Do your children already love to read historical fiction? Perhaps you’re looking for a few good titles to introduce them to the genre? Either way, this is the book list for you! Here are a few of our favorite historical fiction books for kids—all are available for checkout from the Orem Library. If you want even more historical fiction recommendations, listen to the library’s Check it Out! podcast, which features expert book reviews from literature specialists Rita, Mary, Rachel, and EJ.
Voyage of the Sparrowhawk
By Natasha Farrant
Junior Fiction
In the aftermath of World War I, two orphaned friends set off in a narrowboat from England as each hopes to find a missing part of themselves in France.
The Blackbird Girls
By Anne Blankman
Junior Fiction
On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work—Chernobyl—has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who’ve always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina’s estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person.
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln
By Margarita Engle
Junior Nonfiction
This book looks at the life and accomplishments of Teresa Carreño, one of the world’s most famous pianists who, by age nine, performed for President Abraham Lincoln at the White House.
For more titles, listen to the Check it Out! podcast found here.
