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Reading Lists: American Historical Fiction

1864 - 1898

Aldrich, Bess Streeter. A Lantern in her hand. 1928. 251p.
This is the story of Abbie, from the time she was eight years old in 1854 Iowa, until she's an old woman. This is a story of struggle against unexpected perils, of love and laughter, of the land she helped conquer and the family she raised. If you like Anne of Green Gables , and the Little House on the Prairie series, give this classic story a try. This book will probably be of most interest to girls in 5th grade and up.
Beatty, Patricia. Be Ever Hopeful, Hannalee 1988. 217p.
In 1865 with the war recently over, fourteen-year-old Hannalee and her recently reunited family decide to start a new life in Atlanta where, because of the need to rebuild the devastated city, jobs are plentiful. Sequel to Turn Homeward, Hannalee.
Beatty, Patricia. Bonanza Girl 1962. 210p.
A widow and her two children head for gold rush territory in Idaho, hoping to find jobs and a new life.
Beatty, Patricia. How Many Miles to Sundown? 1974. 222p.
In 1881 a tomboy, her younger brother, and her pet longhorn accompany a 15 year old boy searching for his father through Texas and the New Mexico and Arizona Territories.
Beatty, Patricia. Just Some Weeds From the Wilderness 1978. 254p.
In an attempt to change the family's failing fortune, Lucinda's aunt goes into the business of producing a patent medicine.
Beatty, Patricia. Nickel-Plated Beauty 1964. 254p.
Set in 1886 Washington Territory, this is the humorous story of how the seven Kimball kids organizes a campaign to buy the family a new stove.
Beatty, Patricia. O the Red Rose Tree 1972. 217p.
During the mid-1890's on the west coast of Washington, four teen-aged girls experience one hilarious escapade after another in their search for special quilt fabric for their elderly friend, Mrs. Hankinson.
Beatty, Patricia. Sarah and Me and the Lady From the Sea. 1989. 182p.
When, in 1895, their father's business failure forces the family to live in their beach home on the peninsula just above the Oregon border, 12 year old marcella and her younger brother and sister find the experience much more rewarding than they had imagined, especially when they became friends with the numerous members of the Kimball family.
Beatty, Patricia. Something to Shout About. 1976. 254p.
The women of a Montana mining town disrupt life when they try to raise money for a new school.
Benchley, Nathaniel. Only Earth and Sky Last Forever. 1972. 191p.
Although recognizing the end of the Indians' freedom is near, a young Cheyenne still chooses to fight with Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn to prove himself to the girl he loves.
Bunting, Eve. Dandelions. 1995. [52]p.
Zoe and her family find strength in each other as they make a new home in the Nebraska territory. This book has beautiful full color illustrations.
Burks, Brian. Runs With Horses. 1995. 116p.
Sixteen years old in 1886, Runs With Horses trains to become a warrior with Geronimo's band of Apaches in the American Southwest.
Carter, Peter. Borderlands. 1990. 423p.
Cowboys and settlers, lawmen and outlaws, buffalo hunters, bankruptcy, but most of all the vast Great Plains, are featured in this epic novel that tells how the West really was won. Best for ages 14 and up.
Climo, Shirley. A Month of Seven Days. 1987. 152p.
When twelve-year-old Zoe's Georgia home is taken over by Union soldiers, she uses all her ingenuity to drive them away.
Cross, Gillian. The Great American Elephant Chase. 1993. 193p.
In 1881, fifteen-year-old Tad helps a girl in her attempt to get a mighty Indian elephant to friends in Nebraska, while pursued by two unscrupulous villains who wish to take the elephant from her.
Duey, Kathleen. Ellen Elizabeth Hawkins: Mobeetie, Texas, 1886. 1997. 142p.
In 1886 Texas, Ellen finds her desire to be a cattle rancher discouraged by family members who do not think it is a proper choice for a girl. For ages 8 and up.
Duey, Kathleen. Emma Eileen Grove: Mississipi, 1865. 1996. 142p.
Twelve-year-old Emma receives unexpected friendship from a Black roustabout and a Union soldier during an explosion on the steamboat Sultana in 1865. For ages 8 and up.
Edmonds, Walter D. . 1970. 400p.
The sixth story, Water Never Hurt A Man, is a short story about a father and son that tow barges along the Erie Canal. In the seventh and final story, Uncle Ben's Whale, Old Uncle Ben comes up with a novel way to make money off of a dead whale.
Fleischman, Sid. Mr. Mysterious & Company 1962. 151p.
The funny adventures of a family of magicians traveling west cross-country to California in the 1880's.
Garland, Sherry. The Last rainmaker. 1997. 324p.
Abandoned by her father, thirteen-year-old Caroline runs away to join Shawnee Sam's Wild West Extravaganza in the hope of learning more about her mother, a performer who died in childbirth and whose origins have been kept a secret from Caroline. Best for 6th grade and up.
Gipson, Fred. Savage Sam. 1962. 214p.
Travis Coates, with the help of the trailhound, Savage Sam, determine to rescue 2 kids captured by Apache Indians in 1870s East Texas. This is an exciting sequel to Old Yeller.
Gregory, Kristiana. Orphan Runaways. 1998. 151p.
After their parents die in an epidemic in 1878, twelve-year-old Danny and his younger brother Judd are sent to a miserable orphanage in San Francisco. Harrowing adventures accompany the two boys when they run away from the orphanage and search for their uncle in a gold rush boom town.
Hamilton, Virginia. Bells of Christmas. 1989. 59p.
Twelve-year-old Jason describes the wonderful Christmas of 1890 that he and his family celebrate in their home in Springfield, Ohio.
Hansen, Joyce. I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly: the diary of Patsy, a freed girl. 1997. 202p.
Twelve-year-old Patsy keeps a diary of the ripe but confusing time following the Civil War and the granting of freedom to former slaves. Suitable for 4th grade and up.
Henry, Will. Sons of the Western Frontier. 1966. 302p.
Here are tales of the fabled names of Billy the Kid, Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, Frank and Jesse James, and big Cole Younger, in the boyhood days. And stories also of names unknown-of Jim Beau Travis, the Confederate Army scout in Texas; Bass Cooper, a fightingwagon guide on the Santa Fe Trail; and many others.
Holland, Isabelle. The Journey Home. 1990. 212p.
Two orphaned sisters in the late 1800's leave New York on the orphan train to seek a new home in the west.
Houston, James. The White Dawn: an Eskimo Saga. 1983. 274p.
In 1896, Three whalers are rescued and nursed back to health by an Eskimo community. Best for ages 12 and up.
Howard, Ellen. The Chickenhouse House. 1991. 52p.
When Alena and her family move onto new farmland out on the prairie, they must live at first in the chickenhouse because there is no time to build a house before winter; then with the warm weather comes the excitement of watching the big new house go up.
Hurmence, Belinda. Tancy. 1984. 201p.
At the end of the Civil War, a young house slave on a small North Carolina plantation searches for her mother who was mysteriously sold when Tancy was a baby. Best for ages 12 and up.
Lawlor, Laurie. Addie Across the Prairie. 1986. 128p.
Unhappy to leave her home and friends, Addie reluctantly accompanies her family to the Dakota territory and slowly begins to adjust to life on the prairie. First of a series.
Lehmann, Linda. Tilli's New World. 1981. 154p.
Reunited with her immigrant family on a farm in Missouri, Tilli struggles against great odds to be allowed to go to school. Sequel to Better than a Princess.
Levin, Betty. Brother Moose. 1990. 213p.
In the late 1880's, two orphan girls, aided by an Indian and his grandson, make a perilous trip to Maine to find a family.
Mazzio, Joann. Leaving Eldorado. 1993. 170p.
In the late 1890s, after her gold-mad father abandons her in the small New Mexico Territory mining town of Eldorado, 14-year-old Maude struggles to survive and to hold onto her dream of becoming an artist. Recommended for 7th grade and up.
McKissack, Patricia C. Run away home. 1997. 160p.
In 1886 in Alabama, an eleven year old African-American girl and her family befriend and give refuge to a runaway Apache boy.
Murphy, Jim. West to a land of plenty: the diary of Teresa Angelina Viscardi. 1998. 204p.
While traveling in 1883 with her Italian-American family and other immigrant pioneers to a utopian community in Idaho, 14-year-old Teresa keeps a diary of her experiences along the way.
Myers, Walter Dean. The Righteous Revenge of Artemis Bonner. 1992. 140p.
In this funny, wild romp of a book, fifteen-year-old Artemis journeys from New York City to Tombstone, Arizona, in 1882, to avenge the murder of his uncle. Recommended for ages 10-14.
O'Dell, Scott. The Dark Canoe. 1968. 165p.
For readers who find Melville's Moby Dick a bit hard to tackle, give this book a try. A sixteen-year-old boy sails from 19th century Nantucket to a remote California bay with his two older brothers and finds himself in mysterious circumstances involving the death of one brother and the strange obsession of the other.
O'Dell, Scott, and Elizabeth Hall. Thunder Rolling in the Mountains. 1992. 126p.
In the late nineteenth century, a young Nez Perce girl relates how her people were driven off their land by the U.S. Army and forced to retreat north until their eventual surrender.
O'Dell, Scott. Sing Down the Moon. 1970. 137p.
A young Navajo girl recounts the events of 1864 when her tribe was forced to march to Fort Sumner as prisoners of the white soldiers.
O'Dell, Scott. Zia. 1976. 179p.
A young Indian girl, Zia, caught between the traditional world of her mother and the present world of the Mission, is helped by her aunt Karana whose story was told in the Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Reeder, Carolyn. Shades of Gray. 1989. 152p.
At the end of the Civil War, 12 year old Will, having lost all his immediate family, reluctantly leaves his city home to live in the Virginia countryside with his aunt and the uncle he considers a "traitor" because he refused to take part in the war.
Robinet, Harriette Gillem. If you please, President Lincoln. 1995. 148p.
Shortly after the Christmas of 1863, fourteen-year-old Moses thinks he is beginning a new life when he becomes part of a group of other former slaves headed for a small island off the coast of Haiti.
Sawyer, Ruth. Roller Skates. 1936. 186p.
The discoveries and adventures of ten-year-old Lucinda, who spends a wonderful year exploring the New York City of the 1890's.
Taylor, Theodore. Teetoncey. 1974. 153p.
In this first novel of a trilogy, eleven year old Ben rescues an English girl from a shipwreck off the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and, though she becomes part of his family, she never speaks.
Turner, Ann Warren. Grasshopper Summer. 1989. 166p.
In 1874, eleven-year-old Sam and his family move from Kentucky to the southern Dakota Territory, where harsh conditions and a plague of hungry grasshoppers threaten their chances for survival.
Turner, Ann Warren. Third girl from the left. 1986. 153p.
Itching to do something different, 18-year-old Sarah leaves Maine for the harsh Montana environment as a mail-order bride, and is soon left a widow with a 2,000 acre ranch to run. Best for ages 12 and up.
Whelan, Gloria. Hannah. 1991. 63p.
Hannah, a blind girl living in Michigan in the late nineteenth century, doesn't go to school, until a new teacher tells her about the Braille method of reading for the blind.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods. 1932. 237p.
First of a series of stories of pioneer stories based on the author's life in Wisconsin.
If you enjoyed reading these books at the library, you may enjoy looking for the following books!
Blevins, Win. Stone Song: a novel of the life of Crazy Horse. 1995. 400p.
As his world crumbled, & the freedom of the plains was replaced by the restrictions of the new reservation, Crazy Horse managed to find his way in harmony with the age-old wisdom of the Lakota-and beat the US Army on its own terms. He lived and died, his own man. Best for ages 15 and up.
Nixon, Joan Lowery. High Trail to Danger. 1991. 168p.
In 1879 seventeen-year-old Sarah travels from Chicago to the violent town of Leadtown, Colorado, to locate her missing father, but she finds that the mention of his name brings her strange looks and an attempt on her life. Don't miss the sequel, A Deadly Promise.
Voight, Cynthia. Callendar Papers. 1983. 214p.
In 19th century Massachusetts, orphan Jean, employed to sort out the family papers of a reclusive artist, becomes curious about the mysterious, long-ago death of his wife and the subsequent disappearance of their young child.
Wallace, Bill. Red Dog. 1988. 167p.
no plot summary in OPAC.

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