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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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43 Items found Print
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Active Filters: North America, 7th grade (Ages 12-13)
Attack in the Rye Grass
Trailblazer Series
by Dave and Neta Jackson
from Bethany House
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
Attack in the Rye Grass
Trailblazer Series
by Dave and Neta Jackson
from Castle Rock Creative
for 3rd-7th grade
in Trailblazer Books (Location: SER-TRAIL)
$8.99
Bad News for Outlaws
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
from Carolrhoda Books, Inc.
for 5th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Battle of Seattle
by Douglas Bond
from P&R Publishing
for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
Blades of Freedom
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #10
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$15.99
Blood on the River: James Town, 1607
by Elisa Carbone
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Bound for Oregon
by Jean Van Leeuwen
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Corona Publishing Co.
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Boy in the Alamo
by Margaret Cousins
from Veritas Press
Historical fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.00
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Preston Speed
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Captain Bayley's Heir
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
Historical Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
Caravan to Oregon
by Herbert E. Arntson
from Binford & Mort Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Countdown
by Deborah Wiles
1st edition from Scholastic Press
for 6th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Desert Harvest
Land of the Free Series
by Vanya Oakes, illustrated by Isami Kashiwagi
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Fifer of San Jacinto
by Lee McGiffin, illustrated by Frank Nicholas
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Gone Crazy in Alabama
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Hill of the Hawk
by Scott O'Dell
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fictio for 5th-8th grade
1961 Newbery Medal Winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Island of the Blue Dolphins
by Scott O'Dell
Anv from Sandpiper Books
Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
1961 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $5.00 (2 in stock)
Me, Cholay & Co.
by Don Schellie
from Four Winds Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Nacar the White Deer
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño, illustrated by Enrico Arno
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Oak's Long Shadow
by Olive W. Burt, illustrated by Frederick T. Chapman
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
On to Oregon!
by Honore Morrow
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
On to Oregon!
by Honore Morrow
1946 Edition from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Patty Reed's Doll
by Rachel K. Laurgaard
from Tomato Enterprises
Historical fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.00 (3 in stock)
Rainbow's Gold
by Vera Martin Lynch
from William W. Lynch
for 6th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.50 (1 in stock)
Seek the Dark Gold
Land of the Free series
by Jo Evalin Lundy, illustrated by Edward Shenton
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Stout-Hearted Seven
Sterling Point
by Neta Lohnes Frazier
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Non-fiction/Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Oregon Trail (Location: HISA-19OR)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
This Dear-Bought Land
by Jean Lee Latham
from Bob Jones University Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
This Dear-Bought Land
by Jean Lee Latham
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$56.00 (1 in stock)
Tidewater Valley
Land of the Free Series
by Jo Evalin Lundy, illustrated by Margaret Ayer
1st edition from John C. Winston
Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
We Were There at the Battle of the Alamo
We Were There #18
by Margaret Cousins, illustrated by Nicholas Eggenhofer
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run
We Were There #12
by Jim Kjelgaard, illustrated by Chris A. Kenyon
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
We Were There on the Oregon Trail
by William O. Steele
from American Home-School Publishing
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
We Were There on the Oregon Trail
We Were There #1
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Jo Polseno
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There with Lewis & Clark
by James Munves
from American Home-School Publishing
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
We Were There with the California Forty-Niners
We Were There #9
by Stephen Holt, illustrated by Raymond Lufkin
from Grosset & Dunlap
Historical Fiction for 5th-9th grade
in We Were There Series (Location: VIN-HIS)
We Were There with The Pony Express
by William O. Steele
from American Home-School Publishing
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
West to Danger
by Isabelle Lawrence
from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
When the Cherry Blossoms Fell
by Jennifer Maruno
from Napoleon Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Zia
by Scott O'Dell
from HMH Books for Young Readers
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
Zia
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
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