Fiction
To find fiction books about US conflicts, click on the Keyword link at the top of the library catalog page and enter the terms United States War Fiction in the SUBJECT keyword box.
Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two
YA F Bruchac
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue. By Joseph Bruchac
Second Sight
YA F Blackwood
In Washington, D.C., during the last days of the Civil War, a teenage boy who performs in a mind reading act befriends a clairvoyant girl whose frightening visions foreshadow an assassination plot. By Gary L. Blackwood
My Brother Sam is Dead
YA F Collier
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. By James Lincoln Collier
Red Badge of Courage
YA F Crane
Henry Fleming, a young Union soldier, struggles with his conflicting emotions about violence, death, and the nature of bravery in this ironic, skeptical account of the Civil War. By Stephen Crane
Annie between the States
YA F Elliott
Instead of spending her teen years at parties and balls, Annie, an idealistic, poetry-loving patriot, finds herself nursing soldiers, hiding valuables, and running the household as the Civil War rages around her family’s Virginia home. By Laura Malone Elliott
Cold Mountain
F Frazier
After Inman escapes from a war hospital in 1864 and starts walking to Cold Mountain, Ada struggles to save her mountain farm with the help of Ruby, an illiterate but efficient farmer. By Charles Frazier
Summer of My German Soldier
YA F Greene
When German prisoners of war are brought to her Arkansas town during World War II, twelve-year-old Patty Bergen, a Jewish girl, shelters a pacifist German POW who escapes. She must face the consequences of her actions as she risks losing her family and friends over her new friendship. By Bette Greene
Hattie Big Sky
YA F Larson
After inheriting her uncle’s homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe. By Kirby Larson
Where Eagles Dare
F Maclean
A crew tries to rescue an American general from Schloss Adler in Bavaria during the cold winter of 1943-44.
Gone with the Wind
F Mitchell
Scarlett O'Hara faces and survives the Civil War and Reconstruction and marries Rhett Butler for his money because her true love has married someone else. By Margaret Mitchell
Broken Days
YA F Rinaldi
In 1811, life with her Aunt Hannah in Salem, Massachusetts, becomes even more difficult for fourteen-year-old Ebie with the arrival of a half-Indian girl who claims to be the daughter of Hannah’s sister, Thankful, and with the threat of impending war. By Ann Rinaldi
The Fifth of March: The Story of the Boston Massacre
YA F Rinaldi
Fourteen-year-old Rachel Marsh, an indentured servant in the Boston household of John and Abigail Adams, is caught up in the colonists’ unrest that eventually escalates into the massacre of March 5, 1770. By Ann Rinaldi
The Secret of Sarah Revere
Paul Revere’s daughter describes her father’s “rides” and the intelligence network of the patriot community prior to the American Revolution. By Ann Rinaldi
Time Enough for Drums
YA F Rinaldi
Fifteen-year-old Jem and her servant struggle to keep things going at home in Trenton, New Jersey, when the family men join the war for independence from Britain. By Ann Rinaldi
After the Dancing Days
YA F Rostowski
A forbidden friendship with a badly disfigured soldier in the aftermath of World War I forces thirteen-year-old Annie to redefine the word “hero” and to question conventional ideas of patriotism. By Margaret Rostkowski
Under the Blood-red Sun
YA F Salisbury
Tomikazu Nakaji’s biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. By Graham Salisbury
The Killer Angels
F Shaara
Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet tell the Southern view of the battle at Gettysburg while Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and General John Buford present the Northern view. By Michael Shaara
Calico Captive
YA F Speare
In 1754, on the brink of the French and Indian War, young Miriam Willard and her older sister’s family are captured in an Indian raid on Charleston, New Hampshire where they are held for ransom. By Elizabeth George Speare
The Gadget
YA F Zindel
In 1945, having joined his father at Los Alamos, where he and other scientists are working on a secret project to end World War II, thirteen-year-old Stephen becomes caught in a web of secrecy and intrigue. By Paul Zindel
For more fiction suggestions, check the Teen Civil War and Historical Fiction booklists.
Please ask a librarian at the Reference Desk (801-852-6661) for additional help and ideas.
