Historical Fiction for Children

I think one of my favorite genres of literature is historical fiction.  The combination of a good story with true events and people make the history more fun and more memorable.

Here are 3 series of historical fiction books geared toward children (but fun for adults too) that we have been enjoying recently.



"Horse Diaries" by various authors.  There are currently 15 books in this series.  We've read 12 of them - 11 from our library, and one that I found used.  (When the last 3 get old enough to get on the used book market for a reasonable price, I'll try to snag them too.)  Each book tells a story of a different historical event or time period from the horse's point of view.  They are well written, informative, and just plain fun to read.  Especially for the horse lovers in my family.  Each book also contains an appendix with extra information about the historical event or time period and the breed of horse featured in the story.  These books make learning history fun and painless for kids!





"Dog Diaries" by Kate Klimo.  There are currently 12 books in this series, with #13 to be released in December this year.  We have read 9 of them, as that is all our library currently has.  Just like the Horse Diaries, each book tells the story of a different breed of dog, often a famous historical dog.  Again, well written, informative and fun to read.  At least of couple of them are written in present tense which kind of bugs me, but otherwise they are good reading.  Both series are clean -- no bad language or inappropriate content, no overly graphic descriptions of war, pain, or suffering (though those topics are dealt with, they are not too graphic or gross).  I also like the way they promote responsible pet ownership and understanding of various breeds of dogs.





"Imagination Station" by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker (though some other names appear on some books, one of these two is always on it).  Two cousins get transported back in time through Mr. Whitaker's Imagination Station.  They have adventures in various historical periods and events, but never change history.  These are kind of like the Magic Treehouse books, but better (in my opinion).  I think they are better written, and they don't contain any of the hocus-pocus magic that is in some of the Magic Treehouse books.  We currently have 18 or 19 of the 21 books in this series and the kids devour them.  Warning: many of them end with cliff-hangers, and the story is continued in the next book in the series!  A number of the events are from Bible history, some are about Christian missionaries.  All are written from a Christian perspective and worldview.