These five titles make excellent picks for readers interested in historical fiction: made up stories that take place during real historical times or events. Ideal for readers aged 7-12, these books transport readers to Depression-era Key West, the 1860s Great Plains, and 1970s California, among others.
Paper Wishes by Lois Sephban
When 10-year-old Manami and her family are suddenly ordered to move to a prison camp just because they're Japanese, Manami loses her voice and can only speak through her drawings. Pair with Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata or Remembering Manzanar: Life in a Japanese Relocation Camp by Michael Cooper.
Check the CatalogUnbound: A Novel in Verse by Ann E. Burg
The story in poems of a girl and her family escaping from slavery on a plantation in the South just before the Civil War. This book is a good fit for readers that enjoy other books written in verse, like Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming or Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust.
Check the CatalogIt Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumans
An Iranian girl living in California during the 1970’s faces prejudice when the Iran hostage crisis throws her home country into the spotlight. This is Dumans’ first children’s book. Adults may may enjoy Laughing Without An Accent, a follow up to her earlier memoir Funny In Farsi.
Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
Jennifer L. Holm, author of the beloved Babymouse series and graphic-novel memoir Sunny Side Up, is back with a new historical fiction novel: Full of Beans. A rag-tag gang of kids engage in money-making schemes in Depression-era Key West while New Dealers attempt to transform the area into a tourist destination.
Makoons by Louise Erdirch
An Objiwe family, including twin 8-year-old brothers, Makoons and Chickadee, move to the Great Plains of the Dakota Territory in the 1860s to hunt buffalo and try to make a new home for themselves. Erdrich is Ojibwe, as well as the characters in the story, making Makoons and the other books in the Birchbark House series an #ownvoices book. For more, read Debbie Reece’s review at American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL).
Curated by Sarah Johnson at Marcy Library and Emily Heath at Clinton Hill Library
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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