Comments on: Great Historical Fiction Books for Kids (Ages 8-13)

By: Erica

Erica — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:23:01 +0000

In reply to LJ. Happy reading!

By: LJ

LJ — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 04:35:14 +0000

I'm so happy I found your site....
My daughter (12) loves sci-fi/fantasy, historical fiction and eats up graphic novels .... my boys (7 and 4) are less willing to dive into read-alouds like my daughter was at their age... but hope is far from lost 🙂 Thank you for these amazing, comprehensive lists! I can tell our family has similar taste !!

By: Erica

Erica — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 20:31:30 +0000

In reply to Susan Smith. Thank you for the recommendation! I've read Sugar and it's a great book. I wish I could include every book, but it would make all the lists unmanageable. Thanks for your comment!

By: Susan Smith

Susan Smith — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 03:30:57 +0000

Love this list! However you missed a recent discovery of mine from the author of the Coretta Scott King Honor Book Ninth Ward. Author Jewell Parker Rhodes writes Sugar set in the reformation period; as a recently freed 10yr old slave she must learn to navigate what is and isn’t exceptable behavior from her. She strikes up a friendship with a white landowners son. Then after a group of Chinese people are brought to help with the sugarcane harvest she is driven to make friends and unify the two communities. This book would be appropriate for the fifth grade reading level. This short novel aptly handles the age old lesson how do we all get along in this big old world we call home. Check it out you’ll love this story.

By: Ellen Crowe

Ellen Crowe — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:43:18 +0000

Hi Erica - Another good book for your consideration. Winner of eight national awards including the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance Once Upon a World Award
https://www.amazon.com/Surfer-Century-Life-Duke-Kahanamoku/dp/1600604617

Thank you for taking a look at:

SURFER OF THE CENTURY - the Life of Duke Kahanamoku by Ellie Crowe
.Crowe depicts his encounters with racial discrimination with sensitivity, underscoring the courage and character he developed to face these setbacks...vibrant, action-filled illustrations... Well researched and fact-filled. -- Starred Review --School Library Journal

By: Ellen Crowe

Ellen Crowe — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:36:38 +0000

Nelson Mandela --legendary freedom fighter and revolutionary, first black president of South Africa and Nobel Peace prize winner--stated that his childhood in the Transkei countryside taught him everything he needed to know in life. This biographical novel brings to life Mandela’s childhood and his tribal initiation at sixteen when he resolved to live up to his name—Troublemaker—and fight for freedom for his people.

Great idea to list these fascinating historical books for young readers. As you have asked for suggestions for books about other countries, I hope you will mention Nelson Mandela, the Boy Called Troublemaker by Ellie Crowe (award-winning author)

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 05 Feb 2018 02:31:02 +0000

I read "Stay Where You are and then Leave" a few years ago. It's rare to find a WW1 book for kids but it still haunts me in the best way.

By: Evelyn Burgess

Evelyn Burgess — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 06:21:54 +0000

I just stumbled on your website and LOVE it! I'm trying to find a book my 3rd grade teacher read to us in 1953. It was about a young girl who lived in the Revolutionary War era ( I think.) She lived in a new brick house, she was not allowed to look at herself in a mirror. There was a disaster of some kind...a flood or a fire.
I'd sure like to find this book and reread it. It has stuck in my mind for decades.
Can you help???

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 23:16:01 +0000

In reply to Christine. That is a great book! I've put it on other lists! Thanks for mentioning it here.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 17:05:19 +0000

Our favourite book by Christopher Paul Curtis is Elijah of Buxton, set in a free black settlement in southern Ontario. The slavery issue is part of the book but not the total focus; it is much less intense that way than most slavery-themed books. It was my 12 yo son's his favourite read of last year, and his older brother loved it too. We were able to visit Buxton where they have a small museum and a few original buildings, operated by the descendants of the settlers.