AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION FOR TEENS

Reserve a title using our online catalog!

17th Century:

Pocahontas
Joseph Bruchac (YA BRUCHAC) 173p MS/HS
“Although I have only seen the leaves return eleven times, I have already asked more questions than most people do in a whole lifetime.”

Beyond the Burning Time
Kathryn Lasky (YA LASKY) 272p MS/HS
A time of lies. And witches. And death….

Witch Child
Celia Rees (YA REES) 261p MS/HS
How long can Mary hide her true nature from the Puritans?

American Revolution (18th Century):

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
M.T. Anderson (YA ANDERSON) 368p HS
For Octavian, a life of luxury has quite a price….

My Brother Sam is Dead
James L. Collier (YA COLLIER) 216p MS/HS
With his dad & brother on opposite sides of the war, Tim has to choose between them….

Just Jane
William Lavender (YA LAVENDER) 277p MS/HS
Is the freedom of your country worth destroying your family?

A Ride Into Morning: The Story of Tempe Wick
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 289p MS/HS
Mutiny is in the air. Will Tempe join the revolt?

The Secret of Sarah Revere
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 320p MS/HS
Everyone in Sarah’s family has secrets...including her. And it’s tearing her apart!

18th Century:

Fever, 1793
Laurie Halse Anderson (YA ANDERSON) 251p MS/HS
When Fever comes, Mattie is trapped in a living nightmare.

The Ransom of Mercy Carter
Carolyn Cooney (YA COONEY) 249p MS/HS
Stolen from her family, Mercy only wants to return. Until she learns more about the Indians who captured her.

Copper Sun
Sharon Draper (YA DRAPER) 302p HS
Amari is kidnapped. Enslaved. Now she must escape to survive.

The Fifth of March: A Story of the Boston Massacre
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 335p MS/HS
Rachel finds herself caught been friendship and loyalty.

19th Century:

Sacagawea
Joseph Bruchac (YA BRUCHAC) 199p MS/HS
History—and Bird Woman’s life—is changed forever when she encounters Lewis & Clark.

Jason’s Gold
Will Hobbs (YA HOBBS) 221p MS/HS
Find his brothers. Strike it rich. Seems easy to Jason. And then winter comes.

Boston Jane series
Jennifer L. Holm (YA HOLM) 273p MS/HS
Life on the frontier turns a lady into a woman!

Scrib
David Ives (YA IVES) 188p MS/HS
Who knew writing & delivering letters could get you jailed, hooked up with bad folk & nearly killed

Letters From a Slave Girl
Mary Lyons (YA LYONS) 146p MS/HS
Harriet has one hope: freedom. Will she get it?

Beloved
Toni Morrison (FIC MORRISON) 275p HS
A dead child. A runaway slave. A terrible secret.

Mine Eyes Have Seen
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 273p MS/HS
If your father’s trying to free slaves, should you be
proud of him? What if he uses violence?

Civil War era (19th Century):

With Every Drop of Blood
James L. Collier (YA COLLIER) 235p MS/HS
What would cause you to risk your life for your enemy?

Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier (FIC FRAZIER) 356p HS
Wounded & a deserter, Inman walks 300 miles in the hope
of finding home & the woman he loves.

Day of Tears
Julis Lester (YA LESTER) 176p MS/HS
During the biggest slave auction in American history, families are torn apart, character is tested, greed rules & souls are lost.

Assassin
Anna Myers (YA MYERS) 212p MS/HS
What makes good people do bad things...like help assassinate the President of the United States?

Soldier’s Heart
Gary Paulsen (YA PAULSEN) 106p MS/HS
Charley thinks that war seems like an excellent adventure…until the battles begin.

The River Between Us
Richard Peck (YA PECK) 164p MS/HS
Who are the 2 strange young women Tilly’s mother takes in? Slaves? Spies? Traitors?

Girl in Blue
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 310p MS/HS
Sarah becomes soldier & spy to escape an abusive home.

In My Father’s House
Ann Rinaldi (YA RINALDI) 323p MS/HS
Oscie’s a proud daughter of the Old South, but things are about to change...right on her doorstep.

The Killer Angels
Jeff Shaara (FIC SHAARA) 374p HS
Gettysburg. 2 armies fight for 2 dreams: freedom, and a way of life.

Early 20th Century:

Ashes of Roses
Mary Jane Auch (YA AUCH) 250p MS/HS
Margaret arrives in America from Ireland...just in time for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The Brides of Eden
Linda Crew (YA CREW) – Oregon! 223p HS
Corvallis is a sleepy, ordinary town in 1903.Then Joshua arrives, and nothing will ever be the same again.

A Northern Light
Jennifer Donnelly (YA DONNELLY) 389p HS
Can a dead woman’s letters help Mattie find her voice…and her destiny?

Shackleton’s Stowaway
Victoria McKernan (YA MCKERNAN) 317p MS/HS
Perce stowed away on a ship. Cool! But it gets stranded in the Antarctic where few survive. Doh!

The Teacher’s Funeral
Richard Peck (YA PECK) 190p MS/HS
“If your teacher has to die, August isn’t a bad time of year for it.”

Depression & 1930s :

Your Eyes in Stars
M.E. Kerr (YA KERR) 229p MS/HS
Can you every really know someone? Jessie gets to find out.

A Year Down Yonder
Richard Peck (YA PECK) 130p MS/HS
Mary Alice has been sentenced to live with Grandma. For a year!

Her Father’s Daughter
Molly Poupeney (YA POUPENEY) – Oregon! 245p MS/HS
Life in Oregon’s logging country isn’t easy. Especially when your father’s a mean drunk.

Esperanza Rising
Pam Munoz Ryan (YA RYAN) 262p MS/HS
One day: a fairy tale life. The next: poor & homeless.

The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck (YA STEINBECK) 455p HS
There’s nothing for the Joads in Oklahoma, so they must try to find a life in California.

1940s & World War II :

Code Talker
Joseph Bruchac (YA BRUCHAC) 240p MS/HS
The Native language Ned is forbidden to speak at school helps win the war & make him a hero.

Shadows on the Sea
Joan Harlow (YA HARLOW) 244p MS/HS
It seems like everyone in town has something to hide..including Jill’s grandmother & a wounded pigeon!”

Catch-22
Joseph Heller (YA HELLER) 443p HS
“It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead.”

Soldier Boys
Daniel Hughes (YA HUGHES) 162p MS/HS
Two boys on opposite sides, with the same thing to prove.

Slap Your Sides
M.E. Kerr (YA KERR) 198p MS/HS
Jubal’s brother’s a conscientious objector. Is he a hero or a coward?

A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
Harry Mazer (YA MAZER) 104p MS/HS
“He saw everything through a red haze. He slipped in blood.”

When the Emperor Was Divine
Julie Otsuka (YA OTSUKA) 141p HS
They’re just neighbors. Until the war. Then they’re enemies.

The Gadget
Paul Zindel (YA ZINDEL) 184p MS/HS
Stephen's dad is doing secret work which will alter the fate of the world, and Stephen stumbles right into the middle of it.

1950s:

Mississippi Trial, 1955
Chris Crowe (YA CROWE) 231p MS/HS
Emmett, 14, whistles at a white woman & is murdered for it. Will justice be served?

Kira-kira
Cynthia Kadohata (YA KADOHATA) 256p MS/HS
The Deep South is nothing like their Japanese neighborhood!

1960s:

The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963
Christopher Paul Curtis (YA CURTIS) 210 MS/HS
“And you wonder why we get called the Weird Watsons?”

A Summer of Kings
Han Nolan (YA NOLAN) 334p HS
I’m already partly in love with a murderer & I haven’t met him yet.

Vietnam War era (60s-70s):

The Life History of a Star
Kelly Easton (YA EASTON) 200p HS
How can Kristin think about growing up when her brother’s life — and body — have been destroyed?

Search & Destroy
Dean Hughes (YA HUGHES) 216p MS/HS
Rick wants to go to war. To be a man. But war’s a lot different than anything he could have imagined.

Fallen Angels
Walter Dean Myers (YA MYERS) 209p HS
5 boys in Vietnam. All came for different reasons. All have one goal: get out alive.

The Things They Carried
Tim O’Brien (YA O’Brien) 273p HS
Now: they carry each other. At home: they’ll carry the nightmare of what they’ve seen. What they’ve done.

MS = Most appropriate for middle schoolers
MS/HS = Most appropriate for middle/high schoolers
HS = Most appropriate for high schoolers

Back to Top