My Account Wish List Shopping Cart Log In
Store Location

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.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
Subcategories by Grade
Subcategories
47 Items found Print
Filter
Active Filters: Action & Adventure Stories, 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Trade Paperback
Adara
by Beatrice Gormley
from Eerdmans
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.00 $5.00 (2 in stock)
American Twins of the Revolution
by Lucy Fitch Perkins
from Salem Ridge Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Barbary Jihad
Monroe Family Chronicles #4
by Douglas Wilson
from Veritas Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$15.00
Black Fox of Lorne
by Marguerite de Angeli
from Hillside Education
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Book of Boy
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, illustrated by Ian Schoenherr
Frist Paperback from Greenwillow Books
for 3rd-7th grade
2019 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99
Boy of Old Prague
by S. Ish-Kishor
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-5th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.99
Boy of the Pyramids
by Ruth Fosdick Jones
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.99
Breaking Stalin's Nose
by Eugene Yelchin
from Square Fish Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
2012 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99
Cry From Egypt
by Hope Auer
from Great Waters Press
for 4th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.50 (2 in stock)
Dark Canoe
by Scott O'Dell
Reprint from Sourcebooks
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Detectives in Togas
by Henry Winterfeld
from Harcourt
Humorous Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.99
Dutch Color
by Doug Jones
from Canon Press
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.00
El Guero
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
from Hampton-Brown
Historical Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Fear in the Forest
by Cateau de Leeuw
from Bethlehem Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Fiddler's Green
from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Flame Over Tara
by Madeleine Polland, illustrated by Omar Davis
from Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Give Me Liberty
by L. M. Elliott
from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
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 and Terrible Quest
by Margaret Lovett
from Avyx, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
I Am David
by Anne Holm
from Harcourt
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.99
In a Dark Wood
by Michael Cadnum
from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Incident at Hawk's Hill
by Allan W. Eckert
from Little, Brown & Company
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1972 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Jericho's Journey
by G. Clifton Wisler
from Puffin Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Letzenstein Chronicles
Letzenstein Chronicles
by Meriol Trevor
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 4th - 7th Grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Listening for Lions
by Gloria Whelan
from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.99 $3.50 (1 in stock)
Masada
by Gloria D. Miklowitz
from Eerdmans
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg
by Rodman Philbrick
from Scholastic Press
for 3rd-6th grade
2010 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Mystery of the Roman Ransom
by Henry Winterfeld
from Harcourt
Historical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Neeluk
by Frances Kittredge
from Alaska Northwest Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
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
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
Red Falcons of Tremoine
by Hendry Peart
from Bethlehem Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-7th
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$13.95
Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai
by Erik Christian Haugaard
Reprint from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
in Japan (Location: HISMC-JAP)
Sallie Fox
by Dorothy Kupcha Leland
1st edition from Tomato Enterprises
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$9.95
Son of Liberty
by Elizabeth Massie
1st edition
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Stealing Freedom
by Elisa Carbone
from Yearling
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Storm Warriors
by Elisa Carbone
from Yearling
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Susan Creek
Monroe Family Chronicles #2
by Doug Wilson
from Veritas Press
Nautical Fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$15.00
Swift Rivers
by Cornelia Meigs
from Walker and Company
Historical Fiction for 3rd-7th grade
1933 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Terrible Wave
by Marden Dahlstedt
from Richard R. Dahlstedt the Attic
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.00 (5 in stock)
Theras and His Town
by Caroline Dale Snedeker
from American Home-School Publishing
Action/Adventure for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.99
Tikta'Liktak
by James Houston
from Harcourt
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.00 (4 in stock)
Two Williams
Monroe Family Chronicles #3
by Doug Wilson
from Veritas Press
Nautical fiction for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$15.00
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
from Scholastic Press
for 2nd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.99
Warhorse
by Don Bolognese
from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.99
When the Dikes Broke
by Alta Halverson Seymour, illustrated by Al Schmidt
from Purple House Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.99
Winged Girl of Knossos
by Erick Berry
First Paul Dry Books from Paul Dry Books
for 4th-8th grade
1934 Newbery Honor Book
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$15.95
Sign Up!

Shop

Support

Hours & Directions

Learn more about our store location and hours

Connect

503.655.1951

hello@exodusbooks.com

19146 Molalla Ave,
Oregon City, OR 97045