Annotated Bibliography- Historical Fiction

Collier, J.L. and Collier, C. (1974). My Brother Sam is Dead. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Reading level: Grades 6-12.
Themes: War, Family, Courage, Coming of Age.

Summary: With the Revolutionary War on the horizon, Sam Meeker returns home from Yale to his family's tavern in Redding, Connecticut a recently converted believer in the Patriot cause. Sam's parents are loyal to the crown, and his younger brother, Tim, looks up to him. Narrated from Tim's point of view, the Colliers take readers on a gut-wrenching portrayal of a family at odds during war. Sam takes his father's gun and runs away from home as Tim fights emotions split between his brother's yearning for an independent nation and his father's loyalist views. With rebel soldiers looking for local militia and arms, Tim visits Sam's hideout looking for the gun. They return to their parents, but it's the start of a summer filled with chaos. With Sam enlisted with the minuteman army, an a trip to New York, Tim's father is kidnapped by rebels, forcing Tim to mature and take on running the tavern. By the spring of 1777, the British soldiers have entered Redding, killing males in the town, including Tim's friend. When the rebel army enters Redding, Tim is thrilled to see Sam, but he plans on going back to war. Tim's father dies on a prison ship, then with Sam home, he is framed as a cattle thief. Sam is sentenced to death by the army he served for three years. "Mother refused to go to the execution. I went" (206).The story ends with Tim, now in Pennsylvania, writing on the 50th anniversary of his brother's death. 

Hesse, K. (1992). Letters from Rifka. New York, NY: Square Fish.
Reading level: Grades 6-8.
Themes: Courage, Perseverance, Family, Quest. 

Summary: In 1919, with the Russian Civil War raging, Rifka narrates her story of escaping the country for America through letters to a cousin, Tovah, intertwined with Pushkin poetry passages. Rifka, along with her parents and brothers are Jewish, and leave Russia hoping to eventually live with family in the United States where they will all be treated better. Their road across Europe is not an easy one, as the family faces harassment from officials, hunger, robberies, and a case of typhus that affects the family. In Belgium, when the rest of her family is heading to America, Rifka is unable to go along when she contracts ringworm. Forced to stay behind, she finds out that she is treated better in Belgium despite the fact that she's Jewish. On the boat to America, she falls in love with Pieter, a sailor, but he dies on the boat during a storm at sea. Upon reaching Ellis Island, Rifka's ringworm comes back, and she befriends Iyla, who is going to live with his uncle. Her parents come to Ellis Island, and they are reunited with a new life in America ahead of them. Rifka writes to Tovah, "At last I send you my love from America" (145). 

Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the Dust. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Reading level: Grades 6-8.
Themes: Perseverance, Courage, Home, Nature. 

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Billie Jo Kelby chronicles her life during the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma from winter 1934 through autumn 1935 in a series of poems written from her own perspective. Drought and dust storms ravage the region and life on the family farm. Billie Jo doesn't have the best relationship with her father, and now has a new sibling on the way. Billie Jo's talent on the piano lends herself professional opportunities, much to her mother's chagrin. An accident at breakfast results in Billie Jo badly burning her mother. Billie Jo's father takes her education money and spends it on alcohol. Later, Billie Jo's mother dies after giving birth to the baby boy her father always wanted. The baby boy, Franklin, dies shortly after birth. An already strained father-daughter relationship becomes virtually nonexistent, and Billie Jo's badly burned hands forces her to give up piano. Billie Jo leaves home for a week, and after stumbling upon a homeless man, she realizes family is a form of happiness. She returns home, repairs the soured relationship with her father, who remarries Louise, and becomes content with the "certainty of home" (221). 

Reilly Giff, P. (2000). Nory Ryan's Song
Reading level: Grades 6-8.
Themes: Perseverance, Coming of Age, Family, Friendship, Love. 

Summary: In 1845, Nory Ryan and her family have called Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland Nory's father is a potato farmer who fishes to earn rent money to pay rent to Englishman Lord Cunningham. Cunningham's motives stem from a desire to rid the land of Irish people and use the space to field and graze sheep, so Nory's poor family is a target. As Nory's family emigrates from Ireland, Nory is left to take care of her remaining family as the Irish potato famine destroys crops causing even more poverty, hunger, and starvation. After her baby brother is sent to America to be with her family, Nory, alone in Ireland, cares for a neighbor. Hope comes in the form of a ticket to America from her father. Nory leaves Maidin Bay. Nory says in the first person account, "I turned to the road that wound around the coast like a ball of yarn let loose," before heading for Brooklyn. 

Rinaldi, A. (2004). Taking Liberty. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Reading level: Grades 6-8.
Themes: Courage, Freedom.

Summary: Rinaldi expands on the true story of Oney Judge, a slave. In Mount Vernon, Virginia, the home of George and Martha Washington, Oney is considered a servant, holding influence and respect. She becomes the personal servant of Martha Washington, catapulting her status to an envious position and perks, white or black. Oney, feeling as though she is part of the Washington family and Martha's main confidante, changes her perception as she realizes she is a slave and despite her well-being, it is still slavery. The choice of freedom and liberty compared to status and living comfortably weighs on Oney. Oney flees and wonders, "Would they care that I was gone?," before stating, just like her father, "I am one of the Gone" (248-249).