Rebels & Redcoats

Here is a sampling of fiction set during the Revolutionary War.  The list is subdivided by reading level.  Please remember that these grade levels are only approximations and are not intended to limit the reader. Unless indicated, books are arranged on the shelves by the author’s last name in the sections below.

A = Title available in print or on audiobook

J Fiction  (Grades 2-3)

Drums at Saratoga by Lisa Banim
Lured by the glamour and excitement of a soldier’s life,   11-year-old Nathaniel follows the British Army down the Hudson Valley during the American Revolution and witnesses the true hardships of war firsthand.    58 pgs.

Samuel’s Choice by Richard Berleth
Samuel, a 14-year-old slave in  Brooklyn in 1776, faces a difficult choice when the fighting between the British and the colonists reaches his doorstep and only he can help the rebels.   40 pgs.

George Washington’s Breakfast by Jean Fritz
Having the same name and birthday as George Washington, a young boy wants everything else in his life just as Washington had it, but he cannot find out what Washington ate for breakfast.   47 pgs.   (Look for other titles by this author.)

This Time, Tempe Wick? by Patricia Lee Gauch
Everyone knew Tempe Wick was a most surprising girl, but they found out just how surprising when two mutinous Revolutionary War soldiers tried to steal her beloved horse.   43 pgs. (Also look for Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys.)

The Battle for Long Island & New York
by Susan and John Lee
Unwilling to side with either the rebels or loyalists, two    young brothers make up their minds when they become involved in the Battle of Long Island.   47 pgs.  (Also look for The Fall of the Quaker City.)

The Scarlet Stockings Spy by Trinka Hakes Noble
Maddy Rose uses her stockings and other clothes to signal the location of suspicious ships to her brother who is serving in General Washington’s army.   48 pgs.

J FICTION (Grades 3-6)

The Fighting Ground by Avi      A
Thirteen-year-old Jonathan goes off to fight in the Revolutionary War and discovers the real war is being    fought within himself.   157 pgs.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes   A
After injuring his hand, a silversmith’s apprentice in Boston becomes a messenger for the Sons of Liberty in the days before the American Revolution.   256 pgs.

The Riddle of Penncroft Farm by Dorothea Jensen
Lars Olafson’s move to a farm near Valley Forge brings him a friendship with the ghost of an 18th century ancestor, who recounts for him his adventures in that part of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.    180 pgs.

Dangerous Crossing: The Revolutionary Voyage of John Quincy Adams by Stephen Krensky
During the winter of 1778, John Quincy Adams and his son Johnny make a difficult voyage to France to enlist support for the struggling American cause.   Unpaged.

The Keeping Room by Anna Myers
With his father off leading the rebels, British troops take over 13-year-old Joseph Kershaw’s home and he is torn between his hatred of them and his respect for a young captain who looks out for the family.     135 pgs.

Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne
Using their magic tree house, Jack and Annie travel back in time to help General Washington cross the Delaware River.  69 pgs.  (Look  for other titles in the Magic Tree House series.)

Guns for General Washington by Seymour Reit
Frustrated by life under siege in Washington’s army, 19-  year-old Will Knox and his brother Colonel Henry Knox undertake the task of moving 183 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the dead of winter.    98 pgs.

Hannah’s Helping Hands by Jean Van Leeuwen
In 1779, in Fairfield, Connecticut, Hannah and her family try to maintain a sense of normalcy as the Revolutionary War rages around them, threatening to destroy their way of life.    88 pgs.  (Look  for other titles in the Pioneer Daughters series.)

George Washington’s Socks by Elvira Woodruff       A
In the midst of a backyard campout, 10-year-old Matt and four other children find themselves transported back into the time of George Washington and the American Revolution, where they begin to live out American history first-hand and learn the true nature of war.   166 pgs.

JH FICTION (Grades 6-8)

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson      A
Isabel is sold to a Loyalist family in Manhattan at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and attempts to help the Patriots and earn her freedom by spying.   316 pgs.

Daniel at the Siege of Boston, 1776 by Laurie Calkhoven
Boston is under siege after the Boston Tea Party, and 12-year-old Daniel must be careful not to reveal his family’s allegiance to the Sons of Liberty to the British officers staying in their tavern.   195  pgs.   (Look  for other titles in the Boys of War series.)

My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier  A
Recounts the tragedy that strikes the Meeker family during the Revolution when one son joins the rebel forces while the rest of the family tries to stay neutral in a Tory town.   216 pgs.

Winter of Red Snow  (Dear America Series)    JH DEA    A
Eleven-year-old Abigail presents a diary account of life in Valley Forge from December 1777 to July 1778 as General Washington prepares his troops to fight the British.   173 pgs.

The Journal of William Thomas Emerson   (Dear America Series)    JH DEA
William, a 12-year-old orphan, writes of his experiences in pre-Revolutionary War Boston where he joins the cause of the patriots.  156 pgs. 

Betsy Zane by Lynda Durrant
In 1781, twelve-year-old Elizabeth Zane leaves Philadelphia to return to her brothers’ homestead near Fort Henry in now what is now West Virginia, where she plays an important role in the final battle of the American Revolution.   198 pgs.

Give Me Liberty by Laura Elliott
In 1774 Williamsburg, events are building up to the start of the Revolutionary War, and 13-year-old Nathaniel observes this through his work as an indentured servant.  376 pgs.

Early Thunder by Jean Fritz
The conflicts between the Tories and the patriots divide the townspeople of pre-revolutionary Salem in 1775. As he watches the events, fourteen-year-old Daniel begins to re-examine where his loyalty lies.   255 pgs.

Moon of Two Dark Horses by Sally M. Keehn
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, hoping to keep bloodshed away from their valley, a 12-year-old Delaware Indian boy and his white friend search sacred land for the bones of a legendary beast.   218 pgs.

Sarah Bishop by Scott O’Dell     A
Left alone after the deaths of her father and brother in the War for Independence, and fleeing from the British who seek to arrest her, Sarah struggles to shape a new life for herself in the wilderness.  184 pgs.    

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen      A
Thirteen-year-old Samuel must rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Indians who captured them after slaughtering most of their Pennsylvania community.   164 pgs.

Hannah Pritchard : Pirate of the Revolution by Bonnie Pryor
After her family is killed by Loyalists, fourteen-year-old Hannah disguises herself as a boy and joins a pirate ship that takes supplies to support the American Revolution.  160 pgs.  (Also look for the sequel: Private Hannah Pritchard : Captured!)

Cast Two Shadows by Ann Rinaldi
In South Carolina in 1780, 14-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll on her family and friends and comes to understand the true nature of war.   281 pgs.

Saratoga Secret by Betsy Sterman
In 1777, as General Burgoyne and his British troops invade the Upper Hudson River Valley, 16-year-old Amity must carry a secret message to the Continental army to give warning of an impending attack.   249 pgs.   

Revised 9/10

This list was prepared by Youth Services at St. Charles Public Library
(630) 584-9390