Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction genre

Ashes

Thirteen-year-old Gabriella Schramm’s favorite pastime is reading. With Adolf Hitler slowly but unstoppably rising to power, Gaby turns to her books for comfort while the world around her changes dramatically: The streets become filled with soldiers, her sister’s boyfriend raises his arm in a heil Hitler salute, and the Schramm’s family friend Albert Einstein flees the country. When Gaby’s beloved books come under attack, she fears she may have to leave behind the fiction and the life she has always cherished.

Hazel: A Novel

Hazel Louise Mull-Dare has a good life, but it’s so dull. With an adoring father who grants her every wish, a place in the Kensington School for the Daughters of Gentlemen, and no pressure to excel in anything whatsoever, her future looks primly predictable.But on the day of the Epsom Derby — June 4, 1913 — everything changes. A woman in a dark coat steps in front of the king’s horse, in protest at the injustice of denying women the vote. She dies days later, bringing further attention to the suffragist cause. Young Hazel is transfixed. And when her bold new friend Gloria convinces her to take on the cause, Hazel gets her first taste of rebellion.But doing so leads her into greater trouble than she could have ever imagined. Such great trouble that she is banished from London, all the way to where her family fortune originates — a sugar plantation in the Caribbean. There Hazel is forced to confront the dark secrets of her family — secrets that have festered, and a shame that lingers on.

Courage In The Storm

She urged the horse on with a jerk at the reins. Judy went on a few steps and stopped again. The object stretched right across her path. It was close and clear now, and Greta gasped. Her very heart seemed to stop beating. For there, like a ghost risen out of the ice, lay a ship. A ship, of all things! A big schooner with three tall masts, all crusted with snow. What was it doing here? Slowly her mind filled with awful suspicion. She tried to put it aside, but it came back. At last she faced the truth.

The little mare had been lost all this time. Instead of crossing the ice, they had been wandering down the river, towards the open sea.

The White Stone in the Castle Wall

It may not be true but it could be – this story of how a single white stone came to be in the wall surrounding Casa Loma, the magnificent medieval castle that stands in the middle of Toronto. John Tommy Fiddich lives in Yorkville, tends the family vegetable patch, and considers himself the “luckiest boy in town.” When a hailstorm wipes out the vegetables, he goes from being the luckiest to the unluckiest. Then word gets out that Henry Pellatt, the eccentric millionaire who brought light to the city and built Casa Loma, is offering one dollar for brown stones to place in the wall going up around the castle. After trudging through the city all day with his stone, John reaches the castle only to find that rain has washed it white. But Henry Pellatt accepts the stone for his wall, rewarding John for his hard work, making him again “the luckiest boy in town.” The trip through the streets of Toronto, from Yorkville to Casa Loma, makes for a book as enchanting to young and old as the fabulous castle that inspired it.

Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion

Finalist for the Silver Birch AwardWinner of the 2002 Information Book Award When World War I began in 1914, no one knew that millions of young people would die in the agonizing years ahead. No one imagined the effect it would have on family life, or that whole villages would disappear, or thatentire nations would be changed forever. They believed their sons and daughters, mothersand fathers would be home by Christmas. They were tragically mistaken. With photos, memorabilia, and anecdotes, Linda Granfield brings us face-to-face withpeople from all walks of life who risked everything for their country. These painstakingly-gathered bits and pieces are remnants of conflict on a scale never before witnessed. Hastily-penned letters, notes written in code, and prayers for deliverance form an eloquent portrait of humanity, and a startling comment on the devastation of war.

Mercury

Tara is forced to move in with her cousins after her house burns down. She faces a difficult adjustment while her mother is away trying to earn money. Interwoven with this story is that of Tara’s ancestors, who in 1859 were convinced by a mysterious stranger to put all their money into searching their property for gold.

 

 

Grease Town

A heartbreaking history of prejudice, family ties, and the loss of innocence.When twelve-year-old Titus Sullivan decides to run away to join his Uncle Amos and older brother, Lem, he finds an alien and exciting world in Oil Springs, the first Canadian oil boomtown of the 19th century.The Enniskillen swamp is slick with oil, and it takes enterprising folk to plumb its depths. The adventurers who work there are a tough lot of individuals. In this hard world, Titus becomes friends with a young black boy, the child of slaves who came to Canada on the Underground Railroad. When tragedy strikes in the form of a race riot, Titus’s loyalties are tested as he struggles to deal with the terrible fallout.Though the characters are fictitious, the novel is based on a race riot that occurred in Oil Springs, Ontario, on March 20, 1863. Grease Town is historical fiction at its finest.

Secret of the Night Ponies

In 1965 Newfoundland, thirteen-year-old Jessie’s brave and impulsive nature leads her to commit a variety of daring acts, including rescuing a herd of wild ponies and kidnapping a poor orphan girl who is being mistreated by her guardians. Includes factual information about the history of the Newfoundland pony.

 

The Giant-Slayer

A girl’s imagination transports polio-afflicted kids into a fantastic world.The spring of 1955 tests Laurie Valentine’s gifts as a storyteller. After her friend Dickie contracts polio and finds himself confined to an iron lung, Laurie visits him in the hospital. There she meets Carolyn and Chip, two other kids trapped inside the breathing machines. Laurie’s first impulse is to flee, but Dickie begs her to tell them a story. And so Laurie begins her tale of Collosso, a rampaging giant, and Jimmy, a tiny boy whose destiny is to become a slayer of giants.As Laurie embellishes her tale with gnomes, unicorns, gryphons, and other fanciful creatures, Dickie comes to believe that he is a character in her story. Little by little Carolyn, Chip, and other kids who come to listen, recognize counterparts as well. Laurie’s tale is so powerful that when she’s prevented from continuing it, Dickie, Carolyn, and Chip take turns as narrators. Each helps bring the story of Collosso and Jimmy to an end—changing the lives of those in the polio ward in startling ways.

Hannah

Life is incredibly hard for all the immigrant families who work in the mine, but harder still for Hannah’s – her father recently killed in the mine, her mother nearly dead from giving birth to the latest child. Hanna defies all convention and passes herself off as a boy to get into the mine that is their only real hope of salvation. Common wisdom is that women are bad luck in a mine, so when her secret is discovered, the superstitious miners are furious. Will she survive this too? Author Diana Vazquez paints a gritty portrait of the bleak mining shanty town and the lives of the people who live there. But it is the indomitable spirit of her unsentimental, blunt, and fearless heroine that will remain memorable to all who encounter her.