HISTORICAL FICTION 

American (Grades 4-7)

                     The following titles are found in the J Fiction area.

  

 

Armstrong, J    STEAL AWAY (1992)  In 1855, two 13 yr. old girls, one White and one Black, run away from a southern farm and make the difficult journey north to freedom. 
         

Beatty, P          EIGHT MULES FROM MONTEREY (1982)  Fayette joins her widowed mother on a mule trip in the California mountains to establish library outposts in isolated communities.          

 

Blos, J              BROOKLYN DOESN’T RHYME (1994)  A sixth-grader records events in the lives of her Polish immigrant family and their friends in the early 1900’s.

 

Brink, C           CADDIE WOODLAWN (1962)  The adventures of an eleven-year-old tomboy growing up on the Wisconsin frontier in the mid-nineteenth century.           

 

Burch, R           IDA EARLY COMES OVER THE MOUNTAIN (1980) Tough times in rural Georgia during the Depression take a lively turn when spirited Ida Early arrives to keep house for the Suttons.        

 

DeFelice, C      NOWHERE TO CALL HOME (1999) Frances is jolted from a sheltered life by the suicide of her father during Depression-era Philadelphia.

 

Duffy, J            RADICAL RED (1993) The life of an Irish girl living in Albany, NY in the 1890s undergoes many changes when she and her mother help Susan B. Anthony and her suffragists.

 

Enright, E         THE SATURDAYS (1941)  Four children decide to combine their allowance to allow one child to do something extra special each Saturday. 

 

Erdrich, L         THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE (1999) Omakayas, a seven-year-old Ojibwe girl lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.

 

Fisher, L           JETTY CHRONICLES (1997)  A boy describes growing up in the 1930s in a Brooklyn seaside community filled with colorful characters.

 

Fitzgerald, J      THE GREAT BRAIN (1967)  A young boy in turn-of-the-century Utah describes his precocious brother who hatches scheme after scheme to gain prestige and money.  

 

Gregory, K       ORPHAN RUNAWAYS (1998)  Danny and his younger brother run away from a San Francisco orphanage to try to find their uncle during the gold rush days.    

 

Hobbs, W        JASON’S GOLD (1999)  Fifteen-year-old Jason embarks on a 10,000 mile journey to strike it rich in Canada’s Yukon Territory in 1897.

 

Jones, S           FRANKIE (1997)  Luke faces unrest in his Colorado town during the coal strike of 1913.

 

Karr, K            GREAT TURKEY WALK (1998)  In 1860, a simple-minded boy attempts to herd 1,000 turkeys from Missouri to Denver to make money.     

                       

Marvin, I          SHIPWRECKED ON PADRE ISLAND (1993)  A 13-year-old survivor of a 1554 shipwreck loses a treasured gold bracelet which links her to present-day visitors of the island.       

 

Paterson, K      JIP:  HIS STORY (1996)  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.

 

Pearsall, S        CROOKED RIVER (2005) When Rebecca’s father brings a Native American accused of murder into their 1812 Ohio settlement town, Rebecca struggles with the town’s reaction.

 

Pfitsch, P          KEEPER OF THE LIGHT (1997)  Faith takes over as a lighthouse keeper after her father’s death..

 

Rabe, B            GIRL WHO HAD NO NAME (1977)  After her mother’s death, a girl travels from sister to sister in search of a home, and discovers many things about herself.

 

Ritter, J            CHOOSING UP SIDES (1998)  In 1921, Luke is torn between accepting his left-handedness or conforming to the belief of his preacher father that it is a sign of evil which must be overcome.    

 

Robinet, H        FORTY ACRES AND MAYBE A MULE (1998)  A 12-year-old former slave with a withered arm and leg, joins others in a search for a farm and the freedom it promises.       

 

Speare, E         SIGN OF THE BEAVER (1983)  A boy struggles to survive alone in his family’s wilderness home until local Indians teach him their skills.        

 

Speare, E         WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND (1958)  In 1687, an lonely young girl befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and finds herself on trial for witchcraft.

 

Smith, R           THE CAPTAIN’S DOG (1999) Captain Lewis's dog Seaman describes his experiences as he accompanies his master on the Lewis and Clark Expedition to explore the u western wilderness.

 

Tal, E               DOUBLE CROSSING (2005) In 1905, as life becomes increasingly difficult for Jews in Ukraine, Raizel and her father flee to America in hopes of earning money to send for the rest of the family.

 

Taylor, M         ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY (1976)  A black family living in the 1930’s are faced with prejudice and discrimination which their children don’t understand.        

 

VanLeeuwen, J BOUND FOR OREGON (1994)  Nine-year-old Mary Ellen and her family travel westward from Arkansas on the Oregon Trail in 1852.    

 

Wilkes, M        LITTLE HOUSE IN BROOKFIELD (1996)  The first in the series about Caroline Quiner, who would grow up to be Laura Ingalls Wilder’s mother.   

 

Williams, B       TITANIC CROSSING (1995)  Thirteen-year-old Albert travels with his mother, uncle and sister on the ill-fated Titanic.

 

Wyatt, L           POOR IS JUST A STARTING PLACE (2005) During the Great Depression Artie Wilson IS determined to escape the life on her family's farm and her life of poverty.

 

Yep, L             THE STAR FISHER (1992) Fifteen-year-old Chinese-American Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920s.                                                                                                                               

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