Historical Fiction

The best way to learn history is not always in a textbook. (That's probably the worst way, really, but more on that elsewhere.) While learning history through novels can be taken too far (it is fiction after all), there's much to be said for getting a feel for the Civil War through books like The Red Badge of Courage or Across Five Aprils, or learning about the deep rifts between Saxons and Normans in Medieval England through Scott's Ivanhoe.

A well-researched historical novel imparts something no list of names and dates can—a picture of life among a particular people at a particular time, the way they thought, the way they ate, who they admired, how they traveled. Sometimes readers are introduced to real historical figures and events from an intimate perspective, not the stale cardboard presentations common in schools.

There's plenty of nonsense available, of course, and just because the cover says a book takes place in Renaissance Italy or ancient Egypt doesn't mean it's a good book, or even that it's historical fiction in the true sense. A writer who simply transposes stories on different time periods isn't really saying anything about that time period, they're just trying to inflate sales with an appeal to the exotic and unfamiliar.

Such bogus historical fiction is really just fantasy. The good stuff is real and bright and dusty and loud, just like an old Roman city or a battle between Roundheads and Cavaliers. It reflects the religious sentiments of the characters as they would have been, such as in Lilli Thal's brilliant Medieval epic Mimus. It shows how one small action can lead to many much larger events, as happens frequently in C.S. Forester's Hornblower series.

Whether you're into the technical descriptions of battles found in Henty's boy-versus-the-world stories, or prefer the romance of The Scarlet Pimpernel, or like to break your heart over and over with books like Amos Fortune, Free Man, historical fiction is above all fiction of the present—not to be kept in the annals of the past, it shows us that the people of long ago (or not so long ago) are not so different than the people of today.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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80 Items found Print
Active Filters: 18th Century America, 7th grade (Ages 12-13)
Amos Fortune, Free Man
by Elizabeth Yates, illustrated by Nora S. Unwin
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1951 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Battle for Quebec
North Star Books #38
by F. Van Wyck Mason, illustrated by Victor Mays
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Blue Birds
by Caroline Starr Rose
Dgs from Puffin Books
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Boy Sailor with John Paul Jones
by H. C. Thomas
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 5th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Calico Captive
by Elizabeth George Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
Calico Captive
by Elizabeth Speare
from Houghton Mifflin
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Captain of the Minute Men
Boys of Liberty Library
by Harrie Irving Hancock
from David McKay Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
by Jean Lee Latham, illustrated by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
from Houghton Mifflin
Biography for 5th-9th grade
1956 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Cromwell's Head
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz
from Grosset & Dunlap
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Daniel Boone, Wilderness Scout
by Stewart Edward White, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Garden City Books
Biography for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Dark Venture
by Audrey White Beyer, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Drums
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by James Boyd
1st edition from Atheneum
for 5th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Drums
by James Boyd
from Atheneum
for 5th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Early Thunder
by Jean Fritz
from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99
Faith and Freedom Trilogy
Faith and Freedom
by Douglas Bond
from P&R Publishing
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$33.97
Far Frontier
by William O. Steele; illustrated by Paul Galdone
from Harcourt
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fever 1793
by Laurie Halse Anderson
from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Fiddler's Green
from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Fiddler's Gun
by A. S. Peterson
1st edition from Rabbit Room Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Fighting Ground
by Avi
from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Give Me Liberty
by L. M. Elliott
from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Glorious Conspiracy
by Joanne Williamson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Grand Papa and Ellen Aroon
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
1st edition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Guns for General Washington
by Seymour Reit
from Harcourt
Historical fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Guns of Thunder
Faith and Freedom Trilogy #1
by Doug Bond
from P&R Publishing
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.99
In the Hands of the Senecas
by Walter D. Edmonds
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Indian Captive
by Lois Lenski
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-9th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $4.50 (2 in stock)
Jack Wade, Fighter for Liberty
A Doubleday Signal Book
by Irving Werstein, illustrated by Albert Orbaan
from Doubleday & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Treegate's Musket
Treegate Series Book 1
by Leonard Wibberly
from Bethlehem Books
Historical fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Johnny Tremain
Illustrated American Classics
by Esther Forbes
from Houghton Mifflin
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 3rd-10th grade
1944 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Johnny Tremain
by Esther Forbes
Reprint from Sandpiper Books
Historical Fiction/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
1944 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Journeyman
by Elizabeth Yates
from Bob Jones University Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Lafayette!
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #8
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Last Fort
Land of the Free Series
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Edward Shenton
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Madeleine Takes Command
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Ethel Brill
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Magnificent Mutineers
by Earl Schenck Miers, illustrated by W. T. Mars
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
Meggy MacIntosh
by Elizabeth Janet Gray, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli
from Viking Press
for 7th-10th grade
1931 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Morgan the Jersey Spy
Adventures in History Series
by James Otis
from A Beka Books
for 4th-8th grade
in A Beka Book Report books (Location: REA-ABK)
My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1975 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
My Brother Sam Is Dead
by James & Christopher Collier
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1975 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Ocean-Born Mary
by Lois Lenski
1st Edition Thus from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
One Dead Spy
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #1
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Peter Treegate's War
by Leonard Wibberley
from Bethlehem Books
for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Pocahontas
by Joseph Bruchac
from Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
Puritan Adventure
by Lois Lenski
from Lippincott
for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Reb and the Redcoats
Bethlehem Books Living History Library
by Constance Savery
from Bethlehem Books
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Roger the Ranger
by Eliza F. Pollard
from Inheritance Publications
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Rush Revere and the American Revolution
by Rush Limbaugh with Kathryn Adams Limbaugh
from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Rush Revere and the First Patriots
by Rush Limbaugh
1St Edition from Threshold Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sarah Bishop
by Scott O'Dell
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Fiction for 6th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Shadow of the North
by Joseph A. Altsheler
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Short Stories of G. A. Henty Volume One
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
South Fork Rangers
by Manly Wade Wellman
from Ives Washburn, Inc.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Squalls Before War
by Ned Bustard
from Veritas Press
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$15.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Stories of the Old Dominion
by John Esten Cooke
from American Foundation Publications
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Sword of the Wilderness
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Harve Stein
from Macmillan
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
That Lively Man, Ben Franklin
by Jeanette Eaton, illustrated by Henry Pitz
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Treegate's Raiders
Treegate Series Book 1
by Leonard Wibberly
from Bethlehem Books
Historical fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
True to the Old Flag
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
True to the Old Flag
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
True to the Old Flag
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
War Comes to Willy Freeman
by James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier
Reissue from Yearling
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Way of Eagles
by Clifford Lindsey Alderman
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord
We Were There #20
by Felix Sutton, illustrated by H. B. Vestal
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There at the Boston Tea Party
We Were There #3
by Robert N. Webb, illustrated by E. F. Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There at the Boston Tea Party
by Robert N. Webb
from Dover Publications
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
We Were There When Washington Won at Yorktown
We Were There #17
by Earl Schenck Miers, illustrated by Herman B. Vestal
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys
We Were There #10
by Robert N. Webb, illustrated by Robert Pious
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
White Seneca
by William W. Canfield
from Salem Ridge Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.50
Witch of Blackbird Pond
by Elizabeth George Speare
Reissue from Sandpiper Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1959 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
With Pipe, Paddle and Song
Bethlehem Books Young Adult Bookshelf
by Elizabeth Yates
2nd edition from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$35.00 $25.00 (1 in stock)
With Wolfe in Canada
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
With Wolfe in Canada
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
With Wolfe in Canada
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Woods Runner
by Gary Paulsen
from Ember
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Yankee Doodle Boy
by Joseph Martin
from Holiday House
Historical Non-Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$8.95 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Yankee Doodle Boy
by Joseph Martin
from Holiday House
Historical Non-Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in American Revolution (1765-1783) (Location: HISA-18REV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Year of the Hangman
by Gary Blackwood
from Speak
for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.50 (1 in stock)