Category Archives: Historical

Hattie Big Sky

by Kirby Larson

Conditional Recommendation: 16-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels to Montana to try her hand at homesteading and prove up a claim of land so that she can have a place to call home.

Age: Young Adult
Series: Hattie, Book One
Pages: 283
Published: 2006
Genre: Historical Fiction

Awards: Newbery Medal (2007), Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (2008), Montana Book Award (2006), California Young Readers Medal for Middle School/Junior High (2009), Missouri Gateway Readers Award (2009)

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Mara, Daughter of the Nile

by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Conditional Recommendation: A slave girl yearning for freedom plays double spy for two contenders to the Egyptian throne and the political intrigue, clever plot, and sprinkling of romance will satisfy you all the way to the end.

Age: Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Pages: 279
Published: 1953

Genre: Historical

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond

by Elizabeth George Speare

Unconditional Recommendation: Katherine “Kit” Tyler must learn to live in a Puritan community with her relatives but befriends the Witch of Blackbird Pond and risks being persecuted as a witch herself.

Age: Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Pages: 256
Published: 1958
Genre: Historical

Awards: Newbery Medal (1959), Dorothy Canfeld Fisher Children’s Book Award (1960)

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Little House in the Big Woods (#1)

by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Unconditional Recommendation: Young Laura Ingalls and her family make a living working the land and hunting the woods in 1871 Wisconsin.

Age: Middle Grade
Series: Little House, Book One
Pages: 238
Published: 1932

Genre: Historical, Autobiographical Fiction

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Esperanza Rising

by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Unconditional Recommendation: When 13-year-old Esperanza moves from a ranch in Mexico to a farm labor camp in California, she learns to rise above her circumstances.

Age: Young Adult
Series: Stand Alone
Pages: 304
Published: 2002
Genre: Historical

Awards: Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Older Children (2001), California Young Readers Medal for Middle School/Junior High (2003), Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature (2001), Pura Belpré Award for Narrative (2002)

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Number the Stars

by Lois Lowry

Conditional Recommendation: In German-occupied Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns what it means to be brave as she helps her best friend Ellen escape from the Nazis.

Age: Middle Grade
Series: Stand Alone
Pages: 137
Published: 1989
Genre: Historical

Awards: Newbery Medal (1990), National Jewish Book Award for Children’s Literature (1990), Sydney Taylor Book Award for Older Readers (1989), Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Nominee (1990), Charlotte Award (1992), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award (1991), Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award (1992), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award (1992)

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Ishmael

by E.D.E.N. Southworth

Conditional Recommendation: Ishmael, though born motherless and impoverished, rises above his circumstances through humility, integrity and hard work.

Age: Young Adult
Series: Book 1 of 2
Pages: 528
Published: 1876

Genre: Historical

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The War That Saved My Life (#1)

The War That Saved My Lifeby Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Conditional Recommendation: From a cruel mother to a good home, this is a young girl’s journey to freedom, healing, and identity through the help and care of her guardian during WWII.

Age: Middle Grade
Series: The War that Saved my Life, Book One
Pages: 316
Published: 2015
Genre: Historical

Awards: Newbery Medal Nominee (2016), Schneider Family Book Award for Middle School (2016), Odyssey Award (2016), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (2017), Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature (2016), Bluestem Book Award Nominee (2017), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children’s (2015), Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award Nominee (2017)

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