way to "somewhere else."

Burg, Shana A Thousand Never Evers As the civil rights movement in the South gains momentum in 1963--and violence against African Americans intensifies--the black residents, including seventh-grader Addie Ann Pickett, in the small town of Kuckachoo, Mississippi, begin their own courageous struggle for racial justice.

Curtis, Christopher Paul Bud, Not Buddy 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.

Curtis, Christopher Paul The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963 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.

De Young, C. Coco A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt Eleven-year-old Margo fulfills a class assignment by writing a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt asking for help to save her family's home during the Great Depression.

Gwaltney, Doris Homefront With the U.S. on the brink of World War II, though, greater changes are in store for the Motleys, from the arrival of an aunt and cousin from war-battered England to the marriages, births, and deaths that will alter the tight-knit family forever.

Hoberman, Mary Ann Strawberry Hill Ten-year-old Allie's family moves from urban New Haven to rural Stamford, Connecticut, in the midst of the Great Depression.

Klages, Ellen The Green Glass Sea In 1943, eleven-year-old Dewey Kerrigan lives with her scientist father in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as he works on a top secret government program, and befriends an aspiring artist who is a misfit just like her.

McKissack, Patricia Abby Takes a Stand Gee recalls for her grandchildren what happened in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee, when she, aged ten, passed out flyers while her cousin and other adults held sit- ins at restaurants and lunch counters to protest segregation.

McKissack, Patricia A Song for Harlem In the summer of 1928, Lilly Belle Turner of Smyrna, Tennessee, participates in a young author's writing program, taught by Zora Neale Hurston and hosted by A'Lelia Walker in her Harlem teahouse at the height of the Harlem Renaissance.

Meltzer, Milton Tough Times In 1931 Worcester, Massachusetts, Joey Singer, the teenage son of Jewish immigrants, suffers with his family through the early part of the Great Depression, trying to finish high school, working a milk delivery route, marching on Washington, and eventually even becoming a hobo.

Paterson , Katherine Bread and Roses, Too Jake and Rosa, two children, form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Patt, Beverly Best Friends Forever : a World War II scrapbook Fourteen-year-old Louise keeps a scrapbook detailing the events in her life after her best friend, a Japanese-American girl, and her family are sent to a relocation camp during World War II.

Peck, Richard A Long Way From Chicago A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.

Porter, Tracey Treasures in the Dust Eleven-year-old Annie and her friend Violet tell of the hardships endured by their families when dust storms, drought, and the Great Depression hit rural Oklahoma.

Rodman , Mary Ann Yankee Girl When her FBI-agent father is transferred to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964, eleven-year-old Alice wants to be popular but also wants to reach out to the one black girl in her class in a newly-integrated school.

Schlitz, Laura Amy Schlitz A Drowned Maiden's Hair Set in the early twentieth century, this story takes readers into the shadowy world of spiritualism as Maud must decide just how much she is willing to do for the sake of being loved.

Schmidt, Gary D The Wednesday Wars During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom, where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in."

Schwabach, Karen The Hope Chest When eleven-year-old Violet runs away from home in 1918 and takes the train to New York City to find her older sister who is a suffragist, she falls in with people her parents would call "the wrong sort," and ends up in Nashville, Tennessee, where "Suffs" and "Antis" are gathered, awaiting the crucial vote on the nineteenth amendment.

Swain, Gwenyth Chig and the Second Spread Despite her small stature, eight-year-old Chig makes large contributions to her southern Indiana community during the Great Depression.

Taylor, Mildred D. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.

Weston, Elise The Coastwatcher While eleven-year-old Hugh, his family, and his cousin Tom are spending the summer of 1943 on the South Carolina shore to escape the polio epidemic, Hugh uncovers clues that point to a German plot to sabotage a nearby naval base.

Wiles, Deborah Countdown Franny Chapman just wants some peace. But that's hard to get when her best friend is feuding with her, her sister has disappeared, and her uncle is fighting an old war in his head. Worst of all, everyone is walking around just waiting for a bomb to fall. It's 1962, and it seems the whole country is living in fear.

Williams-Garcia Rita One Crazy Summer In the summer of 1968, after travelling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, Delphine and 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.

Yep, Laurence Dragon Road In 1939, unable to find regular jobs because of the Great Depression, long-time friends Cal Chin and Barney Young tour the country as members of a Chinese American basketball team.