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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89 Items found Print
Active Filters: 20th Century America, 4th grade (Ages 9-10)
Anna's Fight for Hope
Sisters in Time
by JoAnn A. Grote
from Barbour Publishing
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in Sisters in Time (Location: SER-SIS)
Art of Keeping Cool
by Janet Taylor Lisle
from Scholastic Inc.
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2001 Scott O'Dell Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Bat 6
by Virginia Euwer Wolff
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Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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Boris
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$11.95
Brother's Keeper
by Julie Lee
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Child Star
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Come on Seabiscuit
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Coming Evil
by Vivian Vande Velde
from Sandpiper Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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Daniel's Story
by Carol Matas
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Don't You Know There's a War On?
by Avi
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$7.99
Echo Mountain
by Lauren Wolk
from Dutton Children's Books
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Echoes of the White Giraffe
by Sook Nyul Choi
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Elephant Run
by Roland Smith
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$6.99
Escape From Warsaw
by Ian Serraillier, illustrated by Irwin Hoffman
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Munoz Ryan
from Scholastic Inc.
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$7.99
Eyes of the Emperor
by Graham Salisbury
from Laurel-Leaf Books
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Eyes of the Emperor
by Graham Salisbury
from Ember
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Fortunate Grandchild
by Miss Read
1st US Edition
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Glory Be
by Augusta Scattergood
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$6.99
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
Great Wheel
by Robert Lawson
from Walker and Company
Realistic fiction for 4th-8th grade
1958 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
Green Glass Sea
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Grim Reaper
Shadow Series #3
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$10.95
Hero Over Here
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 2nd-5th grade
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$4.00 (2 in stock)
Hideout in the Swamp
Shadow Series #2
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$10.95
Hiroshima
by Laurence Yep
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
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House on Walenska Street
by Charlotte Herman
from Avyx, Inc.
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
I Am David
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
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$7.99
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Inside Out & Back Again
by Thanhha Lai
Reprint from HarperCollins
Narrative Poetry / Novel-In-Verse for 4th-8th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
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It Began with a Parachute
by William Rang
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
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$9.95
Jazz Man
by Mary Hays Weik
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Journey Home
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$7.99
Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Heyday Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Journey to Topaz
by Yoshiko Uchida
from Heyday Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$12.00
Kirsten's Cook Book
American Girl
by Jodi Evert
from Scholastic Inc.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Cooking for Kids (Location: COOK-KID)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Land I Lost
by Quang Nhuong Huynh
from HarperTrophy
Memoir for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99
Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt
by C. Coco De Young
from Yearling
Historical fiction for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.99
Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
from Puffin Books
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Letters from Rifka
by Karen Hesse
from Square Fish Publishing
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-6th grade
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Lily's Crossing
by Patricia Reilly Giff
from Yearling
for 4th-6th grade
1997 Newbery Honor Book
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$7.99
Little Riders
by Margaretha Shemin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
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$8.99
Lonely Sentinel
Shadow Series #1
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.95
Long Way to a New Land
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
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$4.99 $2.50 (3 in stock)
Macaroni Boy
by Katherine Ayres
Reprint from Yearling
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Mieko and the Fifth Treasure
by Eleanor Coerr
from Puffin Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.99
North of Danger
by Dale Fife, map and decorations by Haakon Saether
1st edition from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
North to Freedom
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
North to Freedom
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Nothing to Fear
by Jackie French Koller
from Harcourt
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00
On the Edge of the Fjord
by Alta Halverson Seymour
from Bethlehem Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
On the Wings of Heroes
by Richard Peck
from Puffin Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
One Crazy Summer
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
2011 Newbery Honor Book, National Book Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
One Crazy Summer Trilogy
by Rita Williams-Garcia
from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.77
P.S. Be Eleven
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Reprint from Amistad Press
for 4th-7th grade
Coretta Scott King Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Parallel Journeys
by Eleanor Ayers, Helen Waterford, & Alfons Heck
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Historical Non-Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Partisans
Shadow Series #4
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Pearl Harbor is Burning!
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Penny for a Hundred
by Ethel Pochocki
from Bethlehem Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.95
Place to Hang the Moon
by Kate Albus
from Margaret Ferguson Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
Quake!
by Gail Karwoski
from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Raid of No Return
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #7
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Rose's Journal
by Marissa Moss
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Sabotage
Shadow Series #5
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.95
Shadow Series
by Piet Prins
from Inheritance Publications
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Silence Over Dunkerque
by John R. Tunis
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Silver Sword
by Ian Serraillier, illustrated by C. Walter Hodges
from Criterion Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Skylarks' War
by Hilary McKay
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Snow Treasure
by Marie McSwigan
from Dutton Children's Books
Historical Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Snowshoe Thompson
An I Can Read Book Level 3
by Nancy Smiler Levinson & Joan Sandin
from HarperCollins
Historical Fiction for 2nd-4th grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$4.99
So Far From the Bamboo Grove
by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
from Beech Tree Books
Historical fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$5.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
So Far from the Sea
by Eve Bunting
from Clarion Books
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Soldier Bear
by Bibi Dumon Tak, translated by Philip Hopman and translated by Laura Watkinson
from Eerdmans
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Spy Who Came in from the Sea
by Peggy Nolan
from Pineapple Press
Adventure Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Stink Alley
by Jamie Gilson
from HarperCollins
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Tangled Skein
by Alta Halverson Seymour, illustrated by Harold Minton
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$11.99
Traitor Among Us
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
from Eerdmans
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #4
by Nathan Hale
from Amulet Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Comic Books & Graphic Novels (Location: FIC-COMIC)
$14.99
Twenty and Ten
by Claire Huchet Bishop
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Upstairs Room
by Johanna Reiss
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
1973 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
from Scholastic Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.99
War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
2017 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.99
War That Saved My Life
by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Reprint from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
2017 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis
from Yearling
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
by Judith Kerr
from Puffin Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
When the Cherry Blossoms Fell
by Jennifer Maruno
from Napoleon Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Winnie's Great War
by Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Winnie's Great War
by Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
Year of Impossible Goodbyes
by Sook Nyul Choi
from Yearling
for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99