Historical Fiction Book Clubs

1. Historical Fiction Book Clubs

2. Riding Freedom Charlotte Parkhurst never acted like most other girls. She climbed trees and fought with the boys and worked in a stable. She had a way with horses that was like nothing folks had ever seen. In the mid-1800s, some people didn't think it was proper for a girl to behave like Charlotte, and they tried to stop her. But Charlotte was smart, and she came up with a plan that would let her live her life the way she wanted — a plan so clever and so secretive that almost no one figured it out.

3. One Crazy Summer Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past. When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

4. Crispin: The Cross of Lead In fourteenth-century England a nameless thirteen-year-old peasant boy, who thought he had little to lose, finds himself with even less. Accused of a crime he did not commit, he has been declared a "wolf's head," meaning that anyone can kill him on sight. "Asta's son" learns from the village priest that his Christian name is Crispin and that his parents' origins — and fates — might be more complex than he ever imagined. To remain alive the boy must flee his tiny village — the only world he's ever known — taking with him his mother's cross of lead. An action-packed narrative follows his frantic flight across 14th-century England.

5. Number the Stars Ten-year-old Annemarie and her best friend Ellen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943, and their life is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews are "relocated," Ellen moves in with Annemarie's family and pretends to be one of them, yet her life is still in danger.

6. The Witch of Blackbird Pond Kit Tyler is marked by suspicion and disapproval from the moment she arrives on the unfamiliar shores of colonial Connecticut in 1867. Alone and desperate, she has been forced to leave her beloved home on the island of Barbados and join a family she has never met. Torn between her quest for belonging and her desire to be true to herself, Kit struggles to survive in a hostile place. Just when it seems she must give up, she finds a kindred spirit. But Kit's friendship with Hannah Tupper, believed by the colonists to be a witch, proves more taboo than she could have imagined and ultimately forces Kit to choose between her heart and her duty.

7. Doomed Queen Anne Though born without great beauty, wealth, or title, Anne Boleyn blossomed into a captivating woman. She used her wiles to win the heart of England's most powerful man, King Henry VIII, and to persuade him to defy everyone--including his own wife--to make her his new queen. But Anne's ambition proved to be her fatal flaw.

8. The Liberation of Gabriel King Gabriel King was a born chicken. He's afraid of spiders, corpses, loose cows, and just about everything related to the fifth grade. Gabe's best friend, Frita Wilson, thinks Gabe needs some liberating from his fears. Frita knows something about being brave: She's the only black kid in school in a town with an active Ku Klux Klan. Together Gabe and Frita are going to spend the summer of 1976 facing down the fears on Gabe's list. But it turns out that Frita has her own list, and while she's helping Gabe confront his fears, she's avoiding the thing that scares her the most.

9. Catherine, Called Birdy The year is 1290 and Catherine's father wants to see his rebellious daughter married to a proper, wealthy gentleman, ignoring what Catherine desires. But Catherine is determined to outsmart her father and goes to great lengths, drooling in her food over dinner and coloring her teeth black, to disgust her suitors. Everything seems to be going well until the oldest, ugliest, and richest suitor comes to town. Her greedy father can hardly contain his excitement. Catherine wants nothing to do with this revolting man who wants to marry her. Is she destined to become trapped like a bird in a cage and marry this old man? Armed with only her sharp tongue and clever tricks, Catherine will do everything possible to save herself from such a horrible fate.

10. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry The land is all-important to the Logan family. But it takes awhile for Cassie and her three brothers to understand just how lucky they are to have it. They must learn the hard way that having a place they can call their own in rural Mississippi permits the Logans the luxuries of pride and courage that their poor black sharecropper neighbor can't afford. Having land gives the Logan children an emotional foundation as they begin to notice the difference between how white children and black children are treated in the Jim Crow South of the Great Depression. Like how textbooks are only issued to black children —after they've been thoroughly used by white children. And it takes injustices such as these, and a turbulent year of intense racial prejudice, of night riders and burnings, to show Cassie just how important owning their own land is.

11. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle Thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle is excited to return home from her school in England to her family in Rhode Island in the summer of 1832. But when the two families she was supposed to travel with mysteriously cancel their trips, Charlotte finds herself the lone passenger on a long sea voyage with a cruel captain and a mutinous crew. Worse yet, soon after stepping aboard the ship, she becomes enmeshed in a conflict between them! What begins as an eagerly anticipated ocean crossing turns into a harrowing journey, where Charlotte gains a villainous enemy . . . and is put on trial for murder! “Not every thirteen-year-old girl is accused of murder, brought to trial, and found guilty. But I was just such a girl, and my story is worth relating even if it did happen years ago. Be warned, however: If strong ideas and action offend you, read no more. Find another companion to share your idle hours. For my part I intend to tell the truth as I lived it.”

12. The Ravenmaster’s Secret 11-year-old Forrest lives at the Tower of London prison, where his father tends the Tower ravens and guards inmates. Forrest's only friends are his pet raven, his father's prisoners (who all end up dead), and Ned, the young rat catcher. Soon Forrest's father gets a new prisoner: Maddie, the beautiful daughter of a Scottish spy. Immediately Forrest and Maddie become friends. But when she is slated for execution, Forrest must make some painful choices: Should he commit treason to help her escape, or obey the law and let his innocent friend be hung?

13. Between Shades of Gray Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions. Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously — and at great risk — documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.

14. I Survived: The Shark Attacks of 1916 In the summer of 1916, ten year-old Chet Roscow is captivated by the local news: a Great White shark has been attacking and killing people up and down the Atlantic Coast, not far from Chet's hometown of Springfield, New Jersey. Then one day, swimming with his friends, Chet sees something in the water...

15. I Survived: The Battle of Gettysburg 1863 It's 1863, and Thomas and his father are slaves in South Carolina. But in the chaos of the Civil War, they manage to break free and head north. Through the Underground Railroad, they make their way to Pennsylvania. But they can't escape the war, and soon Thomas finds himself in the middle of a harrowing battle. He's come so far, but does he have what it takes to survive the Battle of Gettysburg?

16. I Survived: Hurricane Katrina 2005 The horror of Hurricane Katrina is brought vividly to life in this fictional account of a boy, a dog, and the storm of the century. Barry's family tries to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina hits their home in New Orleans. But when Barry's little sister gets terribly sick, they're forced to stay home and wait out the storm. At first, Katrina doesn't seem to be as bad as predicted. But overnight the levees break, and Barry's world is literally torn apart. He's swept away by the flood waters, away from his family. Can he survive the storm of the century — alone?

17. I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic 1912 Ten-year-old George Calder can't believe his luck: He and his little sister, Phoebe, are on the famous Titanic, crossing the ocean with their aunt Daisy. The ship is full of exciting places to explore, but when George ventures into the first class storage cabin, a terrible boom shakes the entire boat. Suddenly, water is everywhere, and George's life changes forever.

18. I Survived: The Bombing of Pearl Harbor 1941 Eleven-year-old Danny Crane is alone on his favorite beach in Hawaii when the world is torn apart and World War II officially hits the United States. Does he have what it takes to find his way home in the midst of the bombs, the smoke, and the destruction of the day that will live in infamy?

19. I Survived: The Attacks of Sept. 11th 2001 The only thing Lucas loves more than football is his Uncle Benny, his dad's best friend at the fire department where they both work. Benny taught Lucas everything about football. So when Lucas's parents decide the sport is too dangerous and he needs to quit, Lucas has to talk to his biggest fan. So the next morning, Lucas takes the train to the city instead of the bus to school. It's a bright, beautiful day in New York. But just as Lucas arrives at his uncle's firehouse, everything changes—and nothing will ever be the same again.

20. I Survived: The Japanese Tsunami 2011 Visiting his dad's hometown in Japan four months after his father's death would be hard enough for Ben. But one morning the pain turns to fear: first, a massive earthquake rocks the quiet coastal village, nearly toppling his uncle's house. Then the ocean waters rise and Ben and his family are swept away and pulled apart by a terrible tsunami. Now Ben is alone, stranded in a strange country a million miles from home. Can he fight hard enough to survive one of the most epic disasters of all time?