HISTORICAL FICTION

Grades 7-9

The Wednesday Wars

By Gary D. Schmidt

2009 - Clarion Books

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader in 1967 New York City, who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling—he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like the Vietnam War. His father wants Holling and his sister to be on their best behavior but how can Holling stay out of trouble when he has so much to contend with? A bully demanding cream puffs; angry rats; and a baseball hero signing autographs the very same night Holling has to appear in a play in yellow tights! As fate sneaks up on him again and again, Holling finds Motivation—the Big M—in the most unexpected places and musters up the courage to embrace his destiny, in spite of himself.

Keywords:  1960s, American History, Humor, Military, New York City, School Stories, Shakespeare, Teachers and Students, Vietnam War

The Lie Tree

By Frances Hardinge

2015- Macmillan

A Victorian mystery with a dash of eerie magic. Fourteen-year-old Faith Sunderly's father has been found dead under mysterious circumstances, and as she is searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a tree that only bears fruit if you whisper a lie to it. The fruit of the tree, when eaten, will deliver a hidden truth to the person who consumes it. The bigger the lie, the more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that is uncovered. Faith realizes she is good at lying and that the tree might hold the key to her father's murder, so she begins to spread untruths far and wide across her small island community. But as her tales spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter… Keywords: Britain, Fathers and Daughters, Gender Roles, Magical Realism, Mystery, Naturalists, Science, Trees, Truth and Lies, Victorian Times, 1800s

The Game of Love and Death

By Martha Brockenbrough

2015- Arthur A. Levine Books

For centuries Love and Death have chosen their players. They have set the rules, rolled the dice, and kept close, ready to influence unsuspecting humans. And Death has always won. Always. Could there ever be one time, one place, one pair whose love would truly tip the balance? Meet Flora Saudade, an African-American girl who dreams of becoming the next great pilot by day and sings in smoky jazz clubs by night. Meet Henry Bishop, born a few blocks and a million worlds away, a white boy with his future assured—a wealthy adoptive family in the midst of the Great Depression, a college scholarship, and all the opportunities in the world available to him. The players have been chosen. The dice have been rolled. But when human beings make moves of their own, what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Keywords: Aviation, Romance, Love, Death, Destiny and Fate, Great Depression, Jazz, Race Relations, 1930s