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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105 Items found Print
Active Filters: 3rd grade (Ages 8-9), Hardcover
Adventures of Tim
by Edward Ardizzone
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Alamo All Stars
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6
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Amelia & Eleanor Go For a Ride
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Aquila's Drinking Gourd
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Bay of the North
by Ronald Syme
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Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin
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Brother Hugo and the Bear
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$15.29
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Little House Series #5
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by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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Casting the Gods Adrift
by Geraldine McCaughrean
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Children of Summer
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Conquista!
by Clyde Robert Bulla, Michael Syson
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Coonskin for a General
by Alma B, Weber, et al., illustrated by Kurt Werth
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Cornstalks and Cannonballs
by Barbara Mitchell
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Courage of Sarah Noble
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Dan Morgan, Rifleman
by Ernest E. Tucker
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Doctor Dolittle Complete Collection
by Hugh Lofting
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ECL: Virginian
Educator Classic Library #6
by Owen Wister, illustrated by Don Irwin
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
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Elin's Amerika
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Escape Across the Wide Sea
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Little House Series #3
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First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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First Four Years (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
from Harper & Row
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Flaming Arrows
by William O. Steele, Illustrated by Paul Galdone
1st edition from Harcourt
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Florentine Giraffe
by Willoughby Patton, illustrated by William M. Hutchinson
from David McKay Company
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Giant
by Judith McQuoid
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Going West
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Thomas Allen
from Dial Books for Young Readers
Historical fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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Grandfather's Dance
by Patricia MacLachlan
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Green Mountain Toy Makers
by Charles Morrow Wilson
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House on Stink Alley
by F. N. Monjo
First Edition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
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I Sailed with Columbus
by Susan Martin
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John Billington, Friend of Squanto
by Clyde Robert Bulla
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Kirsten and the New Girl
American Girls Short Stories
by Janet Shaw
First Edition, First Printing from American Girl
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Lincoln's Little Correspondent
by Hertha Pauli, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Doubleday & Company
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Little House Series #1
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams
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Little House Series #2
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House on the Prairie - 75th Anniversary Edition
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Little House Series #7
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder; illustrated by Garth Williams
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1942 Newbery Honor Book
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Long Winter
Little House Series #6
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
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1941 Newbery Honor Book
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$18.69
Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Garth Williams
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by Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Lost Queen of Egypt
by Lucile Morrison, illustrated by Franz Geritz
from Purple House Press
Historical Fiction for 3rd-10th grade
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Maid of Artemis
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by Bea Holmes
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Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Manjiro
by Emily Arnold McCully
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Medieval Feast
by Aliki
from HarperCollins
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Mighty Mastiff of the Mayflower
by Peter Arenstam, illustrated by Karen Busch Holman
from History Press
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My Brothers' Flying Machine
by Jane Yolen
from Little, Brown & Company
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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$3.20 (1 in stock)
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
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$17.00
Namesake for Nathan
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Eros Keith
from Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, Inc.
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North of Danger
by Dale Fife, map and decorations by Haakon Saether
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Not Regina
by Christmas Carol Kauffman
Fourth Printing from Pathway Publishers
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Nothing But the Truth
by Avi
from Orchard Books
for 3rd-6th grade
1992 Newbery Honor Book
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$5.60 (1 in stock)
Old Silver Leg Takes Over
by Robert Quackenbush
from Prentice Hall
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On the Banks of Plum Creek
Little House Series #4
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-6th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
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$16.14
On the Banks of Plum Creek (Pictorial Cover)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from Harper & Row
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On to Oregon!
by Honore Morrow
1946 Edition from William Morrow & Company
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One Dead Spy
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #1
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
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$13.59
Patriots' Gold
by Virginia Frances Voight, illustrated by H. Tom Hall
from Macrae-Smith Company
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Pearl Harbor is Burning!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
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Phoebe and the General
by Judith Berry Griffin
from Weekly Reader
Historical Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Place to Hang the Moon
by Kate Albus
from Margaret Ferguson Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14
Poland's Noble Son
by Daughters of St. Paul & Maxine Mayer, illustrated by Maxine Mayer
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Prince and the Pauper / Wizard of Oz
by Mark Twain, L. Frank Baum
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Puritan Adventure
by Lois Lenski
from Lippincott
for 3rd-7th grade
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Rodzina
by Karen Cushman
from Clarion Books
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$6.40 (1 in stock)
Roman Diary
by Richard Platt
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
Roman Diary
by Richard Platt
from Candlewick Press
for 2nd-5th grade
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$7.99
Samantha's Surprise #03
American Girl
by Susan S. Adler
from American Girl
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Show Way
by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott
First Ed from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 1st-4th grade
2006 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.14
Siege!
by Wilma Pitchford Hays, illustrated by Peter Cox
from Coward McCann
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Slater's Mill
by F. N. Monjo, illustrated by Laszlo Kubinyi
from Simon and Schuster
for 2nd-4th grade
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Soldier for the King
by J. C. Long, illustrated by Frank Nofer
from John C. Winston
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Spy Who Came in from the Sea
by Peggy Nolan
from Pineapple Press
Adventure Stories for 2nd-6th grade
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$12.71
Spy!
by Anna Myers
from Walker and Company
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$4.80 (1 in stock)
Stink Alley
by Jamie Gilson
from HarperCollins
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Story of Doctor Dolittle
by Hugh Lofting
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-4th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$7.61
Thanksgiving Story
by Alice Dalgliesh, illustrated by Helen Sewell
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Historical Fiction for 1st-3rd grade
1955 Caldecott Honor Book
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
That Book Woman
by Heather Henson
from Atheneum
for 3rd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
The Turning
by Gloria Whelan
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.69
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Library edition from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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)
Three Names
by Patricia MacLachlan, illustrated by Alexander Pertzoff
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Thy Friend, Obadiah (hardcover)
by Brinton Turkle
from Beautiful Feet Books
Realistic Animal Stories for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1970 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.71
Tim All Alone
by Edward Ardizzone
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for 1st-4th grade
1956 Kate Greenaway Medal
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Tim's Friend Towser
by Edward Ardizzone
1st edition from HarperCollins
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Trail Through Danger
by William O. Steele, illustrated by Charles Beck
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #4
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
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$13.59
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
from Orchard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Underground Abductor
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #5
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
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$13.59
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