About the Genre
Historical fiction takes place in the past. The stories may contain real people, places and situations but the author makes up parts of the story.
Catalog Search
To search for historical fiction, pick a key word and juvenile fiction.
For example:
Civil War juvenile fiction
Great Depression juvenile fiction
To search for fiction and related nonfiction, search a key word and juvenile literature.
For example:
Civil War juvenile literature
Great Depression juvenile literature
Connecting Fiction to Nonfiction: Segregation in Professional Baseball
Another Example
The following nonfiction books and historical fiction books can be used together to enhance background knowledge about the years when professional baseball was segregated:
Connecting Fiction to Nonfiction: Japanese Internment
In order to understand historical fiction, it is useful to explore the historical time period or events. With background knowledge, students will enjoy a greater understanding of the historical fiction book.
For example, the following nonfiction books and historical fiction books can be used together to enhance background knowledge about Japanese internment during World War II:
Japanese-American internment [picture] : life in the camps by Call Number: https://salve.on.worldcat.org/oclc/80103501?databaseList=2375,2276,2264,2263,2262,1271,2261,2260,143,2237,2259,2268,2267,2277,1708,638ISBN: 1566961637
A Sampling of Historical Fiction in the CRC- picture books
Baseball Saved Us by ISBN: 1880000016Publication Date: 1993-03-01A Japanese American boy learns to play baseball when he and his family are forced to live in an internment camp during World War II, and his ability to play helps him after the war is over.
Smoky Night by ISBN: 0152699546Publication Date: 1994-03-31When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality.
In the Time of the Drums by ISBN: 078680436XPublication Date: 1999-03-15Mentu, an American-born slave boy, watches his beloved grandmother, Twi, lead the insurrection at Teakettle Creek of Ibo people arriving from Africa on a slave ship.
The Cats in Krasinski Square by ISBN: 0439435404Publication Date: 2004-09-01Two 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.
Mama Played Baseball by ISBN: 0152021965Publication Date: 2003-03-01Young 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.
The Butterfly by ISBN: 0399231706Publication Date: 2000-04-24During the Nazi occupation of France, Monique's mother hides a Jewish family in her basement and tries to help them escape to freedom.
Pink and Say by ISBN: 0399226710Publication Date: 1994-09-15Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, a black soldier, during the Civil War, and their capture by Southern troops. Based on a true story about the author's great-great-grandfather.
Henry's Freedom Box by ISBN: 043977733XPublication Date: 2007-01-01A fictionalized account of how in 1849 a Virginia slave, Henry "Box" Brown, escapes to freedom by shipping himself in a wooden crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.
Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by ISBN: 9780822599296Publication Date: 2010-01-03In 1938 Berlin, Germany, a cat sees Rosenstrasse change from a peaceful neighborhood of Jews and Gentiles to an unfriendly place where, one November night, men in brown shirts destroy Jewish-owned businesses and arrest or kill Jewish people. Includes facts about Kristallnacht and a list of related books and web resources.
Lucky Beans by ISBN: 9780807547823Publication Date: 2010-03-01During the Great Depression, Marshall, an African American boy, uses lessons learned in arithmetic class and guidance from his mother to figure out how many beans are in a jar in order to win her a new sewing machine in a contest.
Just Like Josh Gibson by ISBN: 0689826281Publication Date: 2004-01-01A young girl's grandmother tells her of her love for baseball and the day they let her play in the game even though she was a girl. This is a story connected to Josh Gibson, a player in the segregated leagues.
The Wall by ISBN: 0395515882Publication Date: 1990-04-23A boy and his father come from far away to visit the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington and find the name of the boy's grandfather, who was killed in the conflict
The Blue and the Gray by ISBN: 0590601970Publication Date: 1996-11-01As a black boy and his white friend watch the construction of a house which will make them neighbors on the site of a Civil War battlefield, they agree that their homes are monuments to that war
Under the Quilt of Night by ISBN: 0689822278Publication Date: 2002-01-01A young girl flees from the farm where she has been worked as a slave and uses the Underground Railroad to escape to freedom in the north
Train to Somewhere by ISBN: 0395713250Publication Date: 1996-02-23In the late 1800s, Marianne travels westward on the Orphan Train in hopes of being placed with a caring family
Rudy Rides the Rails by ISBN: 9781585362868Publication Date: 2007-03-01In 1932, during the Depression in Ohio, thirteen-year-old Rudy, determined to help his family weather the hard times, hops a train going west to California and experiences the hobo life
New Shoes by ISBN: 9780823425280Publication Date: 2015-01-01In this historical fiction picture book, Ella Mae and her cousin Charlotte, both African American, start their own shoe store when they learn that they cannot try on shoes at the shoe store
The Other Side by ISBN: 0399231161Publication Date: 2001-01-15Two girls, one white and one black, gradually get to know each other as they sit on the fence that divides their town
Ox-Cart Man by ISBN: 0140504419Publication Date: 1983-10-27Describes the day-to-day life of an early nineteenth-century New England family throughout the changing seasons
When I Was Young in the Mountains by ISBN: 052542525XPublication Date: 1982-03-30Reminiscences of the pleasures of life in the mountains as a child
The Gardener by ISBN: 0374325170Publication Date: 1997-08-30A series of letters relating what happens when, after her father loses his job, Lydia Grace goes to live with her Uncle Jim in the city but takes her love for gardening with her
The Bracelet by ISBN: 039922503XPublication Date: 1993-10-14Emi, a Japanese American in the second grade, is sent with her family to an internment camp during World War II, but the loss of the bracelet her best friend has given her proves that she does not need a physical reminder of that friendship
