Here is my list of early American historical novels for kids between 10 and 14. This is a great way to teach without a textbook by making the stories come alive!!
The list is in chronological order.
Text 1 - Adventure Tales of America: An Illustrated History of the United States, 1492-1877 - Jody Potts
Text 2 - An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 (Newbery Honor Book) - Jim Murphy
Text 3 - In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bill of Rights - Russell Freedman
Text 4 - Native American History for Kids: With 21 Activities (For Kids Series) - Karen Bush Gibson
Walk the World’s Rim (pre-1600) - Betty Baker
Blood on the River, James Town, 1607 - Elisa Carbone
In Their Own Words: Pocahontas (1608) - George Sullivan
John Smith Escapes Again! (1608) - Rosalyn Schanzer
My Name is America: The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, A Pilgrim Boy (1620) - Ann Rinaldi
A Break with Charity: A Story about the Salem Witch Trials (1692) - Ann Rinaldi
Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem (1692) - Rosalyn Schanzer
Echohawk (1738) - Lynda Durrant
Calico Bush (1743) - Allen Lewis
Calico Captive (1754) - Elizabeth George Speare
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison (1758) - Lois Lenski
The Winter People (1759) - Joseph Bruchac
Follow the River (1755) - James Alexander Thom
Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley (1761) - Ann Rinaldi
Standing in the Light: The Captive Diary of Catharine Carey Logan, Delaware Valley, Pennsylvania, 1763 - Mary Pope Osborne
The Light in the Forest (1765) - Conrad Richter
Sign of the Beaver (1768) - Elizabeth George Speare
John Treegate’s Musket (1769) - Leonard Wibberley
Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life - Candace Fleming
Benjamin Franklin (In Their Own Words) - Peter Roop
Johnny Tremain (1773) - Esther Hoskins Forbes
Love Thy Neighbor: The Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson (1774) - Ann Turner
My Name is America: The Journal of William Thomas Emerson, A Revolutionary War Patriot (1774) - Barry Denenberg
April Morning (1775) – Howard Fast
Give Me Liberty (1775) - L.M. Elliot
Soldier’s Secret – (1775) - Sheila Solomon Klass
The Keeping Room (1776) - Anna Myers
1776 – David McCullough
America’s Paul Revere - Esther Hoskins Forbes
George vs. George: The American Revolution as Seen from Both Sides (1776) - Rosalyn Schanzer
George Washington for Kids: His Life and Times with 21 Activities - Brandon Marie Miller
George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War - Thomas B. Allen
George Washington’s Socks (Time Travel Adventures) - Elvira Woodruff
George Washington’s World - Joanna Foster, Genevieve Foster
Guns for General Washington: A Story of the American Revolution - Seymour Reit
My Brother Sam is Dead (1776) - James Lincoln Collier
A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy (1776) - Jim Murphy
Chains (Seeds of America) (1776) - Laurie Halse Anderson
Forge (Seeds of America) (1777) - Laurie Halse Anderson
Hang for Treason – (1777) - Robert Newton Peck
The Swamp Fox of the Revolution (Sterling Point Books) (1776) - Stewart H. Holbrook
Dear America: Cannons at Dawn (1779) - Kristiana Gregory
John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy (1779) - Evan Thomas
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery (1780) - Steve Sheinkin
Cast Two Shadows: The American Revolution in the South (1780) - Ann Rinaldi
The Hessian (1781) - Howard Fast
Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary War (1783) - Maya Jasonoff
The Founders: the 39 Stories Behind the U.S. Constitution (1787) - Dennis Brindell Fradin
The Kidnapped Prince: The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) - Ann Cameron
Fever 1793 - Laurie Halse Anderson
Amos Fortune, Free Man (1802) - Elizabeth Yates
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (1802) - Jean Lee Latham
Cabin on Trouble Creek (1803) - Jean Van Leeuwen
Going Along with Lewis & Clark (1803) - Barbara Fifer
The Story of Sacajawea, Guide to Lewis and Clark (1803) - Della Rowland, Richard Leonard
Lewis and Clark (In Their Own Words) (1803) - George Sullivan
Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery with 21 Activities (1803) - Janis Herbert
Meeting Natives with Lewis and Clark (1803) - Barbara Fifer
New Found Land: Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery (1803) - Allan Wolf
Make Way for Sam Houston (1812) - Jean Fritz
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1832) - Avi
The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker (1849) - The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker
Children of the Covered Wagon (1850) - Mary Jane Carr
Annie, Between the States (1855) - L.M. Elliot
A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventure) (1856) - Joan Lowery Nixon
Iron Thunder (I Witness) – (1862) – Avi
Rifles for Waite (1863) - Harold Keith
Soun Tetoken: Nez Perce Boy (Amazing Indian Children Series) (1877) - Kenneth Thomasma