1. Historical Fiction Unit
Novel Choices

2. The Watsons Go to Birmingham You may have to buy this one if you want to read it– I have limited copies
By Christopher Paul Curtis
Lexile: 1000
The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
Time and Era: 1960s, Civil Right

3. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry
By Mildred Taylor
Lexile: 920
A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.
Time and Era: 1930s, Great Depression

4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
By John Boyne
Lexile: 1080
Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.
Time and Era: 1940s (WWII), Holocaust

5. Witch of Blackbird Pond
By Elizabeth George Speare
Lexile: 850
Kit Tyler must leave behind shimmering Caribbean islands to join the stern Puritan community of her relatives. She soon feels caged, until she meets the old woman known as the Witch of Blackbird Pond. But when their friendship is discovered, Kit herself is accused of witchcraft!
Time and Era: 1687, Puritans and Witch Trials (early America)