Historical Fiction Picture Books for Middle School

Picture books can be used in ANY classroom. They are a perfect tool to use to teach skills and strategies in reading and writing! In Jen Jones' recent post on Instagram she stated, "If there's one thing that we can help readers, teachers, parents, and principals understand...picture books are NOT easy books. Like ANYTHING, the level of sophistication and complexity with questioning and discussion is on us. Elevate the thinking expectation and your students will blow you away." 

Need I say more?

I model with picture books every single day in my 6th grade classroom. I use them to teach conflict, setting, character development, synthesizing, inferring, context clues, and even decoding skills. One of the most powerful statements I heard from a student last year was, "When Mrs. Schrempp uses picture books to teach, it just clicks!" (cue tears)

Your library should reflect the students in your classroom. Displaying diverse books throughout the year helps children discover who they are and where they fit in the world. It is crucial that children gain an understanding of their own culture and the cultures of other people, in order to create a global respect for each other’s differences. Be sure that you are providing your students the opportunities to see the struggles that EVERY culture has gone through.

A New Coat for Anna | A beautiful story about a mother trying to provide for her daughter after WWII in Europe.
The Bracelet | This is a story about a young Japanese-American who is struggling to understand why the American government decided to place ALL Japanese-Americans in internment camps during WWII. It is a story about the power of friendship and family.
Saved by the Boats | This story focuses on a part of September 11th that many of us never heard about in the news or read about in newspapers. Saved by the Boats talks about the heroic sea evacuation of September 11th.
The Whispering Town | Through the eyes of Anett, you learn about the bravery of families hiding Jews in Denmark during WWII.
Henry's Freedom Box | A true, but unknown story about an African-American man's will to survive during the mid-1800's in America.
Baseball Saved Us | In 1942, the United States was at war with Japan. The U.S army moved all people of Japanese descent to internment camps in the middle of American deserts. This story follows how baseball brought a community together during and after the war.
Heroes of the Surf | On April 22nd, 1882, the British steamship Pliny left Rio de Janerio, Brazil headed for New York City. A storm caused the Pliny to run aground off the coast of New Jersey. This story follows the tale of how the United States Coast Guard was created.
Train to Somewhere | From the mid-1850's till the late 1920's, an estimated 100,000 homeless children were sent by train from New York City to small towns and farms in the Midwest. This is the story of fourteen orphan children, going West, dreaming of a better life. All aboard the Orphan Train.

Listed below are the 26 titles I have available in my classroom library!

Happy Reading!