YOUNG ADULT HISTORICAL FICTION

War Time

 

Revolutionary War

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Collier, J.         War Comes To Willy Freeman:  During the Revolutionary War, a free 13 year old black girl is in danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears.

 

Rinaldi, A.       CAST TWO SHADOWS:  In 1780, 14 year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends.

 

Rinaldi, A.       FIFTH OF MARCH:  14 year-old Rachel, 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.

 

Wibberly, L.     TREEGATE’S RAIDERS:  Peter Treegate, who first saw action against the British at Bunker Hill, gathers together a band of Carolina mountaineers who know how to shoot. Known as Treegate's Raiders, they fight in two of the smallest but most significant battles of the Revolution.

War of 1812

Trottier, M.      UNDER A SHOOTING STAR:  Escorting two young ladies to their home in America seems like a simple task for young Edward MacNeil, but he wasn’t counting on the storm that sank the Patience.  Shipwrecked off an island in Lake Erie the three teens struggle to survive and inadvertently become involved with Tecumseth’s son. 

Civil War

Collier, J.         WITH EVERY DROP OF BLOOD:  While trying to transport food to Richmond, during the Civil War, 14 year old Johnny is captured by a black Union soldier.

 

Hansen, J.       WHICH WAY FREEDOM:  Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow, Tennessee

 

Hurmence, B.  TANCY:  After the Civil War, a young slave on a small North Carolina plantation searches for her mother who was mysteriously sold when she was a baby.

 

Lasky. K.        TRUE NORTH:  Because of the strong influence which her grandfather, an              abolitionist, has on her, 14 year-old Lucy assists a fugitive slave in her escape.

 

Nixon, J.          THE ORPHAN TRAIN ADVENTURES SERIES:  Follows the stories of the six Kelly children, whose widowed mother has sent them west from New York City in 1856 because she cannot give them the life they deserve.

 

WWI

Frank, R.         NO HERO FOR THE KAISER:  Jan, a 14 year old Polish boy whose town is invaded in WWI, joins a German battalion and experiences the horrors of battle.

 

Gehrts, B         DON’T SAY A WORD:  Living in Berlin during WW II, Anna finds herself and her family growing more aware of the dangerous direction in which her country is moving as her friends start to die.

 

Hough, R.        FLIGHT TO VICTORY:  Sixteen year-old Will, leaves his home, his school, and his youth behind to become a pilot in World War I.

Skurzynski       GOOD-BYE BILLY RADISH:  As the U.S. enters WWI, 10 year-old Hank sees change all around him in his western Pennsylvania steel mill town and feels his older Ukrainian friend Billy drifting apart from him.

 

WWII

Aaron, C         ALEX, WHO WON HIS WAR:  In the final months of WWII, 14 year old Alex, worried about the fate of his brother fighting in Europe, is captured by Nazi spies.

 

Dillon, E.         CHILDREN OF BACH:  A Hungarian Jewish family of talented musicians escapes Nazi persecution during WWII.

 

Gee, M.           CHAMPION:  In 1943, 12 year old Rex sees his quiet New Zealand village changed by the arrival of a black American soldier on leave from the war.

 

Haugaard, E.   CHASE ME, CATCH NOBODY:  On a school trip to Germany in 1937, a 14-year-old Danish schoolboy becomes involved in the activities of the anti-Nazi underground.

 

Hough, R.        RAZOR EYES: Many years after the fact, a farmer details his experiences as a British pilot in World War II and the maturing effect they had on him.

 

Korschunow    A NIGHT IN DISTANT MOTION:  When 17 year-old Regine, a Nazi supporter, falls in love with a Polish prisoner in 1944, she notices for the first time the injustices and horrors going on around her and finds she can no longer be silent.

 

Laird, C.          SHADOW OF THE WALL:  Living with his mother and two sisters in the Warsaw Ghetto, Misha is befriended by the director of the orphanage and finds a purpose to his life when he joins a resistance organization.

 

Matas, C.        CODE NAME KRIS:  After the Nazi occupation of Denmark forces his Jewish friends to flee the country, 17 year-old Jesper continues his work in the underground resistance movement. Sequel to "Lisa's War."

 

Mazer, H.        THE LAST MISSION:  In 1944, a 15-year-old Jewish boy tells his family he will travel in the West but instead, enlists in the U.S. Air Corps and is subsequently taken prisoner by the Germans.

 

Orlev, U.         THE MAN FROM THE OTHER SIDE:  Living on the outskirts of the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII, 14 year-old Marek and his grandparents shelter a  Jewish man in the days before the Jewish uprising.

 

Reuter, B.        BOYS FROM ST. PETRI:  In 1942, a group of young men begin a series of dangerous protests against the German invaders of their Danish homeland.

 

Roth-Hano, R. TOUCH WOOD:  In Nazi-occupied France, Renee, a young Jewish girl, and her family flee their home in Alsace and live a precarious existence in Paris until Renee and her sister escape to the shelter of a convent in Normandy.

 

Watkins, Y.     KINGDOM BY THE SEA:  During WWII, 12 year-old Harry and a stray dog travel through war-torn England in search of safety.

Westall, R.       THE MACHINE GUNNERS:  After an air raid, a group of English children find a German machine gun and hide it from adults who are looking for it.

 

Yolen, J.          DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC:  Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland.

 

Vietnam

Butterworth     AIR EVAC:  When unable to go to medical school, Ken goes into the Army despite his feelings about not wanting to be in a position requiring him to kill and becomes a helicopter pilot assigned to evacuation of wounded men in Viet Nam.

 

 Butterworth    ORDERS TO VIETNAM, A Novel of Helicopter Warfare:  19 year old Bill is plunged into warfare that demands all of the skill and courage he can muster.

 

Nelson, T.        AND ONE FOR ALL:  Geraldine's close relationship with her older brother Wing and his friend Sam changes when Wing joins the Marines and Sam leaves for Washington to join a peace march.

 

Rostkowski      BEST OF FRIENDS:  Three very different teenagers, once close friends, struggle to understand the changes in their relationships and the turmoil around them as the Vietnam War encroaches on their lives.

 

Wolitzer, M.     CARIBOU:  When Becca's older brother Stevie is selected for the draft during the Vietnamese War, he decides to go to Canada instead, leaving his family upset and divided by his refusal to go to war.

 

Gulf War

Kerr, M.E.       LINGER:  When his older brother joins the army and is sent to the Persian Gulf, 16 year-old Gary begins to take a new look at the restaurant that has been the focal point of his family and their small Pennsylvania town.

 

Cambodia

Ho, M.            THE CLAY MARBLE:  In the late 1970’s, 12 year old Dara joins a refugee camp in war-torn Cambodia and becomes separated from her family.

 

Bolshevik Revolution

Holman, F.       WILD CHILDREN:  Left behind when his whole family is arrested by soldiers during the dark days following the Bolshevik Revolution, 12 yr old Alex falls in with a gang of other homeless children, but never loses his hope for a better life.

 

 

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SW 11/03