List of Excellent Historical Fiction and Biography Titles

[Kfamily]

I was wondering if we could use this thread as a place to hold lists and examples of well-written and, for the most part, historically accurate historical fiction and/or biographies. We, as a homeschool family, tend to lean more heavily towards a focus on literature with history being built mostly on a spine (or spines), biographies, a few historical supplements and primary sources. This is just how we prefer to handle our focus. Having said this, we do use historical fiction sometimes, but I would prefer to choose the best of the best (if that's possible...:)). I would also love some good suggestions for biographies too.

 

I'm not looking for perfection in this list. I'm sure that there are not enough books which are perfectly accurate. Historical fiction almost always contains some of the author's perspective. I'm just looking for the most interesting and enjoyable books but without a story base which is very flawed. Does this make sense? I don't even need or want a large list. A short list which would cover a range of time periods in world history would be fine.

 

Any suggestions or ideas?

Thank you! :)

[SarahW]

Could you define your parameters for historical fiction a bit?

 

One common parameter used is that the author is writing more than 60 years past the setting of their work. So Little House on the Prairie is historical fiction (just barely), but Little Women is not. Little Women in this classification would be realistic fiction, though we tend to view today as a historical piece of fiction.

 

I love, love, love a focus on literature. I do. My rule of thumb for literature in history is to just look first for the Little Women type of literature - the realistic fiction produced by people in that time period. Adaptations and illustrations to bring it down to kid level are fine in my book.

 

I will admit that actual historical fiction (60+ years) can be good and accurate. But I have been burned so many times by costume dramas that I'm tired of trying to find them. (What I mean by costume dramas is explained here and here).

 

This is my running working book list for literature for ancient history (for elementary):

 

 

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton

Gilgamesh the King by Ludmila Zeman

The Revenge of Ishtar by Ludmila Zeman

The Last Quest of Gilgamesh by Ludmila Zeman

Gods and Pharaohs From Ancient Mythology by Geraldine Harris

Sacred Myths by Marilyn McFarlane

Dances with the Gods: Canaanite-Phoenician Myths & Legends Retold by Wafa Stephan Tarnowski

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

Black Ships Before Troy : The Story of the Illiad by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of the Odyssey by Rosemary Sutcliff (or The Odyssey by Gillian Cross )

Harmony: A treasury of Chinese wisdom by Sarah Conover

The Names Upon The Harp: Irish Myths And Legends by Marie Heaney

Amazons! Women Warriors of the World by Sally Pomme Clayton

In Search of a Homeland: the story of the Aeneid by Penelope Lively

Jason and the Golden Fleece by James Riordan

 

Joseph by Brian Wildsmith

The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs by Tamara Bower

David and Goliath by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Queen Esther Saves Her People by Rita Golden Gelman

Atlantis: The legend of a lost city by Christina Balit

Atalanta's Race : A Greek Myth by Shirley Climo

How the Amazon Queen Fought the Egyptian Prince by Tamara Bower

 

 

Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs by James Rumford

The Librarian who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky

 

 

The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully

Native American Rock Art: Messages from the Past by Yvette La Pierre

 

 

Roman Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean

The Curse of the Ring by Michael Harrison

The Road to Bethlehem: An Ethiopian Nativity by Elizabeth Laird

 

I have other working booklists going, but they are in something of an organizational mess. I've really got to start trying to clean it up anyways, so I hope that maybe I can share it here in a few days.

 

Oh, and if anyone thinks any of those books are non-historical, please let me know! I really do want to know! If you don't want to derail the thread just pm me.

[Kfamily]

Hmm, maybe we could have two lists...one for realistic fiction and one for books written in the 60 year after time frame. I read the first article that you linked and hope to read the second one soon.

 

Thank you Sarah, this is just what I was interested in seeing.

[PeterPan]

Doesn't get talked about much anymore, but that's what the TQ (TruthQuest) guides are. They don't go through adult level but they do go through a high school reading level.

[SarahW]

Hmm, maybe we could have two lists...one for realistic fiction and one for books written in the 60 year after time frame. I read the first article that you linked and hope to read the second one soon.

 

Thank you Sarah, this is just what I was interested in seeing.

 

 

The 60 years isn't my rule. I don't really care too much about where to draw the line. It is just that for the longest time I was confused by people who seemed to put say, the Aeneid and a modern fiction book about ancient Rome, together as "historical fiction." In my mind those are two very different types of literature, and not just because the Aeneid is an epic written by Virgil! The 60-year rule seemed to be a handy way for me to sort through this confusion.

 

Doesn't get talked about much anymore, but that's what the TQ (TruthQuest) guides are. They don't go through adult level but they do go through a high school reading level.

 

 

I looked at their site, and I'm a bit confused, lol. I see their list of optional "spine" readings, and when I opened some samples I saw some big lists of seemingly random books. Do they have a booklist anywhere? Sorry, I'm sleepy....

[PeterPan]

The TQ guides ARE the booklists. Topic heading, a paragraph of commentary, then a couple pages of books. New topic, dab of commentary, more books. Rinse and repeat. There are guides for Middle Ages, US, a couple levels of US (lower and upper), etc. There's also another guide All Through the Ages by Christine Miller (of Nothing New Press and the Guerber books). Don't have it myself, but it's books and no commentary.

[SarahW]

The TQ guides ARE the booklists. Topic heading, a paragraph of commentary, then a couple pages of books. New topic, dab of commentary, more books. Rinse and repeat. There are guides for Middle Ages, US, a couple levels of US (lower and upper), etc. There's also another guide All Through the Ages by Christine Miller (of Nothing New Press and the Guerber books). Don't have it myself, but it's books and no commentary.

 

 

Ok, so when I open this sample http://www.truthquesthistory.com/store/pdf/TruthQuest_History_Middle_Ages_Sample.pdf I see a lot of commentary. And then a booklist at the end. So are these the books? Are you supposed to buy them separately, or are they included somewhere? Is there anywhere to see just their booklist?

[PeterPan]

The TQ guides are exactly like the samples. It's commentary and books, more commentary, more books. It's not largely commentary. It's largely booklists, which is why people buy it. You can use the booklists (fully indexed in the back of each guide) and skip the commentary if you wish. The commentary points ORGANIZE the lists. I found it very easy to pull from to get books to go with our VP history studies.

 

The TQ books tend to be older/oop. There are some wonderful gems there, but you can also lay out a pretty penny doing it. I think AATA might be newer books.

[Amominfl]

GA Henty wrote a number of historical fiction books that are about on the 9th grade reading level. They were written pre1923 so the quality/vocabulary is very strong.

[LaughingCat]

I'd love to see your other lists :001_tt1: 'cause I think this is a fascinating topic. I must admit much of my own historical knowledge comes from reading fiction- so it no doubt contains many things that are incorrect. For example, "Sarah, Plain and Tall" I immediately thought it "wrong" that she was there "on trial" vs. just coming out and marrying "sight unseen" (mail order bride style) but the whole idea they would be "too busy to play with the kids" never occurred to me at all.

[kiwik]

I was fascinated by English History as a child. We never got taught history at all so I read a lot of Rosemary Sutcliff and (Geoffrey Treece?). I'm sure I got some inaccurate information but I also got a lot that was good. I'm not sure how to approach this with my kids but they are not at that stage yet.

[Lily_Grace]

American history:

 

Blood On The River, Jamestown 1607

The Ransom of Mercy Carter (1704)

The Remarkable Ride of Israel Bissell (as Related By Molly The Crow) (Picture book of one of the post riders to combat the deluge of info on Paul Revere's short ride)

and not sure on the historical accuracy, but I truly enjoyed using the Ballad of Lucy Whipple as a jumping off point for the California Gold Rush. Much, much better than By The Great Horn Spoon in detailing the hard work and little/no reward life of the gold fields.