Reading List

Just for Teens: Historical Fiction Books

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Daniel Half Human

Fic Chotjewitz

Chotjewitz, David

In 1933, best friends Daniel and Armin admire Hitler, but as anti-Semitism buoys Hitler to power, Daniel learns he is half Jewish, threatening the friendship even as life in their beloved Hamburg, Germany, is becoming nightmarish. Also details Daniel and Armin's reunion in 1945 in interspersed chapters.

Blood Red Horse

Fic Grant, K. M.

Grant, K. M.

A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers and those around them as they fight with King Richard I against Saladin's armies during the Third Crusades. First book in a trilogy.

Boxer

FIC KARR, K.

Karr, Kathleen.

Having learned how to box while in prison, fifteen-year-old Johnny sets out to discover if he can make a decent living as a fighter in late nineteenth-century New York City.

Chains Seeds of America

YA FIC Anderson

Anderson, Laurie

After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.

March Toward the Thunder

YA FIC BRUCHAC, J.

Bruchac, Joseph

Louis Nollette, a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian, joins the Irish Brigade in 1864 to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Based on the author's great-grandfather.

I am Rembrandt's Daughter

YA FIC CULLEN, L

Cullen, Lynn

In Amsterdam in the mid-1600s, Cornelia's life as the illegitimate child of renowned painter Rembrandt is marked by plague, poverty, and despair at ever earning her father's love, until she sees hope for a better future in the eyes of a weathy suitor.

Voice of Her Own

YA FIC DANA, B.

Dana, Barbara.

A fictionalized first-person account of revered American poet Emily Dickinson's girlhood in mid-nineteenth-century Amherst, Massachusetts.

Fire from the Rock

YA FIC DRAPER, S

Draper, Sharon M.

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.

Gypsy Crown

YA FIC FORSYTH, K.

Forsyth, Kate

In Cromwell's England, gypsies Emilia Finch and her cousin Luka find themselves involved in a dangerous mission to gather the charms from five gypsy families and put an end to a curse put upon the gypsies many years before.

Samurai Shortstop

YA Fic Gratz

Gratz, Alan

While obtaining a Western education at a prestigious Japanese boarding school in 1890, sixteen-year-old Toyo also receives traditional samurai training which has profound effects on both his baseball game and his relationship with his father.

Leonardo's Shadow

YA FIC GREY, C.

Grey, Christopher Pe

Fifteen-year-old Giacomo--servant to Leonardo da Vinci--helps his procrastinating master finish painting "The Last Supper" while also trying to find clues to his parentage and pursue his own career as an artist in late fifteenth-century Milan.

Guardian

YA Fic Lester

Lester, Julius

In a rural southern town in 1946, a white man and his son witness the lynching of an innocent black man. Includes historical note on lynching.

When I Crossed No Bob

YA Fic McMullan

McMullan, Margaret

Ten years after the Civil War's end, twelve-year-old Addy, abandoned by her parents, is taken from the horrid town of No-Bob by schoolteacher Frank Russell and his bride, but when her father returns to claim her she must find another way to leave her O'Donnell past behind.

Hush

YA Fic Napoli, D.

Napoli, Donna Jo

Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.

Letter Writer

YA FIC RINALDI, A.

Rinaldi, Ann

A young girl who serves as letter writer for her blind stepmother is haunted by her unwitting role in Nat Turner's Rebellion, one of the bloodiest slave uprisings in the history of America.

Letter Writer

YA FIC RINALDI, A.

Rinaldi, Ann

Rinaldi depicts a time of slavery, revolution, and divided loyalties through the eyes of eleven-year-old Harriet. Two intertwined plots tell of the uprising led by Nat Turner and the family story of the Whiteheads

Shanghai Shadows

YA Fic Ruby

Ruby, Lois

From 1939 to 1945, a Jewish family struggles to survive in occupied China; young Ilse by remaining optimistic, her older brother by joining a resistance movement, her mother by maintaining connections to the past, and her father by playing the violin that had been his livelihood.

Parade of Shadows

YA FIC Whelan, G.

Whelan, Gloria

In 1907, sixteen-year-old Julia Hamilton, happy to accompany her diplomat father on a tour of the Ottoman-controlled cities of Istambul, Damascus, Palmyra, and Aleppo, soon finds the journey increasingly hazardous as she begins to uncover her father's true mission and the secret motivations of the other travelers in their group.

Just for Teens: Historical Fiction Books			Back to Booklist


	Daniel Half Human		Fic Chotjewitz
		Chotjewitz, David
		In 1933, best friends Daniel and Armin admire Hitler, but as anti-Semitism buoys Hitler to power, Daniel learns he is half Jewish, threatening the friendship even as life in their beloved Hamburg, Germany, is becoming nightmarish. Also details Daniel and Armin's reunion in 1945 in interspersed chapters.


	Blood Red Horse		Fic Grant, K. M.
		Grant, K. M.
		A special horse named Hosanna changes the lives of two English brothers and those around them as they fight with King Richard I against Saladin's armies during the Third Crusades. First book in a trilogy.


	Boxer		FIC KARR, K.
		Karr, Kathleen.
		Having learned how to box while in prison, fifteen-year-old Johnny sets out to discover if he can make a decent living as a fighter in late nineteenth-century New York City.


	Chains Seeds of America		YA FIC Anderson
		Anderson, Laurie
		After being sold to a cruel couple in New York City, a slave named Isabel spies for the rebels during the Revolutionary War.


	March Toward the Thunder		YA FIC BRUCHAC, J.
		Bruchac, Joseph
		Louis Nollette, a fifteen-year-old Abenaki Indian, joins the Irish Brigade in 1864 to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Based on the author's great-grandfather.


	I am Rembrandt's Daughter		YA FIC CULLEN, L
		Cullen, Lynn
		In Amsterdam in the mid-1600s, Cornelia's life as the illegitimate child of renowned painter Rembrandt is marked by plague, poverty, and despair at ever earning her father's love, until she sees hope for a better future in the eyes of a weathy suitor.


	Voice of Her Own		YA FIC DANA, B.
		Dana, Barbara.
		A fictionalized first-person account of revered American poet Emily Dickinson's girlhood in mid-nineteenth-century Amherst, Massachusetts.


	Fire from the Rock		YA FIC DRAPER, S
		Draper, Sharon M.
		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.


	Gypsy Crown		YA FIC FORSYTH, K.
		Forsyth, Kate
		In Cromwell's England, gypsies Emilia Finch and her cousin Luka find themselves involved in a dangerous mission to gather the charms from five gypsy families and put an end to a curse put upon the gypsies many years before.


	Samurai Shortstop		YA Fic Gratz
		Gratz, Alan
		While obtaining a Western education at a prestigious Japanese boarding school in 1890, sixteen-year-old Toyo also receives traditional samurai training which has profound effects on both his baseball game and his relationship with his father.


	Leonardo's Shadow		YA FIC GREY, C.
		Grey, Christopher Pe
		Fifteen-year-old Giacomo--servant to Leonardo da Vinci--helps his procrastinating master finish painting "The Last Supper" while also trying to find clues to his parentage and pursue his own career as an artist in late fifteenth-century Milan.


	Guardian		YA Fic Lester
		Lester, Julius
		In a rural southern town in 1946, a white man and his son witness the lynching of an innocent black man. Includes historical note on lynching.


	When I Crossed No Bob		YA Fic McMullan
		McMullan, Margaret
		Ten years after the Civil War's end, twelve-year-old Addy, abandoned by her parents, is taken from the horrid town of No-Bob by schoolteacher Frank Russell and his bride, but when her father returns to claim her she must find another way to leave her O'Donnell past behind.


	Hush		YA Fic Napoli, D.
		Napoli, Donna Jo
		Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.


	Letter Writer		YA FIC RINALDI, A.
		Rinaldi, Ann
		A young girl who serves as letter writer for her blind stepmother is haunted by her unwitting role in Nat Turner's Rebellion, one of the bloodiest slave uprisings in the history of America.


	Letter Writer		YA FIC RINALDI, A.
		Rinaldi, Ann
		Rinaldi depicts a time of slavery, revolution, and divided loyalties through the eyes of eleven-year-old Harriet. Two intertwined plots tell of the uprising led by Nat Turner and the family story of the Whiteheads


	Shanghai Shadows		YA Fic Ruby
		Ruby, Lois
		From 1939 to 1945, a Jewish family struggles to survive in occupied China; young Ilse by remaining optimistic, her older brother by joining a resistance movement, her mother by maintaining connections to the past, and her father by playing the violin that had been his livelihood.


	Parade of Shadows		YA FIC Whelan, G.
		Whelan, Gloria
		In 1907, sixteen-year-old Julia Hamilton, happy to accompany her diplomat father on a tour of the Ottoman-controlled cities of Istambul, Damascus, Palmyra, and Aleppo, soon finds the journey increasingly hazardous as she begins to uncover her father's true mission and the secret motivations of the other travelers in their group.