If you like … Historical Stories

If you like stories about living on the prairies or survival in the Wild West …

The ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman: Frontier life doesn’t really suit this book-reading city girl.
Song of Sampo Lake by William Durbin: Matti and his family struggle to establish a farm on the shores of Sampo Lake.
Jason’s gold by Will Hobbs: Fifteen year-old Jason heads for the Yukon in the gold rush of 1897.
Boston Jane: an adventure by Jennifer L. Holm: Will Jane’s training in etiquette and elegant manners survive living with traders and Indians in the Pacific Northwest frontier?
Stop the train by Geraldine McCaughrean: Cissy and her family arrive in Florence, Oklahoma to find that the town doesn’t exist, and that the railroad company wants to keep it that way.
Mr Tucket by Gary Paulsen: Kidnapped by Indians, Francis Tucket is rescued by an old trapper and taught hoe to survive in the wild.

If you like stories set in the past about kids who just can’t help having adventures and getting into trouble …

The printer’s devil by Paul Bajoria: Villains, mysterious letters from India, and two identical children who have never met before.
The great elephant chase by Gillian Cross: Tad and Cissie are on the run from tyrannical Mr Jackson but it’s not easy when you’re accompanied by a fully-grown Indian elephant.
Three blind eyes by Alison Prince: Lucy’s comfortable life collapses when her father’s gambling losses get out of hand.
The great turkey walk by Kathleen Karr: Simon decides to take a herd of one thousand turkeys on a thousand-mile trek across the United States to find a market for them.
Preacher’s boy by Katherine Patterson: It’s 1899 and Robbie’s the preacher’s son decides he wants to make the most of his life before the world ends at the turn of the century.
A year down yonder by Richard Peck: Mary Alice is sent to live with her unusual grandmother, and finds out what life in a small town is really like.

Lady Grace mysteries by Grace Cavendish: Mysteries solved by one of the ladies-in-waiting of Queen Elizabeth I.
The Roman mysteries by Caroline Lawrence: Adventure stories set in Ancient Rome featuring four children.
Samurai mysteries by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler: A young boy helps a famous judge solve mysteries in Samurai Japan.

If you like stories set in the Middle Ages, or when Shakespeare lived …

Shakespeare’s scribe by Gary Blackwood: Widge joins William Shakespeare’s company of players as a scribe.
Fire, bed and bone by Henrietta Branford: It’s 1381, and a dog tells the story of how his family were accused of joining Wat Tyler’s Peasants’ Revolt.
The true prince by J. B. Cheaney: Richard and Kit get caught up in a mystery at Queen Elizabeth’s court.
King of shadows by Susan Cooper: Boy actor Nat time-slips back to Shakespeare’s London.
The seeing stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland: A medieval boy Arthur finds his life paralleled in the events shown in the seeing stone given to him by his tutor Merlin.
Catherine, called Birdy by Karen Cushman: A journal records the life of thirteen year-old Birdy and her attempts to avoid marriage.
A little lower than the angels by Geraldine McCaughrean: Gabriel escapes his cruel master and becomes an angel in a medieval mystery play.