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Books by grade

13 historical fiction books for middle schoolers

Historical fiction lets kids reach the past through one person. These cover slavery, the Depression, the world wars, and the civil rights era.

Chosen from award lists, school and library reading lists, and reviews, and each title and author checked against Open Library, Oct 2026. Checked 2026-10-25. Nobody paid to be here. The buy links are plain search links, not affiliate links, so Peabody earns nothing from them.

  1. Number the Stars

    Lois Lowry · Ages 9-12

    Annemarie helps her Jewish friend escape Denmark in 1943. Newbery winner and short.

    Watch for: Nazi threat and a death.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  2. Esperanza Rising

    Pam Muñoz Ryan · Ages 9-13

    A rich girl in Mexico loses her father and moves to a California farm labor camp in 1930. Historical fiction about class, strikes, and growing up.

    Watch for: A father's death and a threatened family.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  3. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

    Mildred D. Taylor · Ages 10-14

    A Black family in 1930s Mississippi holds on to its land against night riders and unfair laws. Told by nine-year-old Cassie, and a Newbery winner.

    Watch for: Racial slurs, a lynching threat, and a burned field; hard but honest.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  4. Bud, Not Buddy

    Christopher Paul Curtis · Ages 9-13

    A ten-year-old orphan rides the rails in 1930s Michigan to find a jazz musician he thinks is his father. Funny, with a fine voice.

    Watch for: Orphaned boy; racism.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  5. The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963

    Christopher Paul Curtis · Ages 9-13

    A funny Michigan family drives south into the 1963 church bombing.

    Watch for: The church bombing.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  6. Chains

    Laurie Halse Anderson · Ages 10-14

    Isabel, an enslaved girl, spies in Revolutionary War New York.

    Watch for: Slavery's cruelty, including branding.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  7. Johnny Tremain

    Esther Forbes · Ages 11-14

    A silversmith's apprentice is hurt and drawn into the Boston Tea Party and Lexington. A Newbery winner from 1944.

    Watch for: Dated language and battle deaths.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  8. Out of the Dust

    Karen Hesse · Ages 10-14

    Billie Jo narrates the Dust Bowl in free verse after a horrible accident. A Newbery winner.

    Watch for: A fire kills a mother; an injury; grief.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  9. Refugee

    Alan Gratz · Ages 10-14

    Three children flee Nazi Germany, Castro's Cuba, and war-torn Syria in alternating chapters. Fast, and the stories meet at the end.

    Watch for: Drowning deaths and war violence; a parent dies.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  10. Between Shades of Gray

    Ruta Sepetys · Ages 13-17

    A Lithuanian teen is deported to Siberia under Stalin in 1941. A little-known part of WWII.

    Watch for: Starvation, executions, and sexual threats.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  11. Salt to the Sea

    Ruta Sepetys · Ages 13-17

    Four refugees head for the ship Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945. Short alternating chapters.

    Watch for: War deaths, a baby's death, and sexual violence mentioned.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  12. Echo

    Pam Muñoz Ryan · Ages 9-13

    A magic harmonica links three children in Nazi Germany, Depression-era Pennsylvania, and wartime California. Three stories braided into one.

    Watch for: World War II, a child who is persecuted, and family separation.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

  13. The Lions of Little Rock

    Kristin Levine · Ages 10-14

    Twelve-year-old Marlee befriends a Black girl passing as white in Little Rock in 1958, the year of the school closings.

    Watch for: Racism and threats.

    Buy: Bookshop.org · Amazon

More lists

All 348 lists →