8th gr. HISTORICAL FICTION AT LAGUNA LIBRARY

 

Key: F= Fiction., SC=Story Collection, RL=Reading Level, YA=Young Adult,  AR=Accelerated Reader                                                

The reading level of each book is noted at the end of the summary. RL=reading level followed by the grade, i.e. 6.3 means 6th grade, 3rd month. Choose a book that is suited to your reading level. Your English teacher can tell you what your actual reading level is.

COLONIAL AMERICA

Call# Author                 Title

F          Borden, Louise.         Sleds on Boston Common: a story from the American Revolution Henry complains

                                                to the royal governor, General Gage, after his plan to sled down the steep hill at Boston Common is

                                                thwarted by the masses of British troops camped there. AR level 5.2

F          Breslin Howard.          Silver Oar A tale of a young pirate on his way to execution.

F          Brown, Slater.             Gray Bonnets Quakers are accused of being witches.                                          

F          Bulla, Clyde Robert.    A Lion to Guard Us Amanda takes her brother and sister by ship to join their father in the new

                                                colony of Jamestown. AR level 2.9

F          Cavanna, Betty.          Ruffles and Drums Sarah, a 16-yr.-old girl witnesses the famous confrontation between British

                                                troops and American farmers at the start of the Revolution. A wartime romance.RL 6.1

F          Chickering, Marjorie.  Yankee Trader: Ben Tanner 1799 Ben is 16 when he gets his longed for chance to accompany a

                                                trader on a trip from VT to Maine in 1799. Mystery & danger fill his life during the journey. RL 6

F          Clapp, Patricia.             Constance: A Story of Early Plymouth A young girl’s diary reflects life in Plymouth. RL6.8

F          Clapp, Patricia.             Witches’ Children During the winter of 1692, when the young girls of Salem suddenly find

                                                themselves subject to fits of  screaming & strange visions, some believe that they have see the devil

                                                & are the victims of witches. RL 6

F          Coatsworth, Eliz.        Golden Horseshoe

F          Collier, J. L. & C..       War Comes to Willy Freeman A free 13-yr.-old black girl in Connecticut is caught up in the

                                                horror of theRevolutionary War and the danger of being returned to slavery when her patriot father

                                                is killed by the British and her mother disappears. AR  4.9

F          Cooke, Donald E.        Little Wolf Slayer: story of Philadelphia’s Quakers Good historical research reveals facts

                                                that are little known about the hardships suffered by the early settlers of William Penn’s

                                                Pennsylvania settlement. This story centers on the hard winter of 1682-1683.

F          Cooney, Caroline B.   The Ransom of Mercy Carter  In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts,

                                                11year-old Mercy & her family & neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians & their French allies, &

                                                forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to new lives & some still

                                                hope to be ransomed. AR 4.7

F          Curry, Jane L.             A Stolen LifeIn 1758, in Scotland, teenaged Jamesina MacKensie finds her courage & resolution

                                                severely tested when she is abducted by ‘’Spriters’ and, after a harrowing voyage, sold as a bond

                                                slave to a Virginia planter.AR 5.9

F          Denenberg, Barry.       Journal of William Thomas Emerson: Rev. War Patriot, Boston, MA, 1774 (My Name

                                                Is  America series)William, a twelve-year-old orphan, writes of his experiences in pre-

                                                Revolutionary War Boston where he joins the cause of the patriots who are opposed to the

                                                British rule. AR 5.6

F          Dorris, Michael.          Sees Behind Trees A Native American boy with the gift to “see” beyond his poor eyesight

                                                journeys with an old warrior to a land of mystery and beauty.RL5.9

F          Durrant, Lynda.         Beaded Moccasins: Story of Mary Campbell After being captured by a group of  Delaware

                                                Indians & given to their leader as a replacement for his dead granddaughter. Campbell is forced to

                                                travel west with them to Ohio.RL4.8

F          Durrant, Lynda.         Echohawk A 12-yr.-old white boy adopted & raised by Mohicans in the Hudson River Valley in the

                                                1730s, is sent with his younger brother to an English settlement for schooling.RL4.8

F          Faulkner, Nancy.        Journey into Danger 15-yr.-old Deborah finds out for herself just how dangerous it is to be a

                                                Patriot in 1777 in Tory Philadelphia when she gets a chance to play a vital part in the Revolution.

F          Field, Rachel.             Calico Bush Set in Colonial Maine, the story tells of Marguerite, a french girl known as Molly,

                                                who is bound-out to a family of American pioneers during the time of the French and Indian War.

                                                AR level 6.2

F          Fleischman, Paul       Saturnalia In 1681 in Boston, 14-yr.-old William, a Narraganset Indian captured in a raid 6 years

                                                earlier, leads a productive & contented life as a printer’s apprentice but is increasingly anxious to

                                                make some connection with his Indian past.AR level 6.4

F          Fritz, Jean.                Early Thunder In pre-revolutionary Salem, 14-yr.-old Daniel begins to examine his loyalty to the

                                                King as the conflict between Tories and patriots increasingly divides the townspeople. AR level 5.4

F          Hildick, E. W.             Hester Bidgood 13-yr.-old Hester & her 15-yr.-old friend Rob investigate the stoning & branding

                                                of a kitten in a New England town caught in the grip of witchcraft rumors during the year

                                                1692.

F          Keehn, Sally M.          I am Regina In 1775, 12-yr.-old Regina is kidnapped by Indians, and she must struggle to hold

                                                onto memories of her earlier life as she grows up. AR level 4.4

F*         Kirkpatrick, K.           Troubles Daughter: Story of Susana Hutchinson, Indian Captive When her family is

                                                massacred by Lenape Indians in 1643, 9 yr.-old Susanna, daughter of Anne Hutchinson, is captured

                                                & raised as a Lenape. AR level 4.8

F          Lasky, Kathryn.          Beyond the Burning Time When in 1691 accusations of witchcraft rose in her small New

                                                 England village, Mary Chase fights to save her mother from execution as a witch.AR level 5.6

F*         Lasky, Kathryn.          Journey to the New World: Diary of Remember Patience Whipple(Dear America series) 12-

                                                year-old Mem presents a diary account of the trip she and her family made on the Mayflower in 1620

                                                and their first year in the New World. AR level 6.0

F          Lenski, Lois.              Puritan Adventure Young Aunt Charity comes to join the Partridge family in Massassachuttes

                                                Bay Colony, bringing with her pretty clothes and a merry laugh, both strange in the sober Puritan

                                                Colony. But it is she who saves the colony in a time of danger.RL 6.0

F          Lunn, Janet.              The Hollow Tree In 1777 15-yr.-old Phoebe Olcott is thrown headlong into the turmoil of war

                                                when her beloved cousin Gideon is hanged as a British spy. AR 5.8

F          O’Dell, Scott.             Serpent Never Sleeps: a Novel of Jamestown & Pocahontas Serena Lynn, determined to be

                                                with the man she has  loved since childhood, travels to the New World & comes to know the

                                                hardships of colonial life & the extraordinary Princess Pocahontas. AR 6.5

F          Osborne, Mary Pope.  Standing in the Light:Captive Diary of Catharine C. Logan, Delaware Vy, PA

                                                1763(Dear America series A Quaker girl's diary reflects her experiences growing up in the

                                                Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania and her capture by Lenape Indians. AR level 5.1

F          Nixon, Joan Lowery.  Ann’s Story: 1747 Ann, a young girl in eighteenth-century Williamsburg, wants to become a

                                                doctor like her father, but she is not allowed even to study Latin or mathematics. AR level 4.9 5

F          Nixon, Joan Lowery.  Caesar’s Story: 1759: After having been a slave on Carter’s Grove plantation near Williamsburg

                                                since childhood, Caesar finally finds a way to plan his own future. AR 5.1 

F          Petry, Ann.                 Tituba of Salem Village Gentle strong hands capable of nursing the sick; of spinning strong

                                                even thread; of planting a garden; of caring for livestock; these hands bring Tituba to trial for

                                                witchcraft.. AR 5.4 

F          Rinaldi, Ann.             A Break with Charity: Story about the Salem Witch Trials: While waiting for a church

                                                meeting in 1706, Susanna English, daughter of a wealthy Salem merchant, recalls the malice, fear,

                                                & accusations of witchcraft.AR 4.7

F          Rinaldi, Ann.             Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: Story of Phillis Wheatley A fictionalized biography

                                                of the 18th century African woman who, as a child, was brought to New England to be a slave, &

                                                after publishing her first poem when a teenager, gained renown throughout the colonies as an

                                                important black American poet.AR 4.0

F          Rinaldi, Ann.             Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: a pilgrim boy A 14-year-old indentured servant keeps a

                                                journal of his experiences on the Mayflower and during the building of Plymouth Plantation in 1620

                                                and 1621. AR 4.9

F          Rinaldi, Ann.             Secret of Sarah Revere Paul Revere’s daughter describes her father’s rides and the intelligence

                                                network of the patriotic community prior to the American Revolution AR 3.7

F          Shaik, Fatima.            Melitte In 1772, years of mistreatment force 13-yr.-old Melitte to decide whether or not to run

                                                away from the Frenchman who has kept her as a slave on his poor Louisiana farm & leave the

                                                young girl who is the only person who ever loved her. AR  5.1

F            Speare, Elizabeth.     Calico Captive In 1754 a raid on her small New Hampshire town leaves Mirian Willard

                                                a prisoner of the Indians, forced to take part in a harrowing march north. AR level 6.0

F            Speare, Elizabeth.     Sign of the Beaver Left alone to guard the family’s wilderness home in eighteenth-century

                                                Maine, a boy is hard-pressed to survive until local Indians teach him their skills. AR level 4.9

F            Speare, Elizabeth.     Witch of Blackbird Pond Kit Tyler, on a visit to Connecticut from her home in Barbados becomes

                                                friendly with Hannah the witch, teaches a little girl to read, and is saved in the ensuing witchhunt.

                                                AR level 5.7

F            Stainer, M. L.            The Lyon’s Cub Jessabel, one of the survivors of the disappearance of the English settlers on

Roanoake Island in 1587, relates how her remaining companions live with the Croatoan Indians and try to find the missing colonists. AR level 4.9

F            Stainer, M. L.            The Lyon’s Roar14-yr.-old Jess relates her sea voyage with other English families to Roanoke

                                                Island in 1587, thei attempt to make a permanent settlement, and Jess’s contact with the Croatoan

                                                Indians. AR level 5.9

F            Wyeth, Sharon D.      Once on this River.While on a trip with her mother from Madagascar to New York in

                                                1760,11-yr.-old Monday learns the horrors of slavery and the truth about her other mother.

                                                AR level 4.4


 
 

AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND NEW NATION (through 1850s)

Call # Author                 Title

            Alder, Elizabeth.         Crossing the Panther’s Path 16 year-old Bill Calder, son of a British soldier and a Mohawk

                                                woman, leaves school to join Tecumseh in his efforts to prevent the Americns from taking any more

                                                land from the Indians in the Northwest Territory. (War of 1812) RL 8.1

F          Allen, Merritt P.         Red Heritage

F          Auch, Mary Jane.        Frozen Summer (1815) An exciting tale of a family who packs up a covered wagon headed for the

                                                the wilderness of western N.Y. RL 4.8

F          Avi.                              The Barn   In an effort to fulfill their dying father’s last request Ben and his brother & sister

                                                construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.RL 5.8

F          Avi.                              Beyond the Western Seas, Book 1: Escape from Home Driven from their impoverished Irish

                                                village in 1850, 15-yr.-old Maura & her younger brother meet their landlord’s runaway son in

                                                Liverpool while all 3 wait for a ship to America. RL5.5

F          Avi.                              Beyond the Western Sea, Book 2: Lord Kirkle’s Money The story continues in Book 2                                                 as the fate of the characters continue to intertwine on board ship and in the New World.RL5.5

F          Avi.                              Captian Grey  Following the Revolution in 1783, an 11-yr.-old boy becomes the captive of

                                                ruthless man who has set up his own nation, supported by piracy, on a remote part of the New

                                                Jersey coast. 1783 pirates) RL 6.9

F          Avi.                             The Fighting Ground 13-yr.-old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War & discovers

                                                the real war is being fought within himself.RL6.4

F          Avi.                             True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle As the lone “young lady” on a transatlantic voyage in

                                                1832, Charlotte learns that the captain is murderous & the crew rebellious.RL7.0

F          Ayres, Katherine.       North by Night: Story of the Underground RailroadRL 4.8

F          Banim, Lisa.               The Hessian’s Secret Diary During the summer of 1776, a 10 year-old Peggy discovers a

                                                wounded soldier in the woods near her Brooklyn farm, & is convinced that his sketchbook contains

                                                the secret notes of a Hessian spy. RL 5.5

F          Bell, Kensil               Jersey rebel (Valley Forge story)

F          Blos, Joan.                  A Gathering of Days: a New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-32Journal kept the last year she

                                                lived on the family farm, records daily events in her small New Hampshire town, her father’s

                                                remarriage, & the death of her best friend. Newbery Medal book. RL6.0

F          Boyd, James.              Drums Johnny Frasier, the son of Scottish immigrants now living in North Carolina, goes off to

                                                fight in the Revolutionary War & has adventures on both sides of the Atlantic. YA 

F          Bruchac, Joseph.       Sacajawea Sacajawea, a Shoshoni Indian interpreter, peacemaker, & guide, & William Clark

                                                alternate in describing their experiences on the Lewis & Clark Expedition to the Northwest. RL6.5

F          Bryant, Louella        The Black Bonnet As they near the end of their journey for freedom along the Underground

                                                railroad, 12 yr.-old Charity & her 16-yr.-old sister Bea encounter additional perils. RL7.9

F          Carbone, Elisa.           Stealing Freedom Based on the events of a young slave girl from Maryland, who endures all kinds

                                                of mistreatment and cruelty, including being separated from her family, but who eventually escapes

                                                to Canada. RL7.6

F          Churchill, Claire.       South of the Sunset: an interpretation of Sacajawea, the Indian girl who accompanied.

F          Collier, James L.        My Brother Sam is Dead Story recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family when one son

                                                joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Torytown. RL5.8

F          Collier, James L.        The Bloody Country In the mid-18th century a family moves from Connecticut to Pennsylvania

                                                and becomes involved in the property conflict between the 2 states.RL5.2

F          Collier, James L.        The Clock When her spendthrift father goes into debt after buying a sheep and the inner workings

                                                of a clock, 15-yr.-old Annie Steele is sent to work in the town’s new wool mill to help support her

                                                family. Her job is full of risk especially after she discovers that the mills cruel overseer is stealing

                                                bags of wool & she decides to do something about it. RL6.9

F          Collier, James L.        Jump Ship to Freedom By rights, young Daniel Arabus & his mother, slaves in Captain Iver’s

                                                house in Stratford, Connecticut should be free. But the Captain refuses to honor their agreement &

                                                sells Daniel on board a ship to the West Indies. RL5.4

F          Collier, James L.        Who is Carrie? A young black girl living in New York city in the 18th century observes the historic

                                                event taking place around her and at the same time solves the mystery of her own identity. RL5.8

F          DeFelice, Cynthia.     Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker After his family dies of consumption in 1849, Lucas

                                                becomes a doctor’s apprentice.AR 5.2 

F          DeFelice, Cynthia.     Weasel Alone in the wilderness in 1849 while his father is recovering from an injury, Nathan runs

                                                afoul of the renegade killer known as Weasel & makes a surprising discovery about the concept of

                                                revenge. RL7.0

F          Denenberg, Barry.      So Far from Home: the Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl (Dear America series) During

                                                the potato famine, young Mary Driscoll leaves her Ireland home for Lowell, Massachusetts, where

                                                deplorable working conditions and a false accusation of murder force her to rally more courage than

                                                she thought she had. AR 4.4

F          Donahue, John.         An Island Far from Home The son of a Union army doctor killed in Fredericksburg comes to

                                                understand the meaning of war & the fine line between friends & enemies when he begins

                                                corresponding with a young Confederate prisoner of war. RL5.5

F          Durrant, Lynda           Betsy Zane, the Rose of Fort Henry In 1781 12-yr.-old Elizabeth Zane, great-great-aunt of

                                                novelist Zane Grey, leaves Philadelphis to return to her brothershomestead near Fort Henry in

                                                what is now West Virginia, where she plays an important role in thefinal battle of  the American

                                                Revolution. RL5.8

F          Edmonds, Walter D.   Drums Along the Mohawk Story of the Courageous pioneers along the Mohawk Valley during the

                                                Revolutionary War who endured terrible hardships to form a free nation in the wilderness of the

                                                new world. AD

F          Edmonds, Walter D.   In the Hands of the Senecas Tells of the hardships of whites captured by Sececa Indians on the

                                                frontier in 1778.

F          Fast, Howard.              April Morning The story of one day in the life of a young American boy in colonial Lexington the

                                                day in which he joined the militia and saw his father shot down by the British.RL8.0  Newbery

                                                Award winner.

F          Finlayson, Ann.         Rebecca’s War Left in charge of her brother & sister in occupied Philadelphia in 1777, 14-yr.-

                                                old Rebecca’s life is complicated even further when 2 British soldiers are billeted in her house.

F          Forbes, Esther.           Johnny Tremain The story of a young silver apprentice during the exciting time of the Tea Party,

                                                culminates in the Battle of Lexington. A story of Boston in revolt, and a very young man in love as

                                                seen in the experience of a courier for the revolutionary Committee for Public Safety.RL5.3

F          Fox, Paula.