Historical Fiction for Young AdultsLike this list

20 items

• The Lost Year

  Marsh, Katherine,

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  In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, thirteen-year-old Matthew discovers a shocking secret about his great-grandmother's past as he learns about her life during the Holodomor famine in Soviet Ukraine.

• The Teacher of Nomad Land

  a World War II Story

  Nayeri, Daniel,

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  1941. The German armies are storming across Europe. Iran is a neutral country occupied by British forces on one side. Soviet forces on another. Soldiers fill the teahouses of Isfahan. Nazi spies roam the alleyways. Babak and his little sister have…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli

  Glaser, Karina Yan,

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  In 731 Chang'An, China, Han Yu rises every day with the first beat of the city drums to sell steamed buns in a bustling market full of whispers about his ability to summon tigers. In 1931 Chinatown, New York, Luli Lee spends her evenings gazing out…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bletchley Riddle

  Sepetys, Ruta,

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  Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act... Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they're living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ground Zero

  Gratz, Alan, 1972-

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  Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Birchbark House

  Erdrich, Louise,

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  Omakakiins and her family live on an island in Lake Superior. Though there are growing numbers of white people encroaching on their land, life continues much as it always has. But the satisfying rhythms of their life are shattered when a visitor…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Warrior on the Mound

  Headen, Sandra W.,

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  In 1939 North Carolina, an all-Black baseball team "trespasses" on the whites-only baseball field, and the resulting racial outrage can only be resolved on the mound.

• Inside Out & Back Again

  Lai, Thanhha

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  Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

• One Big Open Sky

  Cline-Ransome, Lesa,

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  In the 1870s, a Black family undertakes a perilous wagon journey westward for a tenuous shot at freedom in Nebraska.

• The War That Saved My Life

  Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker,

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  A young disabled girl and her brother are evacuated from London to the English countryside during World War II, where they find life to be much sweeter away from their abusive mother.

• Moon Over Manifest

  Vanderpool, Clare

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  Twelve-year-old Abilene Tucker is the daughter of a drifter who, in the summer of 1936, sends her to stay with an old friend in Manifest, Kansas, where he grew up, and where she hopes to find out some things about his past.

• A Night Divided

  Nielsen, Jennifer A.,

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  When the Berlin Wall went up, Gerta, her mother, and her brother Fritz are trapped on the eastern side where they were living, while her father, and her other brother Dominic are in the West--four years later, now twelve, Gerta sees her father on a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sword in the Tree

  Bulla, Clyde Robert

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  After his father is reported dead and his wicked uncle takes over the castle, eleven-year-old Shan hides his father's precious sword and, after escaping with his mother, makes his way to King Arthur's court to seek help in winning back his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hurricane Katrina

  Cardell, Eleanor,

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  Part of the Against the Odds series, this fictional story is inspired by real events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. When the storm strikes New Orleans, a boy named Jake and his grandmother become trapped in their home and must find a way to escape…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• World Made of Glass

  Polonsky, Ami,

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  Iris opens her eyes to hard truths and the power of her voice when her father dies of AIDS in 1987"-- "1987. Iris tries to act normal at school, going through the motions and joking around with her friends, but it feels like she'll never laugh…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Under Attack

  Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk,

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  12-year-old twin sisters Rada and Dariia Popkova couldn't be more different. Rada is outgoing and chatty while Dariia is a quieter and artsy. But what they have in common is their love for each other and their home. The family lives in the Ukrainian…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Will's Race for Home

  a Western

  Rhodes, Jewell Parker,

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  It's 1889, barely twenty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and a young Black family is tired of working on land they don't get to own. So when Will and his father hear about an upcoming land rush, they set out on a journey from Texas…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Blossoming Summer

  Johnson, Anna Rose,

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  When thirteen-year-old Rosemary is evacuated from WWII London to her grandmother's home in America, she uncovers a hidden family truth -- that they are Anishinaabe -- leading her to embrace her heritage, forge new bonds, and find beauty in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Star

  Alexander, Kwame,

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  Twelve-year old Black girl Charley, who dreams of becoming the first professional female pitcher, must navigate adolescence during the turbulent segregation era and the beginning of the Great Migration.

• Clouds Over California

  Parsons, Karyn, 1968-

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  Stevie struggles to fit in at her new California middle school and is experiencing changes at home, while the Black Panthers and women's rights movements influence her life from the background.