Resources for Living History through Historical Fiction

I wanted to provide a guide to some resources that would help a librarian select Historical fiction for home schoolers. The idea of learning about history by using historical fiction is called living books and it was first supported by Charlotte Mason, a educator who’s schooling methods has been adopted by many home schoolers. Charlotte Mason wrote below are some other resources that can help a librarian or homeschooling parent select historical fiction for lesson plans.

Charlotte Mason’s guide to learning through living books is outlined in the book The Charlotte Mason Companion, Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola.
and listed below are some other resource books that can be helpful when selecting historical fiction.

• Historical Fiction for Children: Capturing the Past edited by Fiona M. Collinsand Judith Graham
• Historical Fiction For Young Readers ( Grades 4-8) An Introduction by John T. Gillespie
• Around the World with Historical Fiction and Folktales: Highly Recommended and Award-Winning Books, Grades K-8 byBeth Bartleson Zarian

• Literature Connections to World History K6: Resources to Enhance and Entice by Lynda G. Adamson

• Junior Genreflecting: A Guide to Good Reads and Series Fiction for Children by Bridget Dealy Volz ,, Cheryl Perkins Scheer, and Lynda Blackburn Welborn


And here are some links to online book lists of Children’s historical fiction
http://librarybooklists.org/fiction/children/jhistorical.htm
http://bookgirl3.tripod.com/historicalfiction.html

Travel Through History

There are quite a few books that involve the main characters time traveling to different periods in history. This is a fun twist on historical fiction. The books tend to vary in their level of historical accuracy but they can be a great way to show kids that history can be fun. Homeschoolers may want to use them as supplemental reading.


Early Readers

Many of the early reader books that belong to this subgenre are series book, here are some examples.

The Secret in the Tower (Time Spies Series Book 1)
Candice Ransom

From the Product Description
First in an exciting all-new series for children, complete with time travel, adventure, and American history!

In this brand-new series by acclaimed author Candice Ransom, three children meet unsung heroes who shaped America’s history. Follow the children as they hop in and out of various eras, learning important life lessons along the way. Children will enjoy the fun, easy-to-read style, and librarians, educators and parents will appreciate the learning their young readers pick up along the way. Each book ends with a fun, do-it-yourself craft project that encourages readers to delve deeper into the subject of the story.

Lincoln’s Legacy (Blast from the Past series #1)
Stacia Deutsch , Rhody Cohon , and David Wenzel

From the Product Description
Third graders travel through time to keep history on track!
Abigail loves Mondays, and so does the rest of class 305. That’s the day Mr. Caruthers asks them cool questions about history. Today Mr. C asks, "What if Abraham Lincoln never freed the slaves?" Abigail and her friends are ready to put their thinking caps on. But this time Mr. C wants them to do more than put their heads together - he wants them to travel back in time!
Turns out the "What If?" questions are real, and Mr. C has just come back from a visit to the past. He needs their help because it looks like President Lincoln might quit and never free the slaves! With a time-travel gadget and only two hours to spare, Abigail and her friends are going back to the past. But even though time traveling isn’t hard, convincing Abraham Lincoln not to give up isn’t going to be easy....
The Knight of the Kitchen Table (Time Warp Trio series #1)
Jon Scieszka , and Lane Smith
From the Product Description
Joe's been caught up in a book before, but this is ridiculous! Joe's Book, a gift from his magician uncle, doesn't just tell stories; it zaps Joe and his friends Sam and Fred right into the middle of them. And when these thoroughly modern kids meet King Arthur and become Knights of the Round Table, the result can only be thoroughly amusing mayhem. (This series is more focused on the fantasy and adventure then history, but it looks fun.)



And of course this list would not be complete without mentioning The Magic Tree House Series by Marty Pope Osborne. This lengthy series begins with focus on fantasy and then moves on to historical eras. It is very popular and a good choice for early readers.



Chapter Books


Time Travelers Journal
Ed Masessa and Dan Jankowski

From the Product Description
The time traveler is Lieserl Einstein (who now refers to herself as Lisa.) Born in 1902, there is no record of her existence. The only mention of her birth came when Albert Einstein's personal papers were released to the public in the 1980's. Lisa was exceptionally brilliant, well beyond her father in theoretical and mechanical ability. She went back in time to remove all records of her existence, leaving the mention of her birth in the private papers as a teaser.
The Great Fire of Chicago had nothing to do with a cow, but everything to do with a passing comet that sprayed the upper Great Lakes with debris and caused massive firestorms. A small rock was part of that debris. It contained an incredible amount of stored energy, but was the size of a pea and weighed next to nothing. Lisa purchased this pebble, harnessed its energy, and developed a GCSL device (Galactic Cosmic String Locator) to manipulate the pebble to allow her to locate cosmic string tendrils and ride them to other time periods. This book is Lisa's journal and a synopsis of her travels through time.

Back to the Titanic
Beatrice Gormley

From the Product Description
Using their great-grandfather's invention of a way to travel through time, Matt and Emily, along with Matt's best friend, Jonathan, travel back to the Titanic and try to save the great ship from disaster.

Max and Me and the Time Machine
Gery Greer
From the Product description
When Steve brings home a time machine he bought for $2.50 at a garage sale, Max is suspicious. "There’s no such thing as time travel. Or time machines." Then they both end up in the year 1250 in medieval England -- Steve as Sir Robert Marshall and Max as his horse! -- and Max must admit the machine works.
Sir Robert soon finds himself in the midst of a duel to the death with the Hampshire mauler, defending not only his honor, but his life. Can Max rescue him? Will the machine return him in time to spare his life? The 20th century never looked so good. (This book has a sequel titled Max and Me and the Wild West)

George Washington’s Socks
Elvira Woodruff

From the Product Description
While enjoying a innocent lakeside campout, five modern-day children are transported back in time to the days of George Washington and other American Revolutionary figures.

World War II Book List

This book list covers the World War II the book list of is divided into three categories picture books, early reader, and middle grade children’s books. I would like to note that the picture books are mostly meant for older readers


Picture Books (read aloud)


The Greatest Skating Race : A World War II Story From the Netherlands
Louise Borden and Niki Daly

From the Product Description
During World War II in the Netherlands, a ten-year-old boy's dream of skating in a famous race allows him to help two children escape to Belgium by ice skating past German soldiers and other enemies.

Across the Blue Pacific : Word War II Story
Louise Borden and Robert Andrew Parker

From the Product Description
When the United States enters World War II, Molly is attending Beechwood Elementary. But her thoughts are with Ted Walker, her neighbor, who is serving aboard a cruiser in the South Atlantic.

Three years later, the war is still going on and Molly is in the fourth grade. Ted is still at sea, as a naval officer of the USS Albacore, a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. Orchard Road feels like the safest place on earth, but somewhere on the other side of the world, Ted and his crew is carrying out dangerous missions. No one knows when they will come home, and young Molly must find a way to live with fear during wartime.

Boxes for Katje
Candace Fleming and Stacy Dressen-MQueen

From The Product Description
When the United States enters World War II, Molly is attending Beechwood Elementary. But her thoughts are with Ted Walker, her neighbor, who is serving aboard a cruiser in the South Atlantic.

Three years later, the war is still going on and Molly is in the fourth grade. Ted is still at sea, as a naval officer of the USS Albacore, a submarine in the Pacific Ocean. Orchard Road feels like the safest place on earth, but somewhere on the other side of the world, Ted and his crew are carrying out dangerous missions. No one knows when they will come home, and young Molly must find a way to live with fear during wartime.

Early Readers ( ages 6-9)

Pigeon Hero!
Shirley Raye Redmond and Doris Ettlinger

From the Product Description
In a town in Italy during World War II the people have surrendered without firing a shot. But American warplanes are due to arrive, and the radio's broken, so no one can tell them to call off the attack! G. I. Joe, a carrier pigeon, is the only one who can take the message to the Americans. Will he make it in time and save the town?

Nora the Fifty Cent Dog
Lolly Stoddars

From the Product Description
Nora, the Fifty Cent Dog" is based on a true story of a U.S Coast Guard beach patrol dog in North Carolina during World War II. After a loving owner paid fifty cents for Nora, a stray German shepherd, she helped him patrol the beach against enemy invaders. When his life was in danger, Nora found help and saved him, for which she received an award from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Written for young readers, this tale of canine love and loyalty will warm the heart of anyone who enjoys the partnership of owning a dog.

Chapter Books (ages 9-12)

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry

From the Product description
Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated". Ellen moves in with the Johansens and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.

The Devil’s Arithmatic
Jane Yolen

From the Product Description
Hannah thinks tonight’s Passover Seder will be the same as always. Little does she know that this year she will be mysteriously transported into the past where only she knows the horrors that await.

The Victory Garden
Lee Kochenderfer

From the Product Description
It’s 1943, and everyone says the war will be over soon–World War II, that is–but Teresa Marks wonders exactly when that day will come. Her older brother, Jeff, is fighting overseas, and Teresa worries about him, hoping he’ll get home to Kansas safely. As a way of speeding Jeff’s return, Teresa and her dad help the war effort by planting a victory garden. For two years, they’ve planted tomatoes (Jeff’s favorite!) and won taste-testing duels with a curmudgeonly neighbor. But this spring, when the neighbor is hospitalized, Teresa rallies her friends to tend to his garden. She even considers using her secret for growing better tomatoes on her rival’s plants. But her faith in secret weapons, in victory gardens, in people, and in life itself is shattered as the war rages on abroad and death strikes close to home.

Milkweed
Jerry Spinelli

From the Product Description
A stunning novel of the Holocaust from a Newbery Medalist

He's a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Filthy son of Abraham.

He's a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He's a boy who steals food for himself, and the other orphans. He's a boy who believes in bread, and mothers, and angels.

He's a boy who wants to be a Nazi, with tall, shiny jackboots of his own-until the day that suddenly makes him change his mind.

And when the trains come to empty the Jews from the ghetto of the damned, he's a boy who realizes it's safest of all to be nobody.

Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli takes us to one of the most devastating settings imaginable-Nazi-occupied Warsaw during World War II-and tells a tale of heartbreak, hope, and survival through the bright eyes of a young Holocaust orphan.

A boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
Harry Mazer

From the Product Description
December 7, 1941: A morning like any other, but the events of this day would leave no one untouched.
For Adam, living near Honolulu, this Sunday morning is one he has been looking forward to -- fishing with friends, away from the ever-watchful eyes of his father, a navy lieutenant. Then, right before his eyes, Adam watches Japanese planes fly overhead and attack the U.S. Navy. All he can think is that it's just like in the movies. But as he sees his father's ship, the Arizona, sink beneath the water, he realizes this isn't make-believe. It's real. Over the next few days, Adam searches for answers -- about his friends, the war, and especially, his father. But Adam soon learns sometimes there are no answers

Civil War Book List

This book list covers the American Civil War. The book list of is divided into three categories picture books, early reader, and middle grade children’s books. I would Like to note that the picture books are mostly for older readers and not toddlers


Picture books ( Read Aloud)



Pink and Say
Patrica Polacco

From the Product Description
In a true story, Pinkus Aylee, a black Union soldier, finds Sheldon Curtis left for dead and carries him home to be tended by his mother, but when the two boys attempt to rejoin the Union troops, they are captured and sent to Andersonville Prison.



The Yankee at the Seder
Elka Weber and Adam Gustavson

From the Product Description
The war is over and they're saying the South lost. Ten-year-old Jacob would give anything to show those Yankees that not all Confederates are ready to surrender. He gets his chance when he sees a real, live Yankee soldier walking down his street, on leave for Passover. But before Jacob can think of a way to be brave, the Yankee asks for a piece of his matzoh!
This beautiful, engaging story about a Jewish Yankee soldier joining a Southern family's Passover meal features a remarkable discussion about what it means to be free--a topic as relevant today as it was during the War between the States and during the Exodus.



Ben and the Emancipation Proclamation
Pat Sherman and Floyd Cooper

From the Product Description
A self-taught young slave astonishes his fellow prisoners by reading aloud the newspaper account of Lincoln’s new emancipation proclamation. Based on actual events.




Early Readers (Ages 6-9)

Billy and the Rebel: Based on a True Civil War Story
Deborah Hopkinson And, Brian Floca

From there Product Description
This story is based on the life of Billy Bayly, a real boy who lived in Pennsylvania during the Civil War and had an unlikely friendship with a Southern soldier.

From Slave to Soldier: Based on a True Civil War Story
Deborah Hopkinson and, Brian Floca

From the Product description
Johnny loves his uncle and his master's mule, but he hates being a slave. So when he's asked to join the Union army, he accepts. Being a soldier is hard work, and Johnny wonders if he made the right choice. But when the army needs him, Johnny knows it's up to him to come to the rescue!

Chapter Books ( Ages 9-12)








Mr. Lincoln’s Drummer
G. Clifton Wisler


From the Product Description
Based on the true story of Willie Johnston a drummer boy for the Union army.



Shades of Gray
Carolyn Reeder and Tim O'Brien

From the Product Description
The Civil War may be over, but for twelve-year-old Will Page, the pain and bitterness haven't ended. How could they have, when the Yankees were responsible for the deaths of everyone in his entire immediate family?
And now Will has to leave his comfortable home in the Shenandoah Valley and live with relatives he has never met, people struggling to eke out a living on their farm in the war-torn Virginia Piedmont. But the worst of it is that Will's uncle Jed had refused to fight for the Confederacy.
At first, Will regards his uncle as a traitor -- or at least a coward. But as they work side by side, Will begins to respect the man. And when he sees his uncle stand up for what he believes in, Will realizes that he must rethink his definition of honor and courage.



Turn Homeward Hanalee
Patrica Beatty

From the Product Description
During the closing days of the Civil War, plucky 12-year-old Hannalee Reed, sent north to work in a Yankee mill, struggles to return to the family she left behind in war-torn Georgia.

The Perilous Road
William O. Steel

From the Product Description
The heartbreaking, bitter view of the Civil War as experienced by Chris Brabson, whose brother is fighting for the "wrong" side

Revolutionary War Book List

This book list covers the American Revolutionary War he book list of is divided into three categories picture books, early reader, and middle grade children’s books. I would Like to note that the picture books are mostly for older readers and not toddlers


Picture Books ( read aloud)

This Time, Tempe Wick?
Patrica Lee Gauch and Margot Tomes

From the Product Description
Depicts the indomitable spirit of a young girl, Tempe Wick, as she saves her beloved horse from the mutinous soldiers of Jockey Hollow during the American Revolution.

Katie’s Trunk
Ann Turner and Ronald Himler

From the Product Description
An acclaimed author gives young readers a new perspective on the American Revolution in this thoughtful picture book. Katie, a child of Loyalists, is frightened by all the talk of independence that is igniting passions in her New England town. Then one day, when Patriot neighbors ransack her home, Katie finds that her very survival rests in the hands of the "enemies".

Phoebe the Spy
Judith Griffen and Margot Tomes

From the Product Description
Someone is planning to kill George Washington, and young Phoebe Fraunces is trying to save his life. Phoebe gets a job as George Washington's housekeeper, but her real job is to work as a spy. She listens and watches very carefully, and she meets her father every day to tell him what she has learned. One day Phoebe's father tells her that Washington is planning to leave town in a few days, and the person plotting against him will act before then. Phoebe is very frightened, but she is determined to figure out who is after Washington before it's too late. . . .


Early Readers ( ages 6-9)

Revolutionary War on Wednesday (Magic tree house book 22)
Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca

From the Product Description
The Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to Colonial America. They arrive just as General George Washington is planning the crossing of the Delaware. Before they know it, Jack and Annie are in a boat with the Father of Our Country as history is made!

George the Drummer Boy
Nathaniel Benchley and Don Bolognese

From the Product Description
More than two hundred years ago, Boston belonged to the British. George was a drummer boy with the King's soldiers there. He wanted to be friends with the people of Boston. But they did not like the soldiers. They shouted and threw things at them.
One night, George and the other soldiers were sent on a secret mission. They crossed the river and headed toward Concord. George had no idea that this was the start of the American Revolution.

Sam the Minute Man
Nathaniel Benchley and Arnold Lobel

From the Product Description
Get your gun!" Sam's father said. "The British soldiers are coming this way!" Sam's father was a Minuteman. Sam was ready in a minute.
Father and son rushed to the village green. Other Minutemen were already there. Through the long night they waited and waited. Then, at dawn, the soldiers came!

George Washington and the General’s Dog
Frank Murphy and Richard Waltz

From the Product Description
Boom! Bang! Guns fire! Cannons roar! George Washington is fighting in the American Revolution. He
sees a dog lost on the battlefield. Whose dog is it? How will it find its master? Early readers will be surprised to find out what happens in this little-known true story about America’s first president.



Middle Grade Children’s books (ages 9-12)

Ben and me the Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by his Good Mouse Amos
Robert Lawson

From the Product Description
The true story of Ben Franklin, as told by his closest friend and advisor, Amos the mouse. According to Amos, it was really he who was responsible for Ben Franklin's inventions and discoveries. Written and illustrated with great wit and charm.

Toliver’s Secret
Ester Wood Brady
From the Product Description

When her grandfather is injured, 10-year-old Ellen Toliver replaces him on a

top-secret patriotic mission. Disguised as a boy, she manages to smuggle a

message to General George Washington.

War Comes to Willey Freeman
James Collier and, Christopher Collier

From the Product Description

A free thirteen-year-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the horror of the Revolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father is killed by the British and her mother disappears

Early Thunder
Jean Fritz

From the Product Description

"Events rapidly transpiring in Salem, Massachusetts in 1774-1775 force 14-year-old Daniel West to re-examine his loyalties, and finally, to change from Tory to Whig."--School Library Journal 15 black-and-white halftone illustrations.

Guns for General Washington: A Story of the American Revolution
Seymour Reit

From the Product Description

Seymour Reit re-creates the true story of Will Knox, a nineteen-year-old boy who undertook the daring and dangerous task of transporting 183 cannons from New York’s Fort Ticonderoga to Boston--in the dead of winter--to help George Washington win an important battle

Johnny Tremain
Esther Forbes

From the Product Description

A story filled with danger and excitement, Johnny Tremain tells of the turbulent, passionate times in Boston just before the Revolutionary War. Johnny, a young apprentice silversmith, is caught up in a dramatic involvement with James Otis, John Hancock, and John and Samuel Adams in the exciting currents and undercurrents that were to lead to the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington -- and finally, a touching resolution of Johnny's personal life.

Johnny Tremain is a historical fiction at its best, portraying Revolutionary Boston as a living drama, through the shrewd eyes of an observant boy.
(This book is part of many home school lesson plans)