Historical Fiction/Historical Fantasy/Alternate History

This is by far the longest genre list I have.  It contains any book set in the past.  And by past, I guess that means anything before the year 2000, since I do have a book on the list from the Bosnian War.  I know we normally think of historical fiction as being way in the past, and general fiction books set in say, the 80's I probably wouldn't include here, but if the story concerns a specific historical event, I think this is where it belongs.

Many of these books can be found on other genre lists as well, because you can have pretty much any sort of book set in the past.  (For example, the tags will let readers know if the action adventure book is also historical fiction.) You'll notice that I grouped the Historical Fantasy and Alternate History genres here as well - there were some books that were so historical fiction yet threw in some stuff that definitely was not, that I thought the same type of reader would enjoy both.

Books that have a review or mini-review on this blog can be clicked on to go to that post.  Be sure to see my note at the bottom of the list about reading and age appropriate levels.

Prehistory/Iron Age

A is for Aarrgh! by William Brooke *

(5.9) (MG) (Stone Age, humor) 

The Dark Horse by Marcus Sedgwick

(4.3) (UG) (family, iron age, invasion)

Storm by Donna Jo Napoli

(3.8) (MG+) (Biblical flood, Noah’s ark, survival)

Ancient Egypt

Lights on the Nile by Donna Jo Napoli

(4.1) (MG) (ancient Egypt, family, friendship)

Ancient Greece and Rome

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett *

(6.2) (MG+) (ancient Greece, minotaur, Crete, family relationships)

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

(5.0) (MG) (ancient Israel, Roman occupation)

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielson

(4.6) (MG) (Roman Empire, magic, slavery, friendship)

King of Ithaca by Tracy Barrett 

(5.5) (MG+) (ancient Greece, son of Odysseus, adventure, coming of age)


Middle Ages

Alchemy and Meggie Swann by Karen Cushman

(5.6) (MG) (Middle Ages, family, friendship, physical disabilities)

Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett

(6.4) (MG) (Middle Ages, Byzantium, court intrigue, family relationships)

Belle’s Song by K. M. Grant

(5.0) (MG+) (Canterbury Tales, Middle Ages, intrigue, love triangles, OCD)

Catherine Called Birdy by Karen Cushman *

(6.4) (MG+) (Middle Ages, family, women’s roles, humor)

Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi (series)

(5.0/4.8/4.8) (MG) (Middle Ages, secrets, adventure)

Fortune’s Folly by Deva Fagan *

(5.3) (MG-) (middle ages, family, fairy tales, adventure)

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (series)

(5.9/6.1/6.4) (UG) (assassins, adventure, romance, court intrigue, Middle Ages)

Hidden by Donna Jo Napoli

(4.3) (MG+) (Middle Ages, Irish nobility, slavery, survival)

Hush: an Irish Princess’ Tale by Donna Jo Napoli

(3.9) (MG+) (Middle Ages, Ireland, nobility, slavery, survival)

Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman 

(5.7) (MG) (Middle Ages, orphans, apprenticeships)

Midnight Magic by Avi

(4.7) (MG-) (Middle Ages, mystery, murder)

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen (series) *
(4.4/4.8) (UG) (Robin Hood, Middle Ages, action/adventure, romance)

Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli

(4.3) (MG) Rumplestiltskin)

Stolen by Vivian VandeVelde *

(5.6) (MG) (mystery, amnesia, witches)

Straw into Gold by Gary Schmidt

(5.9) (MG) (Rumplestiltskin retelling, mystery)

Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead (series) *

(6.0+) (UG) (Dark Ages, Britain, King Arthur, Merlin)

The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse

(5.0) (MG+) (Middle Ages)

The Book Without Words by Avi

(4.4) (MG-) (Middle Ages, alchemy)

The Executioner’s Daughter by Laura E. Williams

(5.5) (MG) (Middle Ages, fathers & daughters, ostracism)

The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett *

(/) (MG-) (family secrets, mystery, knights, Middle Ages)

The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman *
(6.0) (MG) (Middle Ages, orphans, apprenticeships, coming of age)

The Ravenmaster’s Secret: Escape from the Tower of London by Elvira Woodruff

(5.2) (MG-) (Middle Ages)

The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt

(5.4) (MG-) (Middle Ages, mystery, fantasy)

The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli

(4.3) (MG+) (Sicily, nobility, poverty, folktales)

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

(5.0) (UG) (Middle Ages, Wales, oppression, rebellion)

Renaissance

And I Darken by Kiersten White (series)
(5.7/5.2) (UG) (Transylvania, Ottoman Empire, 1400’s, family relationships, intrigue)

VIII by H. M. Castor *

(5.2) (MG+) (Renaissance England, royalty, family relationships)

Dark Shimmer by Donna Jo Napoli

(3.6) (MG+) (Snow White retelling, 1500’s, Italy, nobility, dwarfism)

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum (series)
(4.8/4.8/4.8) (MG) (romance, time travel, Italian Renaissance)

The Smile by Donna Jo Napoli *

(4.0) (UG) (Italian Renaissance, family, love, friendship)

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

(4.7) (UG) (court intrigue, mystery, orphans, Renaissance, Queen Elizabeth)

The Unfortunate Son by Constance Leeds

(4.6) (MG) (middle ages, kidnapping/slavery, family secrets)

1600’s & 1700’s

 A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

(5.9) (MG+) (Rumplestiltzkin retelling, mystery, family relationships, supernatural)

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge

(5.9) (MG) (family secrets, ghosts, England, war, 1600’s)

Daughter of the Pirate King by Trisha Levenseller (series)
(4.4/4.6) (UG) (pirates, action-adventure, secrets, family relationships, romance)

Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman

(MG+) (family secrets, indentured servants, 1700’s, murder mystery)

Hidden Voices: the Orphan Musicians of Venice by Pat Lowery Collins

(6.4) (UG) (1700’s, orphans, Vivaldi, friendship)

In Darkness by Nick Lake
(5.6) (UG) (Haiti, 1700’s, slave rebellion, voodoo, gang violence, poverty, family)

Madame Tussaud's Apprentice by Kathleen Benner Duble

(/) (MG+) (French Revolution)

My Sword-hand is Singing by Marcus Sedgewick

(4.9) (UG) (1600’s, Eastern Europe, family, nosferatu, secrets)

Newes From the Dead by Mary Hooper

(6.9) (UG) (1600’s, death, executions, medical science)

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly *

(3.6) (UG) (1700’s, French Revolution, time travel, mystery, suicide)

Rook by Sharon Cameron

(5.6) (UG-) (revolutions, spies, romance, action/adventure, retellings)

Smith by Leon Garfield

(6.1) (MG) (1700’s, pickpockets, murder, mystery, Dickens)

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton *

(/) (UG) (magic, bargains, witches, family, friendship, sacrifice, love triangles, secrets, *)

The Betrayal of Maggie Blair by Elizabeth Laird

(5.3) (UG) (1600’s, family, Scotland, religious persecution)

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

(5.3) (UG) (pirates, curses, reincarnation)

The Musician’s Daughter by Susanne Dunlap

(6.5) (MG+) (1700’s, mystery, murder, Austria) 

The Pirate Captain’s Daughter by Eve Bunting

(4.7) (UG) (1700’s, pirates, teenage girls, family relationships)

The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood

(5.1) (UG) (1700’s, England, apothecaries, fathers & daughters, mystery, romance)

The Step-Sister’s Tale by Tracy Barrett *

(MG+) (Cinderella story, family relationships)

The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts by Avi
(5.8) (MG) (1700’s, highwaymen, England)

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel (series)

(4.9/5.0) (UG) (Frankenstein, 1700’s, twins, romance, mystery, Gothic)

Colonial America

A Pickpocket’s Tale by Karen Schwabach

(5.1) (MG) (early colonial America, Jews, theft)

Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare

(6.0) (MG) (Colonial America, French & Indian War)

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (series)

(5.2/5.4) (MG+) (Colonial America, Revolutionary War, slavery)

Escape Across the Wide Sea by Katherine Kirkpatrick

(4.5) (MG) (religious persecution, colonial America, slavery)

Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

(4.4) (UG) (Colonial America, epidemic)

Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi

(4.0) (MG+) (Revolutionary War, mental illness)

Sophia’s War by Avi

(5.1) (MG) (Revolutionary War, spies)

Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff

(MG) (colonial America) 

The Fighting Ground by Avi

(4.2) (MG) (Revolutionary War, coming of age)

The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer

(5.5) (MG+) (steampunk, family, romance, revolution, secrets)

The Sacrifice by Kathleen Benner Duble *

(4.6) (MG) (American colonies, witch trials, family, mental illness)

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

(5.7) (MG) (Salem Witch Trials)

Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
(4.7) (UG) (Salem witch trials, colonial America)

1800’s

47 by Walter Moses

(5.3) (MG) (1800’s, slavery)

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

(4.7) (MG) (1800’s, orphans, “Spiritualism”)

A House Called Awful End by Philip Ardagh (series)

(6.3/6.1/6.6) (MG-) (1800’s, family, humor)

A House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff

(4.9) (MG-) (1800’s, family, German immigrants)

Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli

(3.1) (MG+) (1800’s, Sicilian immigrants, Jim Crow laws, racial prejudice)

Berserker by Emmy Laybourne
(/) (MG+) (brothers and sisters, special abilities, wild west, Scandanavian immigrants)

City of Orphans by Avi

(3.5) (MG) (1800’s, family, friendship, mystery, immigrants, New York)

Dark Water Rising by Marion Hale

(5.9) (MG) (1800’s, Galveston, floods, family, racial discrimination)

Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist *

(/) (MG+) (Wild West, zombies, sibling relationships, coming of age)

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

(5.4) (MG-) (1800’s, escaped slaves)

Fair Weather by Richard Peck

(4.7) (MG) (1800’s, World’s Fair, humor)

Finest Kind by Lea Wait

(4.5) (MG) (1800’s, Maine, family, disabilities, boys)

Folly by Marthe Jocelyn

(5.2) (UG) (1800’s, England, orphans, household servants)

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

(4.4) (MG) (1800’s, Great Plains, homesteading)

He Will Go Fearless by Lori Lawlor

(4.9) (MG) (1800’s, westward movement, cattle drives)

In the Shadow of the Lamp by Susanne Dunlap

(5.4) (MG+) (1800’s, Crimean War, Florence Nightingale)

Maggie’s Door by Patricia Reilly Giff

(5.0) (MG) (family, 1800’s, Irish immigrants)

Midnight is a Place by Joan Aiken

(6.3) (MG-) (1800’s, England, orphans, Dickens)

Nory Ryan’s Song by Patricia Reilly Giff

(4.6) (MG) (1800’s, Ireland, Potato Famine, family)

Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday

(4.7) (MG+) (mystery, serial killers, 1800’s, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe)

Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer Holm (series)

(4.8/4.7) (MG) (1800’s, family, Finnish  immigrants)

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper (series) *

(6.2) (MG+) (1800’s, magic, family, secrets, whaling industry, coming of age)

Scrib: A Novel by David Ives

(5.4) (MG) (1800’s, Wild West, humor)

Seaward Born by Lea Wait

(4.5) (MG) (1800’s, slavery, Maine, friendship)

Stonecutter by Leander Watts

(5.4) (MG) (1800’s, Gothic)

Ten Thousand Charms by Leander Watts

(4.2) (paranormal, 1800’s, American frontier, Gothic)

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman *

(5.8) (MG) (1800’s, mining towns, mothers & daughters)

The Barn by Avi

(3.9) (MG) (1800’s, family hardship)

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
(5.8) (UG) (selkies, 1800’s, family relationships)

The Caged Graves by Diane Salerni

(5.7) (MG+) (mystery, 1800's, family relationships)

The Dark Light by Mette Newth

(5.9) (MG+) (1800’s, Norway, leprosy)

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

(5.8) (MG) (1800’s, family, mystery, autism/eccentricism)

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

(5.2) (UG) (fathers & daughters, time travel, seafaring, Hawaii, 1800’s)

The Keeper of the Doves by Betsy Byars

(4.0) (MG) (1800’s, family, secrets)

The Seer of Shadows by Avi

(5.2) (MG) (1800’s, photography, ghosts)

The Silent Boy by Lois Lowery

(5.1) (MG+) (1800’s, Autism)

The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo Napoli

(3.6) (MG) (1800’s, Italian immigrants, New York, Ellis Island)

The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis (series)

(5.1/5.2) (MG) (1800’s, Wild West)

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

(4.8) (MG) (1800’s, Italy, orphans, magic, mystery)

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

(5.3) (MG) (1800’s, sea voyages, mystery)

Together Apart by Dianne Gray

(5.8) (MG) (1888 Blizzard, prairie life, family, women’s rights)

Tomorrow the River by Dianne Gray

(6.0) (MG) (1800’s, family, coming of age)

Torchlight by Carol Otis Hurst

 (3.7) (MG) (1800’s, friendship, racial prejudice)

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff

 (4.8) (MG) (family, 1800’s, Irish immigrants)

Wintering Well by Lea Wait

(4.9) (MG) (family, disabilities, 1800’s, boys)

Worth by A. LaFaye *

(4.5) (MG-) (family, orphans, 1800’s, farm life, range wars, friendship, boys)

Civil War/ Reconstruction

An Acquaintance with Darkness by Ann Rinaldi

(3.6) (MG+) (Civil War, mystery, family, grave-robbing)

Brotherhood by A.B. Westrick

(4.7) (MG) (Reconstruction, KKK, family)

Bull Run by Paul Fleishman

(5.3) (UG) (Civil War)

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland *

(/) (UG) (post-Civil War, racism, mother & daughters, friendship, zombies, alternate history)

Girl in Blue by Ann Rinaldi

(5.0) (MG) (Civil War, women soldiers, spies)

How I Found the Strong by Margaret McMullan

(4.9) (MG+) (Civil War, slavery, family, coming of age)

Iron Thunder by Avi

(4.3) (MG) (Civil War, spies, Ironclad)

Mine Eyes Have Seen by Ann Rinaldi

(4.1) (MG) (Civil War era, slavery, John Brown, family)

My Name Is Not Friday by Jon Walter *
(5.0) (MG+) (slavery, family, Civil War)

My Vicksburg by Ann Rinaldi

(4.1) (MG) (Civil War, family)

Numbering All the Bones by Ann Rinaldi

(4.2) (MG+) (Civil War, slavery, prisoners of war)

Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin

(5.2) (MG+) (Civil War, mystery, spiritualism)

Stone Field by Christy Lenzi *

(/) (UG) (Civil War era, amnesia, family, identity, conformity, romance)

The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrik

(5.6) (MG+) (Civil War, slavery, brothers, adventure)

The River Between Us by Richard Peck

(4.9) (UG) (Civil War, family, love, secrets)

The Storm Before Atlanta by Karen Schwabach

(4.8) (MG) (Civil War, interracial friendship)

When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan

(4.9) (MG) (Reconstruction, fathers & daughters, poverty, coming of age)

Victorian Era/ Early 1900's

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

(4.7) (MG) (Victorian era, orphans, spiritualism)

A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

(4.5) (UG) (early 1900’s, family, murder, mystery)

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross

(5.8) (MG+) (Victorian era Paris, secrets, friendship)

Brooklyn Rose by Ann Rinaldi

(4.7) (MG+) (Victorian Era, coming of age)

Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop *

(4.5) (MG) (early 1900’s, family, Industrial Revolution, child labor)

Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber

(4.3) (MG+) (early 1900’s, fathers and daughters, death, coming of age)

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

(7.0) (MG+) (sisters, Victorian era, poverty, mental disabilities)

Fateful by Claudia Gray

(5.3) (UG) (early 1900’s, Titanic, werewolves, romance, social classes)

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck

(5.1) (MG) (early 1900’s, auto racing, tomboys)

Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt

(5.9) (MG) (early 1900’s, racial discrimination, friendship)

Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

(5.4) (MG+) (Victorian era, prophecies, twins, paranormal/supernatural, good vs. evil)

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

(5.2) (MG+) (early 1900’s, Arctic, gold rush, family)

Ripper by Stefan Petrucha

(5.0) (MG+) (detectives, Jack the Ripper, Victorian era, orphans, mystery)

Runner by Robert Newton

(4.5) (UG) (family, poverty, coming of age, early 1900’s Australia)

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

(5.1) (MG) (Victorian era, orphans, mystery, kidnapping, magic)

The Bone Collector’s Son by Paul Yee

(4.6) (MG) (Chinese immigrants, fathers and sons, early 1900’s)

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

(5.6) (MG+) (Victorian era, hypnotism, fathers & daughters, women’s suffrage)

The Dark Between by Sonia Gensler

(5.4) (UG) (ghosts, Victorian era, murder, romance)

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding

(7.1) (UG) (mystery, murder, hauntings, evil, Victorian era)

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

(4.5) (MG+) (play, Victorian era, humor, romance, impersonations)

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

(6.4) (MG) (magic, mystery, family relationships, Victorian era)

The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd (series)

(4.6/5.8/5.3) (UG) (Victorian era, mad scientist, family, romance, Gothic)

The Poisoned House by Michael Ford

(4.9) (MG+) (family secrets, hauntings, Victorian era)

The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck

(4.7) (MG) (brothers & sisters, humor, early 1900’s, school)

The Unresolved by T. K. Welsh

(4.5) (MG+) (death, ghosts, early 1900’s, racial discrimination)

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

(4.7) (UG) (Victorian era, murder, social classes, romance, mystery)

Velvet by Mary Hooper

(MG) (Victorian era, orphans, spiritual mediums)

WWI - 1920’s

A Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier

(4.6) (MG+) (Spanish flu, family, friendship, nursing)

Anastasia’s Secret by Susanne Dunlap

(6.2) (MG+) (Russian Revolution, family relationships)

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
(6.0) (MG) (magic, sisters, kidnapping, 1920’s, England, uncanny folk, mystery)

Jake’s Orphan by Peggy Brooke

(5.4) (MG) (orphans, family, 1920’s, farm life, boys)

The Keening by A. LaFaye

(4.4) (MG+) (fathers & daughters, grief, epidemics, mental illness, coming of age)

The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

(5.8) (MG+) (Russian Revolution, the afterlife, spirits)

The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgewick

(4.5) (MG+) (WWI, premonitions)

The Goodbye Season by Marion Hale

(5.3) (MG) (family, Spanish Flu, death, coming of age)

The Secret School by Avi

(4.1) (MG) (1920’s, family, goals & aspirations)

Winnie’s War by Jenny Moss

(4.1) (MG) (Spanish influenza, family)

1930’s/Great Depression

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck *

(5.0) (MG) (family, 1930’s, humor) 

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck *

(4.9) (MG) (family, 1930’s, humor) 

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (series)

(3.5/3.8/3.7) (MG-) (1930’s, Alcatraz, family, Autism)

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

(5.0) (MG-) (orphans, Great Depression, racial injustice)

Finding Day’s Bottom by Candice Ransom

(3.8) (MG) (family, grief, grandparents)

Ghost Girl by Delia Ray

(5.4) (MG) (1930’s, family, poverty, death)

Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

(5.3) (MG) (1930’s, fathers & daughters, family secrets)

Poor is Just a Starting Place by Leslie Wyatt

(5.1) (MG) (Great Depression)

R My Name is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff

(3.7) (MG-) (family, great depression)

Tennyson by Leslie M. M. Blume

(5.1) (MG) (mothers and daughters, family secrets, Great Depression, the South, paranormal happenings)

The Truth About Sparrows by Marian Hale *

(5.0) (MG-) (family, friendship, Great Depression) 

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm

(3.7) (MG) (Key West, family, friendships)

1940's/WWII

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper (series)

(6.5) (UG) (WWII, family, royalty)

A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin

(MG+) (grandmothers & grandsons, WWII, otherworldly creatures, mystery)

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

(4.6) (MG) (family, 1940’s, humor)

Abigale Hall by Lauren A. Forry

(/) (UG) (England, 1940’s, ghosts, mystery, mental illness, sisters, murder)

After the Train by Gloria Whelan

(5.3) (MG+) (Post WWII Germany, Jews, mystery, racial prejudice)

Don't You Know There's a War On? by Avi

(3.6) (MG) (World War II, students and teachers)

Emil and Karl by Yankev Glatshteyn

(4.7) (MG) (Jews, Nazi occupation, friendship)

Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff

(4.6) (MG-) (friendship, WWII)

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck

(4.6) (MG) (family, WWII)

Phantoms in the Snow by Kathleen Benner Duble

(4.7) (MG) (WWII, family, army, coming of age)

Stones in Water by Donna Jo Napoli (series)

(4.2/4.2) (MG) (WWII, Italy, friendship)

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

(4.2) (UG) (1940’s, poverty, mothers & daughters, race relations, coming of age)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak *
(5.1) (UG) (Nazi Germany, WWII, friendship, family, Jews)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne *

(5.8) (UG) (friendship WWII, concentration camps) 

The Legend of Buddy Bush by Sheila P. Moses

(4.6) (MG+) (1940’s, family, racial discrimination)

Thin Wood Walls by David Patneaude

(4.3) (MG) (family, death, WWII, Japanese interment)

War Games by Audrey Couloumbis

(4.6) (MG) (WWII, Greece, family)

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

(5.7) (MG) (WWII, refugees, family)

Willow Run by Patricia Reilly Giff

(4.2) (MG-) (family, WWII)

1950's / 1960's

Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Sue Shank

(4.7) (MG) (1950’s, Appalachia, family, death, justice, coming of age, secrets)

Girl In Reverse by Barbara Stuber

(4.6) (MG+) (1950’s, adoption, racism, Asian heritage, family secrets)

My Louisiana Sky by Kimberly Willis Holt
(4.6) (MG) (family relationships, fitting in, 1950’s)

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

(4.0) (UG) (1950’s, brothels, mother-daughter relations, dreams)

 Penny from Heaven by Jennifer Holm

(4.0) (MG) (family, fathers, 1950’s, racial discrimination, Italians)

The Hollow Ground Natalie S. Harnett

(/) (UG) (family relationships, murder mystery, coal mining towns, 1960’s)

Civil Rights Era

A Thousand Never Evers by Shana Burg

(5.1) (MG) (family, civil rights movement)

Leon’s Story by Leon Walter Tillage

(4.9) (MG) (non-fiction, biography, civil rights era, racial discrimination)

Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan

(5.2) (MG) (Civil rights movement, family)

The Private Thoughts of Amelia E. Rye by Bonnie Shimko

(4.8) (MG) (mothers and daughters, civil rights era, racial prejudice, friendship)

The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis

(5.0) (MG) (family, civil rights era, humor) 

Yankee Girl by Mary Ann Rodman

(3.7) (MG) (civil rights era, racism, friendship)

Cold War/Communist Era

Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin

(4.6) (MG-) (Communism, Stalin-era Russia, family)

Sekret by Lindsay Smith

(5.5) (UG) (Cold War, KGB, psychic powers, spies)

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

(4.9) (MG) (magic, spies, cold war, friendship)

Vietnam War

Summer’s End by Audrey Couloumbis

(4.4) (MG) (family, Vietnam War)

The Mailbox by Audrey Shafer

(5.0) (MG) (orphans, death, Vietnam War)

The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt

(4.0) (UG) (brothers, Vietnam War)

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt

(4.5) (MG) (friendship, Vietnam War, obesity, boys)

Bosnian War

Under the Sun by Arthur Dorros

(5.3) (UG) (Bosnian War, survival, family)

Note:  Lists are arranged with Title, Author, Reading Level, Age Appropriate Level, and Descriptive Tags.
(Age appropriate level denotes the youngest readers that the book is appropriate for.  That doesn't mean that older readers will not enjoy the book!)

* =  books that I thought were GREAT

UG = upper grades  (contain sex, drugs, and/or very graphic violence; deal with mature subject matter such as rape, prostitution, child abuse, etc. )
MG+ = junior high  (may contain some profanity or sexual references; may deal with subject matter too mature for younger audiences)
MG = 4th through 6th grades (nothing inappropriate for children, but may not keep the interest of younger readers)
MG- = all ages (perfect for bedtime stories or read-alouds, or for precocious readers in the lower grades)

* = LGBTQ themes - characters, situations, or references to same-sex couples

Books included in this list are all ones that I have read myself and given a rating of at least 3 out of 5 Stars (why would I recommend anything less?)  When a book is part of a series, only the first title is listed, but the reading level for all books in the series is shown.  Lists will be updated periodically as I read new books.