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United States Historical Fiction

Colonial Period to 1974

All books can be found by the author's last name in the Juvenile Fiction area unless noted on the booklist.

Ackerman, Ned (J)
Spirit Horse
When a Siksika boy living on the Plains during the 1770s becomes separated from a raiding party, he discovers the legendary spirit horse, which he attempts to track down and tame.

Buckey, Sarah Masters (J American Girl)
Enemy In The Fort
In 1754, with her own parents taken captive, twelve-year-old Rebecca must confront her fear and hatred of the Abenaki when a boy, raised by members of that tribe, is brought to the fort at Charleston, New Hampshire, just before a series of thefts occurs.

Curry, Jane Louise (J)
A Stolen Life
In 1758 in Scotland, teenaged Jamesina MacKenzie finds her courage and resolution severely tested when she is abducted by "spiriters" and, after a harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, sold as a bond slave to a Virginia planter.

Ernst, Kathleen (J American Girl)
Trouble At Fort La Point
In the early 1700s, twelve-year-old Suzette, an Ojibwa-French girl, hopes that her father will win the fur-trapping contest so that he can quit being a voyageur and stay home with his family year-round, but when he is accused of stealing, Suzette must use her knowledge of both French and Ojibwa ways to find the real thief.

Forrester, Sandra (J)
Wheel Of The Moon
In England in 1627, newly orphaned Pen Downing leaves her country village for London where she is abducted and sent to Virginia to work as an indentured servant.

Hermes, Patricia (J My America)
The Starving Time: Elizabeth's Diary, Book Two
Elizabeth Barker continues to write to her "friend," her diary, as disease and lack of food further plague the suffering settlers at Jamestown.

Hermes, Patricia (J My America)
Our Strange New Land: Elizabeth's Diary, Jamestown, Virginia, 1609
Nine-year-old Elizabeth keeps a journal of her experiences in the New World as she encounters Indians, suffers hunger and the death of friends, and helps her father build their first home.

Jones, Elizabeth McDavid (J American Girl)
Mystery On Skull Island
In 1724, twelve-year-old Rachel and her friend Sally discover a pirates' hiding place on a deserted island near Charles Town, South Carolina, and they suspect it may be connected to the woman who will soon become Rachel's stepmother.

Karwoski, Gail (J)
Surviving Jamestown: The Adventures Of Young Sam Collier
Sam Collier, a twelve-year-old, serves as a page to John Smith during the relentless hardship experienced by the founders at the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

McDonald, Megan (J American Girl)
Shadows In The Glasshouse
While working as an indentured servant for a Jamestown glassmaker in 1621, twelve-year-old Merry uncovers a case of sabotage.

Nixon, Joan Lowery (J Young Americans)
Maria's Story: 1773
In Williamsburg, Virginia, two years before the start of the American Revolution, nine-year-old Maria worries that her mother will lose her contract to publish official reports and announcements of the British government because she prints anti-British articles in their family-run newspaper.

Nixon, Joan Lowery (J Young Americans)
Nancy's Story: 1765
In 1765, twelve-year-old Nancy worries about the effect of the British Stamp Act on her father's silversmith business in Williamsburg and about how to get along with her new stepmother.

Osborne, Mary Pope (J Dear America & also video)
Standing In The Light: The Captive Diary Of Catherine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763
A Quaker girl's diary reflects her experiences growing up in the Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania and her capture by Lenape Indians in 1763.

Rinaldi, Ann (J My Name Is)
The Journal Of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, A Pilgrim Boy, Plymouth Plantation, 1620
A fourteen-year-old indentured servant keeps a journal of his experiences on the Mayflower and during the building of Plymouth in 1620 and 1621.

Rees, Celia (YA)
Witch Child
In 1659, fourteen-year-old Mary Newbury keeps a journal of her voyage from England to the New World and her experiences living as a witch in a community of Puritans near Salem, Massachusetts.