United States Historical Fiction
... for grades 5 and 6
Click a title to check the Skokie Public Library catalog for the status of the book in the Youth Services collection. Titles marked with * are available on audio.
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| Civil War: 1861-1865 |
| World War I: 1914-1918 |
| World War II: 1939-1945 |
| Other titles of interest |
Civil War: 1861-1865
- Fleischman, Paul. Bull Run. 1995. *
J Fiction FLE - The first great battle of the Civil War affected our entire nation. Here are the stories of how it changed the lives of the people of this nation.
- Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils. 1964. *
J Fiction HUN - Jethro lives on an Illinois farm during the Civil War and is forced into manhood when left in charge of his family.
- Taylor, Mildred D. The Land. 2001.
*
J Fiction TAY - Paul wants to own his own land. As the son of a white father and a black mother, he is caught between the worlds of white and colored folks, but doesn't fully fit in either universe.
World War I: 1914-1918
- Lindquist, Susan Hart. Summer Soldiers. 1999.
J Fiction LIN - While his father has gone off to fight in World War I, Joe is left as the head of the house. While doing the work of a man, he feels like a soldier himself, fighting off bullies.
World War II: 1939-1945
- Giff, Patricia Reilly. Lily's Crossing. 1997. *
J Fiction GIF - The spectacular summer Lily has planned is drastically changed when her father goes to fight in World War II, her best friend moves, and she meets Albert, a refugee from Hungary.
- Rinaldi, Ann. Keep Smiling Through. 1996.
J Fiction RIN - Pinkus Aylee finds Say Curtis injured during the Civil War and takes him home, putting their lives and the lives of others in danger.
- Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz. 1971.
J Fiction UCH - After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yuki Sakane's father is taken by the FBI and she is sent to a Japanese internment camp where she lives in a horse stall far from home.
Other titles of interest
- Auch, Mary Jane. Journey to Nowhere. 1997.
J Fiction AUC - Mem and her family are moving to New York for a better life. Mem tries to reunite her family after being separated in the wilderness, where there are more wild animals than humans.
- Clapp, Patricia. Witches' Children:
A Story of Salem. 1982.
J Fiction CLA - In Salem, Massachusetts, Mary Warren and a group of girls claim to have seen the devil. Through a series of events, many townspeople are said to be witches and a frenzied madness begins.
- Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. 1999. *
J Fiction CUR - Bud, not Buddy, sets out to find his father after his mother has passed away. The man he believes to be his father is not at all what he expected.
- Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons Go to Birmingham.
1964. *
J Fiction CUR - The Watsons, an African-American family, have a life that is both comic and tragic when they leave Flint, Michigan, to spend the summer of 1963 with Grandma in Alabama.
- Cushman, Karen. The Ballad of Lucy Whipple. 1996. *
J Fiction CUS - Lucy and her family are looking for gold in California. All Lucy can find is rocks, holes, and lizards. She plans a return to Massachusetts for school and to where she can use a lending library.
- Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House. 1999.
*
J Fiction ERD - Omakayas is an Ojibwa Indian who loves her family and home until the day a visitor comes and shatters their lives.
- Fox, Paula. The Slave Dancer:
A Novel. 1973. *
J Fiction FOX - Jessie Bollier is kidnapped and taken to Africa, where he is forced into the world of slave trading.
- Holm, Jennifer L. Our Only May Amelia. 1999. *
J Fiction HOL - May Amelia Jackson is a miracle, for she is the only girl to ever be born on the Nasel River. Being treated like a miracle is great, sometimes, but she wishes her mother would have not another brother, but another miracle.
- Peck, Richard. Ghosts I
Have Been: A Novel. 1977.
J Fiction PEC - Blossom Culp, lead by her talent to see the unknown world, is entwined with the tormented ghost of a boy on the Titanic.
- Robinet, Harriette Gillem. Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule.
1998.
J Fiction ROB - In the aftermath of the Civil War, Pascal and his family have been given freedom and promised forty acres and maybe a mule, but have to fight night riders to keep the freedom they have claimed.
- Robinet, Harriette Gillem. Mississippi Chariot. 1994.
J Fiction ROB - Shortning Bread Jackson has a plan to rescue his father from a Mississippi chain gang. The plan starts with a rumor, but he's just not sure he can pull it off.