Historical Fiction Books for Kids

An Elephant in the Garden

An epic story of determination and love, about one family’s escape from the Allied bombing of Dresden in the Second World War

‘Captivating’ Telegraph

It’s 1945, and the bombing of Dresden is imminent. Before the bombs start to fall, Lizzie’s zookeeper mother brings home the one animal she can’t bear to lose: Marlene, the elephant.

When Lizzie and her family join the thousands of other refugees fleeing the city, they end up with more than one unusual companion . . .

The Black Crow Conspiracy

Step into the past in this spine-tingling historical adventure from award-winning author Christopher Edge.

Penelope Tredwell is the feisty thirteen-year-old orphan heiress of the bestselling magazine, The Penny Dreadful. Her masterly tales of the macabre are gripping Victorian Britain, even if no one knows she's the author. But Penelope Tredwell, is cursed with writer's block. She needs a sensational new story or her magazine will go under. So when a mysterious letter arrives, confessing to an impossible crime, Penny thinks she has found a plot to enthral her readers: the theft of the Crown Jewels by the diabolical Black Crow.

Spine-tingling historical adventure series with a supernatural twist! From the acclaimed author of The Many Worlds of Albie Bright and The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day.

An Escape in Time

Alex and Ruby are back in their third time-slip adventure, tumbling back into the time of the French Revolution! From multi-award-winning author Sally Nicholls comes another brilliant action-packed adventure for 7+ readers, beautifully illustrated by Rachael Dean.

When Alex and Ruby fall through the mirror in their aunt's house, they find themselves in a different historical period, each time with a different task to perform before they can return to the present. This time a furious French aristocrat lands in Alex and Ruby's hallway. Can they stop her causing chaos? Probably not...

Full of action and humour and featuring exciting black-and-white illustrations throughout, this is another superb time-slip story which brilliantly brings history to life as part of an adventure.

Cosima Unfortunate Foils a Fraud

Cosima Unfortunate returns for a new adventure! A warm, funny, exciting and empowering tale of friendship, family and mystery, with joyous and authentic disabled representation.

Cosima lives at the Star Diamond Home for Children with her best friends Diya, Mary and Pearl and has just found her long-lost father. But where Cos goes, adventure is sure to follow – and when a world-famous painting is stolen, Cos’s father is arrested for the crime. Cos and her friends know he has been framed – and they are sure that notorious thief, the Spectre, is responsible.

The perfect read for fans of Katherine Rundell, Tamzin Merchant, Robin Stevens and Anna James

Terrible True Tales: Egyptians: From the author of Horrible Histories, perfect for 7+

From the author of the blockbuster Horrible Histories series, which is now a TV show and movie, and has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, here is a hilarious collection of Egyptian tales based on thrilling true stories – four books in one! 

Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker

Rosie Raja is back in an electrifying, codebreaking-filled escapade. After breathtaking adventures in France and Egypt, trusted Rosie is put to the test among code breakers, double-crossers and resistance fighters in Bletchley Park, England, 1942. 

Angel of Grasmere: From Dunkirk to the Fells

Tarn grapples with the loss of her brother at Dunkirk as she faces the threat of Nazi invasion in the Cumbrian countryside in this gripping wartime tale from Tom Palmer.

July 1940 – as Tarn struggles to come to terms with the loss of her beloved brother in the chaos of the British retreat at Dunkirk, she and her friends scour the hills around their Lake District home. But as the war drags on, with little good news from the front, the locals become aware of someone carrying out anonymous acts of kindness, such as saving a flock of sheep from a snowdrift and getting help for an injured farmer who might other wise have died.

With no one claiming credit, they come to think of this unidentified stranger as a kind of guardian angel, but when his identity is finally revealed can Tarn come to terms with the truth…?

The River Spirit

Trapped within the oppresive warrens of the city’s chimneys, young sweeper Tom longs for fresh air and freedom in this atmospheric and ghostly tale from Lucy Strange.

Young chimney sweep Tom has started seeing strange, supernatural things – fairies in the flowers by the river, a soot monster crouching in the darkness of a chimney, and then the mysterious river spirit Elle. Elle joins Tom and the other children apprenticed to cruel master sweep Mister Crow. Together, they shimmy up the town's narrow, filthy chimneys. But Tom has an ominous feeling in his bones, and when he faces his most dangerous job of all, the reason for Elle's magical appearance becomes clear...