Sunday, April 12, 2009

Recommended Historical Fiction

World History and stories that take place outside the U.S.

Pippi Longstocking series by Astrid Lindgren
crazy adventures of a red-haired girl in Sweden. Good fun for younger readers.

Royal Diaries by Scholastic

Girls of Many Lands by various authors (American Girl Publishing)

Young Royals by Carolyn Meyer

The Edge on the Sword and Far Traveler by Rebecca Tingle
based on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Plucky heroine who wishes to be a boy and makes her place in history

Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen and Robert Harris
YA novel. 11-year-old daughter of the newly crowned King of Scotland kidnapped, imprisoned and put on display in an English town square by angry rivals in 1306

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Witty fictional diary of the daughter of a minor English nobleman in 1290. Good for middle school and up.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
Spunky girl in medieval England apprentices herself to a midwife to rise out of the dung heaps. Good fun for middle school reading level and up.

Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
Not as witty or funny as her previous novels. Good story about a young noble woman who is apprentices to a bone setter in medieval England

Queen's Own Fool by Jane Yolen (Author), Robert Harris
A novel of Mary Queen of Scots

At the Sign of the Sugared Plum and Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper
Young adult novels set during the bubonic plague epidemic and Great Fire of London in the 17th century.

The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper
Young adult novel set in 17th century London about a girl who is cast out from her family and must make her own way in London.

At the Sign of the Star and A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant
Restoration London. Girl dreams of being a writer and taking over her father's business.

Betsy and the Emperor by Staton Rabin
Napoleon befriends a young girl during his exile in Elba.

The Braid by Helen Frost
Poetic young adult novel about life in Scotland and Nova Scotia in the 1850s.

Marie, Dancing by Carolyn Meyer
The story of Degas's statue of the little ballerina

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
YA novel set in early 20th century South Africa about a young woman who is determined not to leave the land she loves and find a way to improve the lives of her African friends.

Angel on the Square, The Impossible Journey, Burying the Sun, The Turning by Gloria Whelan
[20th c. Russian history from the Bolshevik revolution to the 1990s. For middle school reading level and up. Some intense situations

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Set during the Holocaust in Denmark and one of the only books my entire family enjoyed. This is standard curriculum fare for elementary schools but if you haven't read it already, I highly recommend doing so.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
tearjerker about a girl who suffers from the atom bomb sickness in Hiroshima and how she wished to fold a thousand paper cranes to make a get well wish.

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