Good historical fiction for 1400-1750/ages 10-14

[Matryoshka]

I have a rather ambitious goal to get through the equivalent what most people get through for history in a year in .... a year. We always end up reading extra books, watching extra documentaries, and somehow going at half-speed. US history took us 4 /12 years (and we had a blast). :tongue_smilie: This has not been a problem till now, but I'm thinking of putting the older girls in high school. The school actually does World History chronologically over three years, and in 8th grade they get up through the Enlightenment. We are currently in Greece. :willy_nilly: Getting from where we are to there involves the second half of K12HO vol. 1 and the first half of K12HO vol. 2 - so it should be doable, right??? :001_huh:

 

Anyway, I have a book list through the end of K12HO vol. 1, but had a sudden epiphany that I need one for 1400-1750. Obviously I should not pack my list as tightly as I have in the past, but I just can't imagine doing history without some well-chosen historical fiction. I've been doing my normal Amazon search, but for some reason even if I enter Renaissance/Reformation/Enlightenment stuff, the "you might also like" suggestions are all for Medieval lit, which I've already got covered. :glare:

 

I'm saying 10-14 because my younger one is 10, so maybe there's something out there for her too - the older two can easily handle high school level writing, but nothing too overly racy/explicit (but some romance and innuendo is okay). One of my olders just read The King Must Die, which is pretty much right on the edge of what I'd be comfortable with.

 

I added Dava Sobel's Longitude and Galileo's Daughter to the list - those would be good yes? I've read the former but not the latter. I also thought of Girl with a Pearl Earring.

 

I found some YA-looking stuff by Mary Hooper, Ann Turnbull (though they all seem to be about London in the 1660's :confused:), and I also see Ann Rinaldi has a few books - any good, or fluff? I'm not a fan of mass-produced fiction a la Princess Diaries, Young Royals (was also not a fan of Dear America and such, though did like American Girls' books) unless you tell me they're way higher quality than I suspect and/or that my 10yo perhaps might get something out of them???

 

Also, lit from the time - would it be way too ambitious to assign things like Utopia and The Prince? They are both short, but quite heavy, I'd think. What from that time period would be good choices to assign?

Edited August 4, 2011 by matroyshka

[Laura Corin]

I enjoyed The Lark and the Laurel (and sequels) when I was a child. An interesting book - fiction about history rather than historical fiction - is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tay. There are more options in the spreadsheets in the sidebar of my blog, but I can't vouch for them all.

 

Laura

[HollyDay]

Dd enjoyed Trumpeter of Krakow

[ma23peas]

Dd enjoyed Trumpeter of Krakow

 

Was just going to say this one! :) The Door in the Wall, Adam of the Road, The King's Fifth, The Hawk that Dare Not Hunt by Day, A Murder for Her Majesty, A Single Shard, The Good Master, hope these help, some may be 1200's? Can't remember, but they were in the middle somewhere! :)

[regentrude]

The Shakespeare Stealer (maybe on the young side for a 14 y/o).

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone about Michelangelo (DD12 loved it)

The Three Musketeers (plays in the Mid-1600)

 

We found Galileo's Daughter a very sticky read and abandoned it. I don't think it is a good choice for a 10 year old.

[Brilliant]

I really like Girl with a Pearl Earring - it's one of my favorite books. But I wouldn't assign it to a 10 yo or even 14yo. It's more about the inner life of the main character than it is about the historical setting (although the author does a marvelous job w/ the setting). It also has some mature themes (s*xual). I think 16 & up would enjoy this book - I also think girls would enjoy it more than boys; I suggested that my 17yo dd read it last year but I don't think I'll ever suggest it to my ds.

[Matryoshka]

Was just going to say this one! :) The Door in the Wall, Adam of the Road, The King's Fifth, The Hawk that Dare Not Hunt by Day, A Murder for Her Majesty, A Single Shard, The Good Master, hope these help, some may be 1200's? Can't remember, but they were in the middle somewhere! :)

 

Yes, almost all of those are from the 1200's or so! The only two that aren't are The Hawk that dare Not Hunt by Day (reformation), and the King's Fifth (conquistadors).

 

Maybe this is a good thing and it won't be so hard to get through this time period at a reasonable pace? :tongue_smilie:

[Matryoshka]

The Shakespeare Stealer (maybe on the young side for a 14 y/o).

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone about Michelangelo (DD12 loved it)

The Three Musketeers (plays in the Mid-1600)

 

Those last two are very long books! :) Do you think Three Musketeers is worth the time (also wasn't sure if the swashbuckling theme would appeal to girls as much).

 

I'll look into Agony and Ecstasy - with it at almost 800 pages and not listed for YA, I wouldn't have thought of it.

 

We found Galileo's Daughter a very sticky read and abandoned it. I don't think it is a good choice for a 10 year old.

 

What was sticky about it? I was only considering that one for my older two. Things like The Shakespeare Stealer I might assign to both, but for a lot of this I'll have two separate reading lists, especially as my older two are avid readers and my younger is reluctant, so the gulf is a bit wider than it may appear.

[regentrude]

Those last two are very long books! :) Do you think Three Musketeers is worth the time (also wasn't sure if the swashbuckling theme would appeal to girls as much).

 

It was one of my favorite books as a kid and I must have read it dozens of time.

 

I'll look into Agony and Ecstasy - with it at almost 800 pages and not listed for YA, I wouldn't have thought of it.

 

 

It is not a YA, but a regular grown up book. Irving Stone is very easy to read, and this is probably his best book. DD12 gobbled it up within a few days.

I have re-read it several times but do not at the moment recall if it contains something other people might find objectionable for their kids.

 

What was sticky about it? I was only considering that one for my older two.

 

Galileo's Daughter - not sure how to pinpoint it, but DD absolutely could not get into it, and neither could I. We just never got really interested enough to continue reading, YKWIM? (Judging from the large number of copies our used books store carries, the same might have been true for many other people)

 

 

Btw, the Young Royals book about the English queens (Catherine, Bloody Mary, El;zabeth, Mary Queen of Scots) were quite good. DD read them when she was younger (9?), and even my DS enjoyed them last year at age 11, even though it was all about females.

[Matryoshka]

I really like Girl with a Pearl Earring - it's one of my favorite books. But I wouldn't assign it to a 10 yo or even 14yo. It's more about the inner life of the main character than it is about the historical setting (although the author does a marvelous job w/ the setting). It also has some mature themes (s*xual). I think 16 & up would enjoy this book - I also think girls would enjoy it more than boys; I suggested that my 17yo dd read it last year but I don't think I'll ever suggest it to my ds.

 

There definitely will be two reading lists! 10yo is even on the young side for her age. No romance at all for her!

 

I also loved Girl with a Pearl Earring, but when I read it, I wasn't even thinking if it was appropriate for young teens or not. I was trying to think back about anything s*xual, but isn't most of it implied, not explicit? I also loved The Passion of Artemesia (about the renaissance female painter), but that I do remember had themes in it that I wouldn't be comfortable having them read yet.

 

I forgot to mention that I've got all girls, so definitely books that would appeal to girls.

[Matryoshka]

It is not a YA, but a regular grown up book. Irving Stone is very easy to read, and this is probably his best book. DD12 gobbled it up within a few days.

I have re-read it several times but do not at the moment recall if it contains something other people might find objectionable for their kids.

 

I'll put it on the list, and maybe not make it required but suggested. :)

 

 

Galileo's Daughter - not sure how to pinpoint it, but DD absolutely could not get into it, and neither could I. We just never got really interested enough to continue reading, YKWIM? (Judging from the large number of copies our used books store carries, the same might have been true for many other people)

 

Well, that's disappointing. I really enjoyed Longitude, and I had been hoping this would be a way to get some historical fiction about Galileo with a female (and non-romantic) twist.

 

 

Btw, the Young Royals book about the English queens (Catherine, Bloody Mary, Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots) were quite good. DD read them when she was younger (9?), and even my DS enjoyed them last year at age 11, even though it was all about females.

Noted! Any favorites? I may put some on the list for my younger dd to read, then. Edited August 6, 2011 by matroyshka
fixed broken quote

[Kfamily]

Some favorites at our house were:

 

Royal Diary books (the one for Mary, Queen of Scots and the one on Queen Elizabeth were loved here.)

 

Children of the New Forest (This can be viewed at Yesterday's Classics.)

 

Ivanhoe

 

Both girls loved The Good Master

 

We own the book Lorna Doone but neither have read it. They loved the movie version of this!

 

This site has some great suggestions and are arranged chronologically:

 

http://www.abookintime.com/discovery/ageofdiscovery.html

 

ETA: some more I thought of...

 

I, Juan de Pareja

 

The Double Life of Pochahontas

 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

 

P.S. My dd read Utopia this year (8th) and reallly took a lot away from it. We did take our time and move through it slowly. I also highly recommend The Portable Renaissance Reader. It has primary documents of this time period that were all short enough, and taken in small doses, that dd could have a real taste for the Renaissance time period without being overwhelmed with large works too big for her to take on yet.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Kfamily

[Julie in MN]

For the 10yo, I think something like Longitude could be a bit heavy, depending on the kid. There is a lot on the Age of Exploration for that age group, such as Around the World in 100 Years or Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.

 

Also for the 10 yo, the American Girl series, Girls of Many Lands, has some good titles. Unfortunately, lots of them have a detail or two that I wish wasn't in there (e.g. obsession about a kiss from a boy in the one about the English court). But they are not churned out by one author; instead, each is written by an author with a passion for that culture. [edited to add: I just looked on Wikipedia, and only a few of them are set in your time frame - England, France, and Turkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_of_Many_Lands ]

 

I'm also thinking the real thing with Shakespeare could be fun if you ham it up or go watch some plays. Read it aloud and have each girl take a group of parts, or give them a few props like a medieval hat and a dagger :001_smile:

 

I'm trying to think of a good scientist biography in that time period, but anyways a biography might be good, since it was a time of such explosion in modern science. The Age of Exploration will cover some advances in science, but you could also read about the telescope, the microscope, etc. Enchanted Learning has a good timeline of scientists somewhere on their mega site.

 

Julie

Edited August 4, 2011 by Julie in MN

[Emerald Stoker]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Honoria Glossop

[Matryoshka]

I enjoyed The Lark and the Laurel (and sequels) when I was a child.

 

Do you know when this is set year-wise? Amazon has no description of the book or clues to when it's set... (well, the UK site has a short description, but not a year)

 

An interesting book - fiction about history rather than historical fiction - is The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tay. There are more options in the spreadsheets in the sidebar of my blog, but I can't vouch for them all.

 

That one looks good too - thanks! These British books don't seem to pop up on Amazon.com unless you specifically know the title...

[Matryoshka]

Do you know Cynthia Harnett's books? Most of them are set in the fifteenth century; they're meticulously researched and very well-written.

 

I didn't know her. They barely show up on Amazon.com (even when I know to type her name in), but I took a look at Amazon UK and they look great! But my library system has exactly ZERO copies of anything by her. :glare::glare::glare: So I guess I'd have to buy anything... I usually just borrow - any particularly spectacular titles by her I should look for?

 

We have liked Geoffrey Trease as well.

 

Any particular titels? My library appears to only have non-fiction stuff by him, but there is quite a lot of it.

 

Rosemary Sutcliff also has some less-well-known titles from later periods than her most famous ones--Flame-Coloured Taffeta, Bonnie Dundee, etc.).

 

Oh goodie, my library has those two!

 

Thanks!

[Emerald Stoker]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Honoria Glossop

[Matryoshka]

For the 10yo, I think something like Longitude could be a bit heavy, depending on the kid. There is a lot on the Age of Exploration for that age group, such as Around the World in 100 Years or Carry On, Mr. Bowditch.

 

Yeah, Longitude is probably too much for the 10yo. Around the World in 100 Years looks good. Mr. Bowditch looks a bit after our timeframe, but we'll get there eventually. :)

 

Also for the 10 yo, the American Girl series, Girls of Many Lands, has some good titles. Unfortunately, lots of them have a detail or two that I wish wasn't in there (e.g. obsession about a kiss from a boy in the one about the English court). But they are not churned out by one author; instead, each is written by an author with a passion for that culture. [edited to add: I just looked on Wikipedia, and only a few of them are set in your time frame - England, France, and Turkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_of_Many_Lands ]

 

D'oh! I forgot about these - I even made a list of them at one point (who knows what I did with it!)

 

I'm also thinking the real thing with Shakespeare could be fun if you ham it up or go watch some plays. Read it aloud and have each girl take a group of parts, or give them a few props like a medieval hat and a dagger :001_smile:

 

 

That could be fun! We usually manage at least one Shakespeare performance a year, even if it's not what we're doing for history, but we've never acted anything out.

 

I'm trying to think of a good scientist biography in that time period, but anyways a biography might be good, since it was a time of such explosion in modern science. The Age of Exploration will cover some advances in science, but you could also read about the telescope, the microscope, etc. Enchanted Learning has a good timeline of scientists somewhere on their mega site.

 

 

Biographies are a little easier to come up with - I can just type in the person's name into Amazon. My kids always liked Signature Lives biographies (although they're probably getting a bit young for them...) they have a whole series on people from the Scientific Revolution.

[Laura Corin]

Do you know when this is set year-wise? Amazon has no description of the book or clues to when it's set... (well, the UK site has a short description, but not a year)

 

 

The series takes you into the next century and maybe beyond. This website has more detail.

 

Laura

[Matryoshka]

The series takes you into the next century and maybe beyond. This website has more detail.

 

 

 

Thanks, Laura, that's very helpful! Looks like the whole series goes from 1479-1640s, which is a great overlap!

[foxbridgeacademy]

No suggestions just a request for your list of books for the 2nd half of K12 HO 1. I liked the musketeers when I was young, so don't discount it just because of it's "swashbuckling".