HISTORICAL FICTION RECOMMENDATIONS (courtesy of cincinnatilibrary.

org)

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

In 1793 fourteen-year-old Matilda Cook finds herself in the middle of a struggle to keep herself and her loved ones alive in
the midst of the yellow fever epidemic.

The Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood

Kidnapped from England to the American colonies, a fifteen-year-old boy becomes part of a story that asks, what if the
British had defeated the Americans in 1777?

The Arrow Over the Door by Joseph Bruchac

In 1777, a young Abenaki Indian meets a peaceful young Quaker boy and both come to realize that the way of peace can be
walked by all human beings.

The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac

A fourteen-year-old Abenaki Indian sets off to rescue his mother and sisters after his village is destroyed in an attack by
British soldiers in 1759.

Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvelle

Two Mohawk sisters describe their lives at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School as they try to assimilate into white culture
and one of them is falsely accused of stealing.

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Collier

A classic that recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces
while his family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.

The Ransom of Mercy Carter by Caroline Cooney

After being captured in an Indian attack in 1704, Mercy Carter becomes accustomed to the Kahnawake Indian way of life
and wonders if she will want to return to her old life.

The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777 (Dear
America) by Kristiana Gregory
During the winter of 1777-1778, eleven-year-old Abigail Jane Stewart witnesses George Washington readying his young
soldiers for battle on the frozen fields of Valley Forge.

I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: the Diary of Patsy, a Freed Girl (Dear America) by Joyce Hansen
A freed slave learns to read by listening to lessons given to her previous master’s family, and when the plantation teacher
can’t come, she discovers her true gift. A Coretta Scott King Author Honors book (1998).

Where the Great Hawk Flies by Lisa Ketchum

Years after a violent raid by the British and their Indian allies, two families with very different perspectives become
neighbors and must deal the past.

A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 (Dear America) by Kathryn
Lansky
A pilgrim girl makes the dangerous journey on the Mayflower and experiences making new friends, contact with Indians,
and sickness that leaves her motherless.

I, Dred Scott: a Fictional Slave Narrative Based on the Life and Legal Precedent of Dred Scott by Sheila Moses
Under the provisions of the Missouri compromise, the slave Dred Scott may be eligible for emancipation but legal obstacles
stand in the way of his freedom.

A Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter

After being raised as an Indian after his capture at the age of four, John Butler is forcibly returned to his white parents but
continues to long for the freedom of Indian life.
A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials by Ann Rinaldi (Grades 6-10)
While waiting for a church meeting in 1706, Susanna English, daughter of a wealthy Salem merchant, recalls the malice,
fear, and accusations of witchcraft that tore her village apart in 1692.

The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre by Ann Rinaldi (Grades 6-9)
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.

Finishing Becca: A story about Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold by Ann Rinaldi
Fourteen-year-old Becca takes a position as a maid in a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker home and witnesses the events that
lead to General Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of the American forces during the Revolutionary War.

Weetamoo, Heart of the Pocassets by Patricia Smith

A fourteen-year-old Pocasset Indian girl describes how her life changes with the seasons and with her tribe’s interactions
with the English of nearby Plymouth Colony.

Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth Speare

When Matt is left alone in the Maine wilderness, the Chief of the Beaver Tribe cares for him in exchange for teaching the
Chief’s grandson to read, and Matt gains an appreciation for the heritage of the Beaver Tribe.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth Speare

In 1687, Kit, feeling out of place in her aunt’s Puritan household, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the
community and finds herself standing trial for witchcraft.

Sister to the Wolf by Maxine Trottier

Cecile buys the slave Lesharo and treats him as an equal, but they hate life in the new fort at Detroit and long to be free in
the wild.

Night Journeys by Avi

In the spring of 1768, 12-year-old Peter, living with his Quaker guardian near the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border, joins in
the search for two runaway indentured servants.

The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, a Revolutionary War Patriot by Barry Dennenberg
As tensions escalate in the period before the Revolutionary War, a boy surrounded by political rumblings and violence
becomes a spy for the rebel colonists.

Just Jane: A Daughter of England Caught in the Struggle of the American Revolution by William Lavender
The 14-year-old orphaned daughter of an English earl arrives in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1776 and finds her family
divided over the question of American independence.

Guns for General Washington: A Story of the American Revolution by Seymour Reit
Frustrated with life under siege in George Washington’s army, 19-year-old Will Knox and his brother Colonel Henry Knox
undertake the task of moving 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the dead of winter.