Historical Fiction Younger Readers

Ages 6 - 9

P ADLER Adler, David. Mama Played Baseball: Young Amy helps her mother to get a job as a player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League while Amy's father is serving in the Army during World War II. P BATTLE Battle-Lavert, Gwendolyn. Papa’s Mark: After his son helps him learn to write his name, Samuel T. Blow goes to the courthouse in his Southern town to cast his ballot on the first Election Day ever on which African Americans were allowed to vote. E BURST Burst, Beth. The Great Tulip Trade: The tulip mania of the 1600s is a complicated topic, and yet the author has made it into a credible story – for beginning readers. An author's note explains the history on which the story is based when tulips became valued beyond reason, and how tulips plunged in worth, ruining investors. J CHEN Chen, Jiang Hong. Little Eagle: In fifteenth-century China, a young orphan boy becomes the apprentice to a kind sage who is gifted in eagle boxing, a specialized form of kung fu. (Also in older kids’ list, recommended ages 8-9) P COREY Corey, Shana. You forgot Your Skirt Amelia Bloomer: Amelia Bloomer, who does not behave the way nineteenth-century society tells her a proper lady should, introduces pantaloons to American women to save them from the discomfort of their heavy, tight dresses. J COREY Corey, Shana. Players in Pigtails: Katie Casey, a fictional character, helps start the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which gave women the opportunity to play professional baseball while America was involved in World War II. P COTTEN Cotten, Cynthia. Abbie in Stitches: Growing up in western New York State in the early 1800s, Abbie would much rather read than embroider a sampler, which her mother and teacher insist she do. But she works hard after thinking of just the right picture and saying to include. Contains facts about education in the early nineteenth century. J DEUTSCH Deutsch, Stacia. Lincoln’s Legacy: What if Abraham Lincoln had never freed the slaves? Third graders travel through time to keep history on track. (Blast to the Past series)

P EVANS Evans, Freddi Williams. Hush Harbor: Praying in Secret: While Simmy watches for danger from high in a tree, other slaves gather in a hidden spot in the woods to sing and pray together in their own way, risking their lives in pursuit of religious freedom. Includes historical facts about hush, or brush, arbors and the churches that grew from them. P FARMER Farmer, Nancy. Clever Ali: When seven-year-old Ali's greedy pet steals cherries from the wicked Sultan for whom his father keeps carrier pigeons, Ali is given three days to find 600 new cherries or his father will be thrown into the deep, dark oubliette. Includes facts about carrier pigeons and the sultan on whom this story is based, as well as an excerpt from "In Praise of Books" by al-Jahiz. P FLETCHE Fletcher, Susan. Dadblamed Union Army Cow: During the Civil War, a devoted cow follows her owner when he joins the Union Army and, despite all his efforts to send her home, stays with him and his regiment until the end of the war. Based on a true story. J GARLAND Garland, Sherry. The Buffalo Soldier: Realizing that his future lies in owning land, not just being free, a young man raised as a slave becomes a buffalo soldier--a member of an all-black cavalry regiment formed to protect white settlers from Indians, bandits, and outlaws, and that later fought in the Spanish American War. Includes historical notes (Ages 8-9, also in older kids’ list) P GERSTEIN Gerstei, Mordicai. Sparrow Jack: In 1868, John Bardsley, an immigrant from England, brought one thousand sparrows from his home country back to Philadelphia, where he hoped they would help save the trees from the inch-worms that were destroying them. Based on a true story. P HESSE Hesse, Karen. The Cats in Krasinski Square: Two Jewish sisters, escapees of the infamous Warsaw ghetto, devise a plan to thwart an attempt by the Gestapo to intercept food bound for starving people behind the dark Wall. P JOHNSON Johnson, Angela. A Sweet Smell of Roses: A stirring yet jubilant glimpse of the youth involvement that played an invaluable role in the Civil Rights movement. J917.3 KOEHLER Koehler-Pentacoff, Elizabeth. Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride: America's First Cross-Country Automobile Trip: An account of the first cross-country automobile trip in the United States made in 1903 by Dr. Horatio Jackson, mechanic Sewall J. Crocker, and bulldog Bud. P KRENSKY Krensky, Stephen. Sisters of Scituate Light: In 1814, when their father leaves them in charge of the Scituate lighthouse outside of Boston, two teenaged sisters devise a clever way to avert an attack by a British warship patrolling the Massachusetts coast. P LORENZ Lorenz, Albert. Journey to Cahokia: A Boy’s Visit to the Great Mound City: In ca. 1300, Little Hawk and his family take a trip to trade with the Indians of Cahokia, the great city along the Mississippi River. Picture book with interest for ages seven to eleven.

P MACKALL Mackall, Dandi Daley. A Girl Named Dan: Dandi enjoys nothing more than baseball, and so after the boys at school tell her their lunchtime game is now boys only, she enters an essay contest hoping to become a bat boy for the Kansas City A's, not realizing the contest is for boys only. Includes author's note on Title IX. P MCMANIS McManis, Margaret. The Wild Texas Stampede!: James Stephen Hogg, the nineteenth-century Texas governor and exotic animal collector, puts his daughter, Ima, in charge of her troublesome younger brother who likes to "bother the buffaloes, outrage the ostriches, and panic the pachyderms." P MESSING Messing, Carla. When the Shadbush Blooms: This unique book links the past and current generations of Lenape Indians, as seen from the eyes of a modern day Lenape girl. In contrasting pictures between the past and present, the girl notes that “my grandparents’ grandparents’ walked beside the same stream where I walk with my brother, and we can see what they saw.” Includes facts about Lenape Indians. P NOYES Noyes, Deborah. Red Butterfly How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk out of China: In long-ago China, as a young princess prepares to leave her parents' kingdom to travel to far-off Khotan where she is to marry the king, she decides to surreptitiously take with her a precious reminder of home. J OSBORNE Osborne, Mary Pope. Dragon of the Red Dawn: When Merlin is weighed down by sorrows, Jack and Annie travel back to feudal Japan to learn one of the four secrets of happiness. (Magic Treehouse series) P RANDALL Randall, Alison L. The Wheat Doll: On the nineteenth-century Utah frontier, Mary Ann is heartbroken when her doll Betty is lost during a fierce storm and her sadness lasts all winter long, until spring brings a wonderful surprise. P SHULEVI Shulevitz , Uri. How I Learned Geography: As he spends hours studying his father's world map, a young boy escapes the hunger and misery of refugee life. Based on the author's childhood in Kazakhstan, where he lived as a Polish refugee during World War II. Recommended ages 8-9, also in older kids’ list) J TINGE Tingle, Tim. Crossing Bok Chitto: In the 1800s, a Choctaw girl becomes friends with a slave boy from a plantation across the great river, and when she learns that his family is in trouble, she helps them cross to freedom. P WOODSON Woodson, Jacqueline. Show Way: The making of "Show ways," or quilts which once served as secret maps for freedom-seeking slaves, is a tradition passed from mother to daughter in the author's family. Picture book with interest for ages six through ten.