Historical fiction is a great way for children to learn history, and be engaged at the same time.
Published: 2004 Theme: Trust and Loyalty Best for: 12 and up "The world was so beautiful in those days, Annika. The music, the flowers, the scent of the pines..." "It still is," said Annika. "Honestly, it still is." Filled with unexpected twists and turns, with terrific characters, and with a cliff-hanger, but happy, ending, this children's book is terrific from start to finish.
Published: 2009 Theme: Self-determination Best for: ages 11 and up, especially girls "Granddaddy and I sat motionless for a good five minutes and then quietly collected our things and moved on. On the way back, he spotted the rarest and most delicate object in the wild, an old hummingbird's nest, fragile and expertly woven, smaller than an eggcup." Imagine a children's book which mixes together life in a rural southern town in 1899, a big dose of Charles Darwin, the natural world, and the coming of age of a young girl. If you think this is an implausible mixture for a children's book...
Published: 2013 Theme: Artistry Best for: 5 to 8 "Each day something new and surprising dripped out of Daozi's brush. His straight lines splintered into trees. His hooks caught fish. His dots burst into eyes, then pigs and monkeys. From a stroke, a horse's tail flew by." This children's book is exquisite from beginning to end, from front cover to back cover. The story is an imaginative version of the life of the great Chinese artist Wu Daozi...
Published: 1955 Theme: Historical Fiction Best for: ages 10 and up "The troops from Andover appeared in there dashing red uniforms, every button shining, leather gleaming...The church bells chimed. Then a great shout went up. For there was President Washington – a tall, commanding man, riding horseback to enter the town." Here's a children's book that is so informative, it's a little hard not to compare it to a dull textbook that might teach the same subject. The subject matter is navigation, discoveries, and life at the time of the American Revolution.
Published: 2010 Theme: Courage, Racial Discrimination Best for: 11 and older "Would Mama like the colors I picked? Would she be mad about me taking them pieces from her apron? I turned the quilt in the air, looking at it this way and that. Soon I would be running out of thread.Wasn't but a few inches hanging down like the tail of a kite." Gee's Bend is indeed a real place. The women of Gee's bend have a tradition of creating quilts that dates back to early American history. In recent years, their quilts were discovered...
Published: 2005 Theme: Courage, Immigrants Best for: 12 and up (PG) "How much he missed Rachel. Would he be able to hold out long enough for the revolution? Would he survive? Would he ever devote endless hours to practicing a Brahms concerto? Would he ever play games with his sister again?" Here is a painfully beautiful and difficult children's book that I must recommend particularly because I want my son and grandson to read it...
Published: 2003 Theme: Simplicity of Heart Best for: 11 and up "More animals appeared, and then from behind Dinadan came a gentle piping sound, like the wind whistling through chinks in a wall, but the piping kept time with Dinadan's song. Then, to Dinadan's wonder, it began to play in counterpoint to his own melody." Each children's book in the Squire's Tales series is a re-telling of an Arthurian tale. This one retells Tristam and Isolde, adapted for children...
Published: 1930 Theme: Magic of the Ordinary Best for: 9 and up "Night putting her arms around the sea. No helping wizard. Just the earth going to bed the same as it had done for a million years.. .Were no more wonders worked since sprites and fairies left the haunts of Man? Yet it was magic too, this...the sun sinking in the sea at dusk and rising on the land at dawn." This children's book is about belief in the unseen worlds, and learning to see the magic that is also possible in daily life. The characters in the book are fascinating, and unlike those we might meet in other books...
Published: 2000-2010 Theme: Arthurian Tales Best for: 9 and up "Knight, holy man, family, poet--it is all that any land could want. If the knight will be honorable, the holy man true, the family loving..And if the poet will sing. After all, someone needs to tell the story of Arthur." I went on a "Knights of the Round Table" binge, reading all the remaining stories of the Squire's Tales that I had not yet read. Reading these children's books is somewhat like candy for the heart, mind, and soul.
This children's book is number 3 in the series, The Squire's Tale. Each Arthurian tale has its own drama and excitement, and this is no exception. The characters, Roger, the dwarf, and Lady Lynette, a very strong woman, are very well drawn.
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