Tag Archives: Historical Fiction

YA – A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife

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Kulper, Kendall. A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife. Holiday House, 2023. 978-0-823-45361-0. $19.99. 347 p. Grades 9-12.

To the outside world, Henrietta “Henny” Newhouse seems like just another aspiring actress trying to break into the movie business in 1934 Los Angeles. But Henny has a secret – after the death of a Hollywood acquaintance, she’s started seeing the ghosts of women who have disappeared, victims in various ways of men within the entertainment industry. Declan Collins is a stuntman turned actor with a secret of his own – he somehow has the power of invincibility. He can survive stunts such as jumping off tall buildings or being run over by a wagon without a scratch. He’s also secretly working for a private investigator looking into the disappearance of a young actress. When Henny lands a starring role in a film at Silver Cup Studios, the studio pairs her with Declan to act as a couple at events around town for publicity purposes. Sparks fly between the pair, and they eventually reveal their secrets to one another. They then team up in an attempt to find out what is happening to young women in Hollywood and to try to bring the powerful Hollywood figures behind the crimes to justice.

THOUGHTS: This highly engaging historical fiction title will have readers eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens next. Holds appeal for fans of mystery, historical fiction, cinema history, and romance. Highly recommended.

Historical Fiction

Elem./MG – Light and Air

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Wendell, Mindy Nichols. Light and Air. Holiday House, 2024.  978-0-823-45443-3. 188 p. $18.99. Grades 4-6.

In her debut novel, Wendell introduces us to Hallelujah Grace Newton, an only child who lives with her parents in New York in 1935.    Halle is a fifth grader who enjoys being with her friends when she is not helping her mother with chores. Even though her father is a high school history teacher, they struggle to make ends meet, which may explain why her father is becoming so distant and short-tempered  with his daughter. Family circumstances suddenly change when Halle’s mother is diagnosed with a severe case of tuberculosis. She is taken to the J.N. Adams Sanitarium located in upper New York state. Since there is no pharmaceutical treatment, doctors prescribe heliotherapy- fresh air and sunlight. Halle and her father also test positive, but have no sign of active disease. This does not deter some students from avoiding her and calling her names. Halle’s father is even more aloof and seems not to realize how much his daughter missing her mother. She decides to skip school and walk the long distance to the sanitarium, but becomes sick and is injured along the way. She develops a fever and cough and the doctor, concerned that she has active tuberculosis, recommends that Halle be admitted to the sanitorium. There she is diagnosed with pneumonia, not TB. After her release from isolation, Halle goes to a ward with other TB patients close to her age. After one of her new friends suffers a fatal lung hemorrhage, Halle is fearful she may also lose her mother, who is not responding to treatment.  The girl is determined to do all she can to help her mother get better and reunite her family, no matter how many rules need to be broken. There are many plot threads woven together in this short but engaging novel. More information about the hospital and the disease can be found in the author’s note. The author lives near the ruins of the J.N. Adams Sanitarium, which inspired her to write this story.

THOUGHTS: Readers may be surprised to learn how the lives of so many people, both young and old, were affected by tuberculosis at a time when there was no cure. With its bright attractive cover, this work of historical fiction deserves a place on the shelf of every middle grade library.

Historical Fiction

Elem. – Trim Saves the Day

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Hopkinson, Deborah. Trim Saves the Day.  Peachtree, 2024. 978-1-682-63293-2. 45 p. $14.99.  Grades K-2.

Trim is a seafaring cat who lives on a sailing ship with his owner, who happens to be the captain. One day he hears the captain discussing how the entire crew must pitch in and do their jobs. The feline decides to help his friends with their chores. Penny the dog is swabbing the deck, and Trim tries to assist by using his tail as a mop and meowing as he works. This is too much for the dog, because Trim is too noisy and has gotten his hair all over the deck. Next he meets Jack the parrot who helps the captain steer the ship. When Trim jumps on the captain’s shoulders, the rolling sea causes him to lose his balance and block out the captain’s view, while loudly meowing in his ear. The little cat has no luck in helping the ship’s artist or the cook. Down in the hold, Trim wants to patrol the area like Princess Bea, but it’s the rat’s naptime. The cat is sad that he was not able to help any of his friends and decides to take a bath under a cask of water. Suddenly, the feline feels a plop of water and the cask begins to leak even more. If this continues, the ship will be in trouble. Can Trim use his vocal talent to raise the alarm and call “all hands on deck” before it is too late? This is the third book in the Trim series, which is based on a real cat from the early 18th century who sailed with the British explorer, Captain Flinders. The back matter provides more information and a photograph of a statue of the pair. There are charming illustrations of the animal characters, but interestingly the captain’s face is never seen.

THOUGHTS: This easy chapter book series will appeal to animal loving novice readers, who will eagerly await the sailor cat’s next adventure.   Elementary librarians definitely will want to add this easy reader series to their collections.

Historical Fiction

Elem./MG – Force of Nature

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Burg, Ann E. Force of Nature: A Novel of Rachel Carson. Illustrated by Sophie Blackwell. Scholastic Press, 2024. 978-1-338-88338-1. 304 p. $19.99. Grades 3-7.

Ann E. Burg’s well-researched historical novel-in-verse explores Rachel Carson’s life and research. Rachel Carson is best known as the groundbreaking American environmental conservationist who wrote Silent Spring. This fictionalized account follows Carson’s life through her first-person perspective. The story begins with Carson’s childhood during World War I and ends with her death in 1964. Throughout this telling, we also follow Carson’s family and collegial relationships through time, including the close bond she held with her nieces and great-nephew (although she had no children of her own). Carson journeys to college and then onward to obtain her masters degree at Johns Hopkins University. There, she marries her talent of writing with her scientific expertise in order to produce widely read and understood arguments about nature. She wins a National Book Award for The Sea Around Us (1952), and Silent Spring follows in 1962. Carson’s work largely catalyzed the modern environmental movement.

THOUGHTS: Force of Nature’s accessible format will allow upper elementary and middle school students to explore Carson’s story and her legacy. Students who love nature and biology will feel inspired by Ann E. Burg’s novel in verse long before they may actually read Silent Spring or other full-length nonfiction books about climate conservation. The story is also filled with moments highlighting nature’s quiet beauty. Burg does an excellent job of humanizing Carson and framing her as a pioneer for future female scientists. While this story can be read and enjoyed by anyone, students without background knowledge or strong inference skills may miss historical references in Force of Nature because they are written so subtly. Recommended for addition to upper elementary and middle school collections where historical fiction and verse memoirs are popular.

Historical Fiction

Elem. – You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce: The Storied Life of Folk Artist Elijah Pierce

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Lee, Chiquita Mullins, and Carmella Van Vleet. You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce: The Storied Life of Folk Artist Elijah Pierce. Illustrated by Jennifer Mack-Watkins. Kokila, 2023. 978-0-593-40650-2. Unpaged. $18.99. Grades 1-3.

This fascinating picture book is a fictionalized account of the life of the African American folk artist Elijah Pierce. Born in Mississippi, Elijah was given a penknife as a young boy, which he used to whittle wood from a forest, creating animal figures or “…anything that came to mind….” Pierce learned the barbering trade and opened a barber shop in Columbus, but his passion for the wood arts remained with him his whole life. In this story, a boy comes into the barbershop with his dad, who tells him, “You gotta meet Mr. Pierce.” The barber-artist displays all his artistic creations in his shop and proceeds to show them to the boy after his haircut. Some are carved sculptures of a tiger and lion. Others are wall art like The Place of My Birth (1977), a carved and painted relief of a log cabin. Others depict stories from Pierce’s personal life, such as when he was falsely accused and accosted by an angry mob. Also displayed is what many call his masterpiece, The Book of Wood, created in 1932. Mr. Pierce carved Bible Stories on wooden panels, painted them and pasted them on cardboard to make a book. The unnamed boy, who was unsure of what to draw with the colored pencils from his mother, is now inspired to turn his own stories into art like his mentor. The artwork here is stunning. Mack-Watkins uses mokuhanga printmaking techniques and mixed media collages to create her drawings. The colors of the printed images are bold and vibrant and the observant reader will be able to pick out actual photos of a few animal carvings and of the artist’s family done as an overlay on the busy pages. The illustrator has truly captured the heart and  soul of this underrecognized African American’s talent. There is an author’s note that provides more details of Elijah’s life and an artist’s note that explains her techniques and preparation. Also included in the back is a gallery of Pierce’s art with titles and dates and a list of museums displaying his art.

THOUGHTS: This book is highly recommended for all elementary collections. Children will enjoy examining the images for the small details of the Caldecott quality art. This story could be paired with Bryant’s A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin to do a compare and contrast activity of the two African American folk artists.

Picture Book
Historical Fiction

YA – Kin: Rooted in Hope

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Weatherford, Carole Boston. Kin: Rooted in Hope. Illustrated by Jeffrey Boston Weatherford. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-1-665-91362-1. 220 p. $18.99. Grades 8-12.

Weatherford has shared her collections of lyrical poems accompanied by the powerful illustrations of Jeffrey Boston Weatherford.  The poems follow her ancestors’ stories from the time that they were forced aboard the slave ships in Africa and up to the present day in America. The reader is immersed in these stories that Weatherford has woven beautifully into a powerful tribute to their family. Her poems are told through the voices of her family as well as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

THOUGHTS: Powerful, lyrical, such an important collection of the voices of the ancestors of the author. This is not an easy read, but a necessary one. This is a mother-son duo who put together this collection.

Historical Fiction

YA – The Blood Years

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Arnold, Elana K. The Blood Years. Balzer + Bray, 2023. 978-0-062-99085-3. 390 p. $19.99. Grades 9-12.

Based on events in the life of her own grandmother, Elana K. Arnold’s The Blood Years is a masterful and deeply moving work of historical fiction for teens. Spanning the years from 1939 to 1945, it follows the experiences of Frederieke Teitler’s teenage years in her beloved hometown of Czernowitz, Romania. “Rieke” lives with her depressive mother and headstrong older sister Astra (their father has abandoned the family) until her beloved grandfather, Opa, brings them to his apartment. It is the first of many times that Opa will shield Rieke from life’s cruelties. First introduced as a typical thirteen-year old attending school and dance classes with Astra, Rieke goes on to experience the stripping away of Jewish peoples’ rights as she moves through her teen years. Her situation changes dramatically as first the Russians and then the Germans occupy her city, and as a persistent cough leads to a dire diagnosis. As the circumstances in Czernowitz worsen for Jews, Opa’s ability to shelter his girls is pushed to the limit.

THOUGHTS: In her latest novel, Arnold truly proves that what is most personal is also most universal. The dehumanization of Jewish people during WWII is portrayed through the experiences of one young woman; Rieke’s trauma and resilience will not soon be forgotten by readers.

Note: The Blood Years contains anti-Semitic slurs and depictions of sexual assault.

Historical Fiction

MG/YA – Gallows Hill

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Ruby, Lois. Gallows Hill. Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, 2023. 978-1-728-43102-4. 208 p. $19.99. Grades 7-12.

Gallows Hill is a fictionalized story of the Salem Witch Trials as told from the alternating perspectives of Patience and Thomas, two teens living during the 1692 height of hysteria. Patience aims to live up to her name, but when her own sister, Abigail, becomes “afflicted” and begins to accuse a local elderly widow, Prudence Blevins, of being a witch, Patience doesn’t know who to believe. Patience knows many women and men are being arrested in Salem—even a five-year-old child, Dorothy, is among the accused of witchcraft. Unlike Patience, who has lived in Salem her whole life, Thomas and his sister Grace are newcomers to Salem Village. Grace and Thomas are only trying to make a life for themselves after their strenuous trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Being of Quaker faith makes Thomas and Grace outcasts among their new Puritan neighbors. After Thomas is also arrested, he must fight against the odds to survive being swept up in the madness and sent to Gallows Hill.

THOUGHTS: This story is a compelling and well-researched fictional account of what it may have been like to grow up during the time of the infamous Salem witch trials. Ruby includes historically accurate diction (using phrases like Goody and Goodman), and she balances it with clear dialogue and short chapters to make this book accessible for middle school readers. While other middle grade and YA witch-trial related fiction often ventures into supernatural or fantasy genres, Gallows Hill stays true and realistic to the time. Strong sensory details placed throughout the story will bring the abysmal prison cells and Salem village itself to life for readers. Ruby also offers historical explanations, theories, and book discussion questions in the book’s endpapers. Recommended as an addition to middle school historical fiction collections.

Historical Fiction

Elem – I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871

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Tarshis, Lauren. I Survived the Great Chicago Fire, 1871. Scholastic, 2023.  978-1-338-82515-2. 158 p. $10.99. Grades 3-6. 

Eleven-year-old Oscar has only lived in Chicago for a few hours before he finds himself at the center of one of the deadliest fires in American history. Oscar never wanted to move to the big city, leaving his family farm behind, but when his mother remarries, she and Oscar relocate to Chicago to move in with his new stepfather. While still at the train station, Oscar’s luggage is stolen, and as he tries to track down one of the thieves, he’s separated from his family. Fire breaks out while he’s finding his way back, and suddenly showers of sparks are everywhere. With fire crackling at every turn, Oscar’s courage is put to the test as he struggles to find safety, and reconnect with his family, in an unfamiliar city. Backmatter includes a note from Lauren Tarshis as well as historical photographs and drawings of the way Chicago looked before the  Great Fire. 

THOUGHTS: The graphic novel format works well for telling this story, and the full-color panel illustrations effectively capture the chaos, confusion, and fear of Oscar and others as they navigate through the burning city on the evening of October 8, 1871. Hand this to fans of the original I Survived chapter books and to readers looking for plenty of fast-paced action. 

Graphic Novel

YA – Snow & Poison

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De La Cruz, Melissa. Snow & Poison. G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 2023. 978-0-593-32668-8. $19.99. 288 p. Grades 9-12.

The year is 1861. Lady Sophie of Bavaria has a lot of change coming her way. Her father, Duke Maximillan, is preparing for his wedding, and on the same night, Sophie will become a member of high society. After the wedding, Sophie does her best to befriend her new stepmother, Claudia, although mysterious things seem to happen when she’s around. When Sophie meets Prince Phillip of Spain at a ball, the two have an immediate connection. Unfortunately, Phillip’s father will only allow him to marry a princess, and Sophie is heartbroken when he must return to Spain. She tries to find comfort in Claudia, but rumors about her past and magic use persist to swirl around the castle. As Sophie attempts to discover the truth about Claudia, she also finds herself at the center of a war between kingdoms and does what she can to protect her family, her home, and her heart.

THOUGHTS: Snow & Poison is a twist to the familiar story of Snow White & the Seven Dwarves. In this version, most of the aspects of magic and fantasy have been removed, and this retelling is loosely based on some of the stories that inspired the original Snow White fairy tale. I haven’t read as many Snow White adaptations, and this one would be enjoyed by any reader that loves fairy tales, romances, and mysteries. 

Historical Fiction