Historical Fictionistas discussion

Well if you cannot tell I am getting ready for the Challenge and I am having trouble thinking of any HF books which feature a child/teen as the main character and it is not an easy thing to find out about book if you haven't already read the books because in most summaries they don't say the actual age of the character but simply refer to them as being "young" which could mean a vast age rage.

So does anyone know of any good books that revolve around a character who is a minor? Either books made for adults that just happen to focus on a child, or YA HF are fine with me.

As well I am open to any period of time.

The Book Thief

Felina wrote: "The Book Thief"

That one I have actually read. It was quite good.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I haven't read it but I'm fairly certain its HF.

Wasn't that a movie too? I think I saw it.. Good movie.

Felina wrote: "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I haven't read it but I'm fairly certain its HF."

I have heard about that one, but I don't know much about it, I will have to look into it.

The few I can think of are

I Am David (regarded as YA though)

I Can Jump Puddles (don't know if you can get this one easily in the U.S)

Oliver Twist

Lord of the Flies

Angela's Ashes

What Maisie Knew

Empire of the Sun

The Catcher in the Rye

Diary of Anne Frank

Would the "Little House on the Prarrie books work?

Those Who Save Us is excellent.
Also our month selection,

There is also,
The Kite Runner

Now, I have not read this, but I know it is the story of a boy. Whether he is a boy all the way through, I dunno.

he is, I have read it.

I've not read it yet (obviously) but I have Gatty's Tale lined up for my book for this challenge.

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "he is, I have read it."

Actually, the main character in The Kite Runner is an adult at the end of the book. But I'd still count that one because the majority is about the kids.

Dawn wrote: "Wasn't that a movie too? I think I saw it.. Good movie."

Yes. I have been meaning to read/watch both of them. I've heard they are both excellent. *runs off to see if it fits for any challenge tasks*

Felina wrote: "Dawn wrote: "Wasn't that a movie too? I think I saw it.. Good movie."

Yes. I have been meaning to read/watch both of them. I've heard they are both excellent. *runs off to see if it fits for any..."

I looked it up - I definitely saw it. Very very good movie, but very very sad. I went into it thinking it was something completely different than it was, based on the title and the blurb. Boy was I surprised after I watched it! But definitely worth a watch, and maybe a read as well (I haven't read it yet, so I can't say for sure).

Also The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (which was good) and Paradise Barn, which I have not yet read, but have heard good things about.

I have read the book but didn't care for it so I didn't watch the movie.

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Come to think of it, Shadows of the wind follws a boy from 11 to 18, I think.

Terri wrote: "The few I can think of are

I Am David (regarded as YA though)

I Can Jump Puddles (don't know if you can get this one easily in the U.S)

Oliver Twist

..."

Angela's Ashes is nonfiction - a memoir.

I guess I didn't acknowledge the reference to fiction in the first post and title. The abbreviated HF doesn't always register with me as fiction. My mind playing tricks on me.
I thought Silver was just chasing books with a child protagonist, irrespective of fiction or non fiction or memoir etc.

Sorry Silver if my recommendations misled you.

As Carolyn has mentioned, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie would be a great book to use for this task. I highly recommend it. (The second book in the series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, is very good, as well.)

I just plugged these two books on another thread, but they work well here too: Lark and Linnet by Sally Watson. Both have teenage heroines - Lark is a 13-year-old girl embroiled with a Cavalier spy in the English Civil War, and Linnet is a 14-year-old girl in Elizabethan England who gets sucked into an underground school for training street urchins into thieves and pickpockets. Both terrific reads; the heroines are young but they grapple with growing pains and adult responsibilities and even the possibility of romance. These are the books that got me hooked on historical fiction in the first place.

The Power of One would work. I've been wanting to read it forever.

Virgin: Prelude to the Throne features Elizabeth I when she is 13.

To Melanie who recommended The Prince of MistOMG someone else who read that. May I also recommend The Shadow of the Windthe protagonist starts out as a younger boy. This is also by Carlos Ruiz Zafón Iam a HUGE fan of his. I recommend anything by him

Wow thank you all for the great recommendations, and such a variety to choose from. Sorry for not getting back to everyone sooner but for some reason I wasn't getting the updates for this thread. I was surprised when I popped on to see it had 20 new posts.

The Prince of Mist, is actually on my TBR list. I have already read The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game by the same author and thought they were great.

I hope to attend a book giveaway at a library in my area, and I will keep my eye out to see if I can find any of these possibilities.

So many of these recomendations sound really quite interesting.

I Am David sounds a lot like Empire of the Sun which I really quite enjoyed it.

The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is one of those books I have seen pop up a lot on Goodreads, and heard the name mentioned a lot but never really new much about it, but reading the discription of it, it sounds interesting.

Virgin: Prelude to the Throne I really love the idea of reading about Queen Elizebeth during her teen age years. That sounds like it could be quite interesting.

Cleopatra's Daughter I love the story about Cleopatra, so this one also sounds quite interesting as well.

There's always The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I agree heartily with the supporters of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. I read it recently and loved it.

For a different era and setting (Medieval Japanese fishing village), I recommend Shipwrecks by Akira Yoshimura. It was haunting, yet hopeful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. (It is a brisk read, too.) The protag is a boy who ages from 9-12 during the span of the book.

I definitely agree with suggestions for "The True Story of Hansel and Gretel." Its one of the few books I've read semi-recently that has really gotten to me.

What got me into Historical Fiction were Dear America books, which are written of diaries of usually pre-teen girls in different time periods. One of those would make a quick read! I haven't read them in ages, so I don't really know how 'good' they would be to an adult. There was a whole box of them at my library's recent sale.. my boyfriend was worried I was going to buy the whole thing!

I have some of those and I love them. I read them as an adult and enjoy them.

Just heard of this new book coming out, and it's rated pretty highly so far on GR. The main character is an 8-year old girl, so fits this category.
It's The Oracle of Stamboul

Carolyn, I have heard that is terribly hyped up, not worth reading at all! Who knows?! I was intrigued until my GR friends started saying the contrary.

Chrissie wrote: "Carolyn, I have heard that is terribly hyped up, not worth reading at all! Who knows?! I was intrigued until my GR friends started saying the contrary."

Thanks for the heads-up! It has a lot of high GR reviews, but no one I know has read it yet, so I guess I'll wait to hear more about it before I pick it up.

Carolyn, I haven't read it myself, but my friends say it is mediocre.

Carolyn wrote: "Just heard of this new book coming out, and it's rated pretty highly so far on GR. The main character is an 8-year old girl, so fits this category.
It's The Oracle of Stamboul"

I own this but haven't gotten to it yet!

Corinne wrote: "I definitely agree with suggestions for "The True Story of Hansel and Gretel." Its one of the few books I've read semi-recently that has really gotten to me.

What got me into Historical Fiction..."

These were my LIFE in Middle School!

Milkweed is one of my favorites.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas = so good, heartbreaking, but a great read.

Sarah's Key

Okay, so maybe Sarah's Key isn't completely child-centered, but a lot of the story is

'The Gates of Rome', the first in Conn Iggulden's Emperor trilogy, follows Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus as children/adolescents. In many ways I found this the best of the three.

Also (ahem) my debut eBook 'Legionary' follows a slave boy's rise from the gutter to become a hero in the legions of the later Eastern Roman Empire.

They don't have a copy of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas at my library. But I'm going to start doing volunteer work there next week and I hope that I can convince them to buy a few books that I'd really like to read. :)