Kids - Tales from the Far East

[ Kid's Home ] [ Home ] [ Search Our Site ] [ Site Map ]

Just in time! A historical fiction booklist

J Avi       Avi, The Seer of Shadows. 2008.
History, mystery and fantasy are combined in this eerie tale from New York City in the 1870s.Young Horace Carpentine is apprenticed to a photographer that plans a scam on a grieving mother, but a mystery “develops” when the trick goes horribly awry.

J Avi       Avi. Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Monitor the Merrimac: A Civil War Novel. 2007.
Set in 1862, Iron Thunder is an “I Witness” book, told from the viewpoint of 13-year-old, Tom Carroll, who lands a job working for the inventor, Captain Ericsson, helping to build the Union Army’s first ironclad ship (a forerunner to today’s submarine). Complete with spies, dangerous voyages and Civil War battles!

J Avi        Avi. The Traitors' Gate. 2007.
The Traitors' Gate is a mystery that brings 1840s London to life, in a plot with as many twists and turns as the streets of the Rookery of St. Giles, a downtrodden neighborhood where fourteen-year-old John Huffam takes refuge with Sary the Sneak. The Tower of London, Scotland Yard, debtors' prison, shabby butlers, spies, sneaks and traitors - they're all here in The Traitor’s Gate!

J Curt       Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton. 2007.
Elijah is a freeborn black boy, a rarity in 1859. He lives in Buxton, Canada, a free black society. Elijah must leave the sanctuary of Buxton to follow a thieving preacher who has stolen money saved by a Buxton resident to purchase his family’s freedom. This award-winning book is told with both humor and sadness, through the eyes of an honest, innocent, and thoroughly likeable boy.

J Gree       Greenwood, Barbara. Factory Girl. 2007.
Emily must choose whether to keep her job at the clothing factory and keep her family alive, or to speak out against the horrific sweatshop conditions and perhaps save a life – maybe even her own! Factory Girl is a mix of fact and fiction, alternating between the fictional life of Emily, a 12-year-old garment worker in 1911 New York City, and facts and
                         photographs of the time.

J Hoop       Hooper, Mary. At the Sign of the Sugared Plum. 2003.
In 1665, Hannah decides to leave her life in the quiet English countryside to join her older sister, Sarah, in London. She arrives at the same time as another, more unwelcome visitor – the bubonic plague!

J Dowe       Dowell, Frances O'Roark. Shooting the Moon. 2008.
Jamie Dexter’s brother has just enlisted in the Vietnam War. As she volunteers in the Army rec center, and learns to develop the rolls of film arriving steadily from her brother, she begins to realize that life and love and war are more complicated than the "Army way" had taught her to believe. Shooting the Moon can be read quickly, but will not be easily forgotten.

J Klag       Klages, Ellen, The Green Glass Sea. 2007.
In 1948, outside Los Alamos, New Mexico, scientists work on the creation of a secret weapon in a town that doesn’t even appear on a map. This is the story of 11-year-old Dewey Kerrigan and the other scientists’ children, making a life in this secret town as their parents are on the verge of creating the world’s first atomic bomb. Winner of the Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction.

J Morp       Morpurgo, Michael. The Mozart Question. 2008.
A young reporter receives a plum assignment – interview the famous musician, Paolo Levi – but don’t ask the Mozart question. Although Lesley doesn’t ask the question, the usually quiet Paolo decides to answer it, and so draws the reader into the story of Paolo’s childhood in Venice, his parents, his violin, the Holocaust, and Mozart’s role in his parents’ survival. A short, beautifully illustrated novel – part mystery, part history.

J Schm       Schmidt, Gary D. The Wednesday Wars. 2007.
Set in 1960s Long Island, this is the story of 7th grader, Holling Hoodhood, a Presbyterian, and the only child not required to attend religious instruction classes on Wednesday afternoons. Instead, he spends those afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, where he learns to navigate the tumultuous 60s in a novel that is both laugh-out-loud funny and very moving.

J Selz       Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret. 2007.
Hugo Cabret is a young street urchin living inside the walls of a Paris train station. Without giving too much away, The Invention of Hugo Cabret is mystery, history, suspense, friendship, and coming-of-age all at once. Life in 1931 Paris, clockworks, the history of film, and friendship are strong themes of the story. Winner of the 2007 Caldecott Award for its more than 300 illustrations.

J Whit       White, Ruth, Little Audrey. 2008.
Based on the author’s real-life sister, Audrey, this book will transport the reader to life in 1940s coal-mining camp where Audrey lives with her parents and three sisters. Although life may feel hopeless, Audrey remains hopeful. A truly authentic book – highly recommended.

J Yep        Yep, Laurence. The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island. 2008.
The Dragon's Child is written in the form of an interview of Yep Gim Lew, the author’s father, by the author, Laurence Yep. Each answer is followed by "flashback" to young Yep Gim Lew's past in 1922. You know the story of the Ellis Island immigrants, now read the very different story of one who passed through “the Ellis Island of the West,” Angel Island.

L.Taylor-1/09