Realistic or Historical Fiction by Tammy Gruer

Post one Historical Fiction Book and one Realistic Fiction Book DO NOT Indicate which you think it is. ONLY put TITLE , 1-2 sentence summary and picture of book if you wish.

tsgruer — 2018-09-26 18:36:08 UTC

EX: How I survived Hurricane Katrina by Lauren Tarshis
The I Survived series focuses on events that happened surrounding Hurricane Katrina 2005.

Merci Suarez Changes Gears

2019-02-28 23:16:44 UTC

Merci Suarez is a 6th grader at a private school in South Florida. She deals with changes in her family's life and a bully who poses as a friend.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

tsgruer — 2019-02-28 23:19:04 UTC

Bud has no mother and never met his father. Mom left him several clues so he set out to find his Dad. He hits the road on an adventure to discover his father and hopefully to find him.

tsgruer — 2020-10-05 23:06:36 UTC

Heroes

2024-06-18 22:26:37 UTC

Heroes

Best friends Frank and Stanley live in Hawaii. When Japanese planes suddenly attack their island, they have to try to find a safe place and their families.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

blhowe — 2024-06-18 22:26:37 UTC

A young girl named Annemarie Johansen and her family risk their lives to help their Jewish friends escape from the Nazis in Denmark during WWII.

A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine

samanthajsherlin — 2024-06-18 22:26:41 UTC

Surrounded by her large family, Loma is happy living in the judería of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and wants nothing more than to someday have a family of her own. Her grandfather Belo has the ear of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and Loma relishes her adventures with him, adventures that are beyond the scope of most girls of the time. She soon learns just how dangerous the world is for the Jews of Spain, and how her grandfather’s influence keeps their people safe.

Tangled in Time: The Portal

marysfontan — 2024-06-18 22:27:24 UTC

When Rose's mother dies in a car crash, she is sent away to live with a grandmother she doesn't know very well. Her grandmother has a greenhouse, and when Rose investigates she is sent back 500 years to the time period of Queen Elizabeth.

Clear Skies

2024-06-18 22:28:12 UTC

As the US/Soviet Space Race heats up in 1961, eleven-year-old Arno finds his dreams of becoming an astronomer exploding like an extragalactic supernova.

El Deafo by Cece Bell

annieelizabethwolfson — 2024-06-18 22:28:15 UTC

1st grader Cece starts at a new school where she is the only deaf student. She navigates friendships, stares, and her alter ego, El Deafo.

Ban This Book

ejhoulditch — 2024-06-18 22:28:28 UTC

Amy Anne collects every title her local school board bans and adds them to a "lending library" in her locker. Her actions are noble but not without consequences!

A Night Divided

lasmith132 — 2024-06-18 22:28:57 UTC

Gerta and her family are separated from their father overnight during the building of the Berlin Wall. Will they be able to escape East Germany and join Gerta's father in the West?

Restart by Gordon Korman

jmmiller2_ — 2024-06-18 22:29:07 UTC

Chase Ambrose falls off of his roof and suffers from acute-retrograde amnesia. His memories are wiped out. As he returns to school, he has to figure out who he was and who he truly wants to be now that he gets to start over.

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

2024-06-18 22:29:09 UTC

The barber shop is where a boy can go to become a king. With a new haircut that fits your style then anything becomes possible.

Summer Of My German Soldier By Bette Greene

2024-06-18 22:29:17 UTC

The summer that Patty Bergen turns twelve is a summer that will haunt her forever. When her small hometown in Arkansas becomes the site of a camp housing German prisoners during World War II, Patty learns what it means to open her heart. Even though she's Jewish, she begins to see a prison escapee, Anton, not as a Nazi, but as a lonely, frightened young man with feelings.

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

2024-06-18 22:29:26 UTC

Aven Green was born without arms. When her parents move the family to run a western theme park in Arizona, she dreads having to readjust and deal with her new life and all the new people with questions.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

adamsstaceyd — 2024-06-18 22:29:44 UTC

During the summer of 1968, three sisters travel from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to meet the mother who abandoned them. Dreaming of spending the summer at Disneyland, the girls instead find themselves at a day camp run by the Black Panthers where they learn much about their family, their country, and themselves.

abtucker2 — 2024-06-18 22:29:48 UTC

Mattie lives with her mother, grandfather, and a family cook. Mattie helps in the family's coffeehouse, when the fever hits in late August, she struggles to live in a city overtaken by fear.

Deep Water by Jamie Sumner

samanthajsherlin — 2024-06-18 22:29:50 UTC

Tully's mom has been gone for four months. In a desperate bid to get her attention, Tully decides to swim the "Godfather" marathon in Lake Tahoe.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

blhowe — 2024-06-18 22:29:54 UTC

Salamanca Tree Hiddle, proud of her country roots and her Native American heritage, travels from Ohio to Idaho with her eccentric grandparents. Along the way, she tells them of the story of Phoebe Winterbottom.

Kira-Kira

2024-06-18 22:30:46 UTC

Katie's sister Lynn always shows Katie that the world is full of kira-kira: glittering, shining things. When their family moves to Georgia to find better opportunities, facing obstacles along the way, Katie has to remember her sister's words and find the kira-kira in her new life.

Twelfth

2024-06-18 22:31:16 UTC

Maren doesn't even want to be at theater camp in the first place. But when she gets wrapped up in the hunt for a diamond ring, she finds she may be the only one who can save the camp from closing forever.

The Breadwinner

ejhoulditch — 2024-06-18 22:31:18 UTC

Eleven year old Parvana dresses as a boy in order to help her family survive the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Restart by Gordon Korman

marysfontan — 2024-06-18 22:31:24 UTC

Chase suffers from memory loss due to a head injury. When he returns to school he begins to notice kids treating him in different ways; some like him and some are afraid of him. He has to rediscover who "Chase" really is.

Restart by Gordon Korman

adamsstaceyd — 2024-06-18 22:31:54 UTC

A boy who's been a bully and hanging out with the wrong friends gets a new start after a memory-loss-inducing accident. But can someone really change who he is, or will the old him merely come back over time?

The Bicycle Spy

2024-06-18 22:32:48 UTC

Marcel loves riding his bicycle, whether he's racing through the streets of his small town in France or making bread deliveries for his parents' bakery. He dreams of someday competing in the Tour de France, the greatest bicycle race. But ever since Germany's occupation of France began two years ago, in 1940, the race has been canceled. Now there are soldiers everywhere, interrupting Marcel's rides with checkpoints and questioning.

That Book Woman

2024-06-18 22:33:00 UTC

Cal is a young boy living in the Appalachian Mountains, but he is a reluctant reader who doesn't find reading to be a good use of time. However, the Book Woman who bravely treks across the mountains as one of the Pack Horse Librarians begins to make Cal think that there must be something important about reading books.

The Hero Two Doors Down

rrmeyer — 2024-06-18 22:33:57 UTC

What Boy doesn't like baseball and to someday, meet a true hero of the sport.

Riding Freedom - Pam Munoz Ryan

GLHSTeacher — 2024-06-18 22:34:11 UTC

Charlotte isn't like other girls in the mid-1800s. She uses all of her cleverness to build a life that SHE wants to live - and it turns out to be legendary.

Inside Out and Back Again

jmmiller2_ — 2024-06-18 22:34:28 UTC

This is a novel written in verse about a 10 year old girl named Kim Ha. She escapes the Vietnam War and travels to Alabama, USA where she begins her new life which is very different than her life in Vietnam.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

2024-06-18 22:34:52 UTC

Bridge to Terabithia

cjblankensh — 2024-06-18 22:35:55 UTC

When Jesse and Leslie become friends they create an imaginary world called Terabithia they use as a way to escape from the troubles in their lives.

The Penderwicks

jlcasey2 — 2024-06-18 22:36:37 UTC

Penderwick sisters arrive at their summer rental cottage with their dad and discover it’s on the grounds of a lush estate. Although they quickly learn to avoid the estate's owner, they befriend her son, Jeffery. When the owner reaches her wit’s end with the kids, she and her obnoxious boyfriend, Dexter, decide to send Jeffery to military school. As the girls prepare to leave for home, they wage one final campaign to save Jeffery from this unwelcome fate.

The Story Collector

rrmeyer — 2024-06-18 22:36:59 UTC

This book revolves around an eleven-year-old girl named Viviana and her friends. She lives in an apartment in the New York Public Library and believes that she knows the library like the back of her hand.

Wonderstruck

2024-06-18 22:37:29 UTC

Ben longs for the father he has never met, and Rose dreams of an actress whose life she records in a scrapbook. Their stories -- one told in prose, one in images -- are connected in surprising ways.

Shay Brown

2024-06-18 22:37:40 UTC

Nina Soni is a lovable, distractible Indian American girl with big plans and cast of family and friends to help her make her realize her dreams—or resolve the chaos that often results.

annieelizabethwolfson — 2024-06-18 22:38:17 UTC

A family travels by covered wagon from the woods of Wisconsin to Kansas to start a new life on the prairies in the late 1860s.

Ramona the Pest - Beverly Cleary

GLHSTeacher — 2024-06-18 22:44:35 UTC

Ramona is so excited to finally in kindergarten - but despite her best efforts, things are not going quite the way she wants them to.

Island of the Blue Dolphins

cjblankensh — 2024-06-18 22:44:55 UTC

Story of Karana who is stranded on an island and learns to survive on her own. She has to learn how to deal with loneliness and the dangers of nature.

Shay Brown

2024-06-18 22:50:22 UTC

White Bird

jlcasey2 — 2024-06-18 22:52:07 UTC

A young Jewish girl is hidden in Nazi-occupied France by a family she's never met.

The War that Saved my Life

2025-06-24 21:50:20 UTC

Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war (WWII), Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him.

New Kid

2025-06-24 21:51:22 UTC

Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade.

Surviving the Applewhites

lecordeiro — 2025-06-25 00:22:57 UTC

By: Stephanie S. Tolan

After Jake's latest bought of trouble, he finds himself navigating the chaotic and eclectic home of the Applewhites. Can he confront who he really is and leave his troubled past behind him?

The Night Diary

lecordeiro — 2025-06-25 00:27:32 UTC

By: Veera Hiranandani

It's 1949 and India has been separated into two countries. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home.

Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo

2025-06-25 02:12:23 UTC

It’s 1937 and the government is pushing to bring electricity to the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It’s all Cora can think of; radios with news from around the world, machines that keep food cold, lightbulbs by which to read at night! Cora figures she can help spread the word by starting a school newspaper and convincing her neighbors to support the Rural Electrification Act.

A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord

2025-06-25 02:14:37 UTC

When Lily's blind dog, Lucky, slips his collar and runs away across the wide-open blueberry barrens of eastern Maine, it's Salma Santiago who manages to catch him. Salma, the daughter of migrant workers, is in the small town with her family for the blueberry-picking season. After their initial chance meeting, Salma and Lily bond over painting bee boxes for Lily's grandfather, and Salma's friendship transforms Lily's summer.

Out of My Mind

2025-06-25 12:34:58 UTC

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy.

Words on Fire

2025-06-25 12:39:15 UTC

A young Lithuanian girl named Audra becomes involved in a book smuggling operation to preserve her culture and rescue her parents. The story is set in the late 1800s when Lithuania was under Russian rule, and the Russian Empire had banned the Lithuanian language and culture.

Front Desk

aliforrest — 2025-06-25 14:02:47 UTC

Mia Tang is an immigrant living in a hotel with her parents and dreams of being a writer.

Finding Freedom

aliforrest — 2025-06-25 14:06:54 UTC

It's the summer of 1864 and Addy Walker's family is planning an escape from slavery.

2025-06-26 17:53:47 UTC

Jabari is a strong swimmer who really wants to jump off the high diving board at his pool. However, he feels nervous to take the big leap! This book explore themes of initial fear and finding confidence.

2025-06-26 19:02:44 UTC

A young girl named Abilene living during the Great Depression goes to her father's hometown and begins to discover secrets about his town of Manifest, Kansas through the stories the residents tell.

Sylvia Capell

vgmrxrsyk6 — 2025-06-27 15:05:40 UTC

Gentle's Holler by Kerry Madden. A young girl named Livy Two is faced with hardship in a large family. She is in charge of helping her younger sister, Gentle, who faces a disability, and she hopes to unite her family of 12.

Sylvia Capell

vgmrxrsyk6 — 2025-06-27 15:08:47 UTC

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez. A young boy named Tyler befriends migrant workers on his family's farm. Mari is one of the children living on the farm. When the two befriend each other, they both learn lessons of empathy as they navigate hardships in the harsh political atmosphere of their small town.

Refugee by Alan Gratz

2025-06-27 22:07:10 UTC

This heart-wrenching story follows three children in different time periods as they seek refuge. Josef is a Jewish boy in the 1930s, Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994, and Mahmoud is a Syrian boy in 2015. Each child must face great danger and make incredible sacrifices to make their way to safety.

Ivy and Bean: Book 1 By Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall

2025-06-27 22:14:44 UTC

Ivy has just moved in next door to Bean. Bean does not know if she will like Ivy because she wears dresses and sparkly headbands. When Ivy comes to Bean's rescue, a friendship forms and creates an inseparable bond between these two unlikely friends!

Maizy Chen's Last Chance, by Lisa Yee

edgaug — 2025-06-30 21:20:20 UTC

Twelve-year-old Maizy and her mother travel to Last Chance, Minnesota to spend summer break with her grandparents. There she encounters mysteries: why are Mother and Grandmother making her Grandfather's babysitter; who are the mysterious men in photos on the restaurant wall; why does Lady Macbeth eat at their restaurant every day; what happened to the missing bear?

Stella by Starlight, by Sharon M. Draper

edgaug — 2025-06-30 21:23:37 UTC

Stella is an eleven year old African American girl living in rural Bumblebee, NC. It's 1932 and Stella's father and other community members want to vote in the presidential election. Times are hard. The country is in the throes of the Great Depression and families are hoping the candidate Franklin Roosevelt can help lift them our of desperate poverty.

Still, there is joy in Bumblebee. We see how Stella's community comes together to celebrate small things, to help one another, and to support education in the black school. But that joy is threatened when dark forces seek to terrorize the black community and suppress their right to vote. Stella is the first to see the KKK organizing in the night. How far will will these mysterious hooded figures go to keep her community subservient? Will Stella and her community find a way to use their voices to speak truth to power?

Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Dicamillo

2025-07-01 13:48:44 UTC

One summer’s day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries – and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It’s because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends. And it’s because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother, who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that summer is because of Winn-Dixie.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

2025-07-01 13:52:57 UTC

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi soldiers marching through town. When the Jews of Denmark are "relocated," Ellen moves in with the Johansons and pretends to be one of the family. Soon Annemarie is asked to go on a dangerous mission to save Ellen's life.

The War that Saved my Life

hdorman — 2025-07-01 21:43:36 UTC

Set in England during World War II, this novel tells the story of Ada, a young girl born with a clubfoot who has been hidden away by her abusive mother. When children are evacuated from London to the countryside, Ada experiences freedom, love, and the power of self-worth for the first time.

Frindle

hdorman — 2025-07-01 21:48:37 UTC

When fifth-grader Nick Allen invents a new word "frindle" as a prank to replace the word “pen,” he sparks a school-wide craze that spreads far beyond his classroom. What starts as a simple joke turns into a national movement, challenging the ideas of language, authority, and creativity. This fun and thought-provoking story shows how one clever kid can make a big impact with just one small idea.

I Survived the American Revolution-Historical Fiction

2025-07-08 23:38:59 UTC

Takierra Proctor

Nathaniel Fox never imagined he'd find himself in the middle of a blood-soaked battlefield, fighting for his life. He was only eleven years old! He'd barely paid attention to the troubles between America and England. How could he, while being worked to the bone by his cruel uncle, Uriah Storch?

But when his uncle's rage forces him to flee the only home he knows, Nate is suddenly propelled toward a thrilling and dangerous journey into the heart of the Revolutionary War. He finds himself in New York City on the brink of what will be the biggest battle yet.

Manic Magee-Realistic

2025-07-09 00:07:15 UTC

Takierra Proctor

A Newbery Medal winning modern classic about a racially divided small town and a boy who runs.
Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.