American Historical Fiction
Teen Reads
Click on a link to get booklists for each time period:
EARLY AMERICA 1620-1800
SALEM WITCH TRIALS (1692)
YA Rees
Witch Child by Celia Rees
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.
YA Rinaldi
A Break with Charity by Ann Rinaldi
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.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1775-1783)
YA Anderson, M.T.
The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1) by M.T. Anderson
Various diaries, letters, and other manuscripts chronicle the experiences of Octavian, a young African American, from birth to age sixteen, as he is brought up as part of a science experiment in the years leading up to and during the Revolutionary War.
YA Elliott
Give Me Liberty by Laura Elliot
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.
YA Ketchum
Where the Great Hawk Flies by Liza Ketchum
Years after a violent New England raid by the Redcoats and their Revolutionary War Indian allies, two families, one that suffered during that raid and one with an Indian mother and Patriot father, become neighbors and must deal with past trauma and prejudices before they can help each other in the present. Based on the author's family history. Includes historical notes and notes on the Pequot Indians.
YA Paulsen
The Rifle by Gary Paulsen
A priceless, handcrafted rifle, fired throughout the American Revolution, is passed down through the years until it fires on a fateful Christmas Eve of 1994.
YA Rinaldi
Cast Two Shadows by Ann Rinaldi
In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll among her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war.
YA Swee
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Murder: A Revolutionary War by Karen Swee
A tavernmistress in 1777 unravels a puzzle that involves stolen diplomatic letters, spies and avaricious traitors, while trying to find the killer of an overnight guest.
YA Anderson
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
In 1793 Philadelphia, sixteen-year-old Matilda Cook, separated from her sick mother, learns about perseverance and self-reliance when she is forced to cope with the horrors of a yellow fever epidemic.
THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT 1840-1899
YA Cadnum
Blood Gold by Michael Cadnum
After an arduous journey, Will Dwinelle and his friend Ben finally reach California in 1849 intending to bring home the man who betrayed the honor of a girl back home in Philadelphia, but find themselves tempted by the riches of the Gold Rush.
YA Erdrich
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich
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.
YA Erdrich
The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich
Nine-year-old Omakayas, of the Ojibwa tribe, moves west with her family in 1849.
YA Hobbs
Down the Yukon by Will Hobbs
In the wake of Dawson City's Great Fire of 1899, sixteen-year-old Jason and his girlfriend Jamie canoe the Yukon River across Alaska in an epic race from Canada's Klondike to the new gold fields at Cape Nome.
YA Hobbs
Jason’s Gold by Will Hobbs
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.
YA Holm
Boston Jane (Series) by Jennifer L. Holm
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.
YA Paulsen
Canyons by Gary Paulsen
Finding a skull on a camping trip in the canyons outside El Paso, Texas, Brennan becomes involved with the fate of a young Apache Indian who lived in the late 1800s.
YA Peck
Fair Weather by Richard Peck
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.
YA Wilson
Black Storm Comin’ by Diane L. Wilson
Twelve-year-old Colton, son of a black mother and a white father, takes a job with the Pony Express in 1860 after his father abandons the family on their California-bound wagon train, and risks his life to deliver an important letter that may affect the growing conflict between the North and South.
CIVIL WAR & SLAVERY 1861-1865
Crane
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, struggles with his conflicting emotions about violence, death, and the nature of bravery in this ironic, skeptical account of the Civil War.
J Alphin
Ghost Soldier by Elaine Marie Alphin
Alexander, in North Carolina while his father decides whether to remarry and move there, meets the ghost of a Confederate soldier and helps him look for his family.
YA Elliott
Annie, Between the States by Laura Elliott
Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, struggles with his conflicting emotions about violence, death, and the nature of bravery in this ironic, skeptical account of the Civil War.
J Hunt
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War. (Lexile 1100)
YA Lyons
Dear Ellen Bee: A Civil War Scrapbook of Two Union Spies by Mary E. Lyons
A scrapbook kept by a young black girl details her experiences and those of the older white woman, "Miss Bet," who had freed her and her family, sent her north from Richmond to get an education, and then worked to bring an end to slavery. Based on the life of Elizabeth Van Lew.
YA Monfredo
Sisters of Cain by Miriam Grace Monfredo
In 1862, as the Civil War rages around them, two sisters find themselves behind enemy lines as they investigate a baffling mystery and try to prevent a Confederate conspiracy that threatens not only their lives but the fate of the Union.
YA Paulsen
Soldier’s Heart: a novel of the Civil War by Gary Paulsen
Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War.
YA Peck
The River Between Us by Richard Peck
During the early days of the Civil War, the Pruitt family takes in two mysterious young ladies who have fled New Orleans to come north to Illinois.
YA Rawles
My Jim: A Novel by Nancy Rawles
Sadie, the abandoned wife of the slave Jim from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," details her life with Jim, his decision to run away with a white boy named Huck Finn, and the bleak repercussions of that decision for her.
YA Wells
Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells
As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her sharp intelligence and the courage she didn't know she had to survive the war that threatens to destroy her family, her Virginia home, and the only life she has ever known.
EARLY 20TH CENTURY 1901-1912
YA Bunting
SOS Titanic by Eve Bunting
Fifteen-year-old Barry O'Neill, traveling from Ireland to America on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, finds his life endangered when the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink.
YA Carbone
Last Dance on Holladay Street by Elisa Lynn Carbone
Fifteen-year-old Barry O'Neill, traveling from Ireland to America on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, finds his life endangered when the ship hits an iceberg and begins to sink.
YA Donnelly
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
In 1906, sixteen-year-old Mattie, determined to attend college and be a writer against the wishes of her father and fiance, takes a job at a summer inn where she discovers the truth about the death of a guest. Based on a true story.
YA Lavender
Aftershocks by William Lavender
In San Francisco from 1903 to 1908, teenager Jessie Wainwright determines to reach her goal of becoming a doctor while also trying to care for the illegitimate child of a liaison between her father and their Chinese maid.
YA Peck
Amanda/Miranda by Richard Peck
In 1911 in England, eighteen-year-old Mary Cooke is hired as personal maid to the willful and arrogant Amanda Whitwell and is astonished to find that her new employer is her near-double, a coincidence that has lasting consequences for Mary, especially when she accompanies Amanda on the Titanic's fateful voyage.
YA Schmidt
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner's--want to change into a tourist spot.
YA Welsh
The Unresolved by T.K. Welsh
In 1904 New York City, the spirit of a deceased German American teenage girl searches for the person responsible for the Slocum steamboat fire that claimed her life and the lives of more than 1000 other passengers.
WORLD WAR I 1914-1918
YA Larson
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe.
WORLD WAR I 1914-1918 (NOT SET IN AMERICA)
YA Bagdasarian
Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian
Vahan Kenderian lives a life of privilege as the youngest son of a wealthy Armenian family in 1915 Turkey. His secure world is shattered when some family members are whisked away while others are murdered before his eyes. Vahan loses his home and family, and is forced to live a life he would never have dreamed of. Somehow Vahan's incredible strength and spirit help him endure.
YA Morpurgo
Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
When Thomas Peaceful's older brother is forced to join the British Army, Thomas decides to sign up as well, although he is only fourteen years old, to prove himself to his country, his family, his childhood love, Molly, and himself.
YA Spillebeen
Kipling’s Choice by Geert Spillebeen
In 1915, mortally wounded in Loos, France, eighteen-year-old John Kipling, son of writer Rudyard Kipling, remembers his boyhood and the events leading to what is to be his first and last World War I battle.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION 1929-1941
YA Choldenko
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
YA Hess
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
YA Kidd
Monkey Town: the Summer of the Scopes Trial by Ronald Kidd
When her father hatches a plan to bring publicity to their small Tennessee town by arresting a local high school teacher for teaching about evolution, the resulting 1925 Scopes trial prompts fifteen-year-old Frances to rethink many of her beliefs about religion and truth, as well as her relationship with her father.
YA Lisle
Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle
Years afterwards, Ruben Hart tells the story of how, in 1929 Newport, Rhode Island, his family and his best friend's family were caught up in the violent competition among groups trying to control the local rum-smuggling trade.
YA Peck
A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck
A boy recounts his annual summer trips to rural Illinois with his sister during the Great Depression to visit their larger-than-life grandmother.
YA Peck
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
During the recession of 1937, fifteen-year-old Mary Alice is sent to live with her feisty, larger-than-life grandmother in rural Illinois and comes to a better understanding of this fearsome woman.
YA Ritter
Choosing Up Sides by John Ritter
In 1921 thirteen-year-old Luke finds himself torn between accepting his left-handedness or conforming to the belief of his preacher-father that such a condition is evil and must be overcome.
YA Ryan
Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
WORLD WAR II 1939-1945
YA Avi
Don’t You Know There’s a War On? by Avi
In wartime Brooklyn in 1943, eleven-year-old Howie Crispers mounts a campaign to save his favorite teacher from being fired.
YA Bruchac
Code Talker: a Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
YA Hughes
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes
Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the Battle of the Bulge.
YA Hunter
The Girls They Left Behind by Bernice Thurman Hunter
Drawn from the author's memories of being a teenager in World War II, a novel of the life of a seventeen-year-old girl named Beryl tells of daily life in 1943 Toronto and the lonely world of the home front as the girls are left behind to do their part in the war effort and wait for the boy's return.
YA Kadohata
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a local Indian boy, and tries to hold on to her dream of owning a flower shop.
YA Kerr
Your Eyes in Stars: a Novel by M.E. Kerr
In their small New York town, two teenaged girls become friends while helping each other make sense of their families, neighbors, and selves as they approach adulthood in the years preceding World War II.
YA Kluger
The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger
After Jewish Joey Margolis's father leaves their Brooklyn home, Joey wants a father, and he begins writing New York Giants player Charlie Banks.
YA Mazer
A Boy at War (series) by Harry Mazer
While fishing with his friends off Honolulu on December 7, 1941, teenaged Adam is caught in the midst of the Japanese attack and through the chaos of the subsequent days tries to find his father, a naval officer who was serving on the U.S.S. Arizona when the bombs fell.
YA Salisbury
Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
WORLD WAR II & HOLOCAUST LITERATURE
(NOT SET IN AMERICA)
YA Chambers
Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers
Alternates between two stories--comtemporarily, seventeen-year-old Jacob visits a daunting Amsterdam at the request of his English grandmother--and historically, nineteen-year-old Geertrui relates her experience of British soldiers's attempts to liberate Holland from its German occupation.
YA Eliott
Under A War Torn Sky by Laura Elliot
After his plane is shot down by Hitler's Luftwaffe, nineteen-year-old Henry Forester of Richmond, Virginia, strives to walk across occupied France, with the help of the French Resistance, in hopes of rejoining his unit.
YA Friedman
Escaping into the Night by D. Dina Friedman
Thirteen-year-old Halina Rudowski narrowly escapes the Polish ghetto and flees to the forest, where she is taken in by an encampment of Jews trying to survive World War II.
YA Glatstein
Emil & Karl by Jacob Glatstein
In Vienna, Austria, in 1940, two nine-year-old boys, one Jewish and one Aryan, are classmates and best friends when events of the Nazi occupation draw them even closer together as they fight to survive and escape together.
YA Peet
Tamar by Mal Peet
In England in 1995, fifteen-year-old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.
YA Richter
Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter
A young German boy recounts the fate of his best friend, a Jew, during the Nazi regime.
YA Roy
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy
From 1939, when Syvia is four and a half years old, to 1945 when she has just turned ten, a Jewish girl and her family struggle to survive in Poland's Lodz ghetto during the Nazi occupation.
YA Spinelli
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
A street child, known to himself only as Stopthief, finds community when he is taken in by a band of orphans in Warsaw ghetto which helps him weather the horrors of the Nazi regime.
YA Wulffson
Soldier X by Don L. Wulffson
In 1943 sixteen-year-old Erik experiences the horrors of war when he is drafted into the German army and sent to fight on the Russian front.
POST WORLD WAR II
YA Cushman
The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
In 1949, thirteen-year-old Francine goes to Catholic school in Los Angeles where she becomes best friends with a girl who questions authority and is frequently punished by the nuns, causing Francine to question her own values.
YA Moranville
Over the River by Sharelle Byars Moranville
In 1947, after the war, Willa Mae's father returns to the Illinois town where she has lived with her maternal grandparents for the last five of her eleven years, and Willa Mae finds herself struggling to understand old family tensions and secrets.
YA Moses
The Legend of Buddy Bush (and sequel) by Shelia P Moses
In 1947, twelve-year-old Pattie Mae is sustained by her dreams of escaping Rich Square, North Carolina, and moving to Harlem when her Uncle Buddy is arrested for attempted rape of a white woman and her grandfather is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 1955-1968
YA Curtis
The Watsons Go To Birmingham –1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
YA Draper
Fire From the Rock by Sharon Draper
In 1957, Sylvia Patterson's life--that of a normal African American teenager--is disrupted by the impending integration of Little Rock's Central High when she is selected to be one of the first black students to attend the previously all white school. Includes author's note and related websites.
YA Houston
New Boy by Julian Houston
As a new sophomore at an exclusive boarding school, a young black man is witness to the persecution of another student with bad acne.
VIETNAM WAR 1959-1975
YA Holt
When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt
During the summer of 1971 in a small Texas town, thirteen-year-old Toby and his best friend Cal meet the star of a sideshow act, 600-pound Zachary, the fattest boy in the world.
YA Hughes
Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes
Recent high school graduate Rick Ward, undecided about his future and eager to escape his unhappy home life, joins the army and experiences the horrors of the war in Vietnam.
YA Kadohata
Cracker!: the best dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata
A young soldier in Vietnam bonds with his bomb-sniffing dog.
YA McDaniel
Garden of Angels by Lurlene McDaniel
In in Conners, Georgia, 1974, fourteen-year-old Darcy tries to deal with her mother's battle with breast cancer, as she also faces new feelings for an outcast senior at her school and learns that the war in Vietnam is more than a school project.
YA Myers
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
Seventeen-year-old Richie Perry, just out of his Harlem high school, enlists in the Army in the summer of 1967 and spends a devastating year on active duty in Vietnam.
YA Testa
Almost Forever by Maria Testa
A young girl describes what she, her brother, and their mother do during the year that her doctor father is serving in the Army in Vietnam.
|
