This is a list of children’s historical fiction books from the 1970s.
Individual Books
All The Children Were Sent Away (1976)
An English girl whose parents are sending her to stay with relatives in Canada during World War II has to make the journey by boat with a stern guardian. By Sheila Garrigue.
The Apple Dumpling Gang (1971)
A gambler takes in orphaned children during the California Gold Rush. When the children discover gold, it attracts the attention of a pair of robbers. This book is the basis for the Disney movie of the same name. By Jack Bickham.
Carrie’s War (1973)
Young evacuees from London during World War II get caught up in the family troubles in the house where they are staying and the legend of a mysterious house and an old skull. By Nina Bawden.
Dragonwings (1975)
A boy living in China at the beginning of the 20th century has never met his father because his father went to America (called “The Golden Mountain”) to work and get money for the family and has been there for years. When a family friend brings the boy to his father in America, the boy develops a relationship with his father and begins learning about life and race in America, surviving the Great Earthquake in San Francisco. Part of the Golden Mountain Chronicles. By Lawrence Yep.
From Anna (1972)
Anna’s family moves from Germany to Canada when Hitler comes to power, fearing the changes they see around them. Anna’s life with her family has always been difficult. Her mother and siblings have always been critical and even insulting to her because she is clumsier than her siblings and can’t seem to handle tasks that they can. However, when they move to Canada, a family friend quickly discovers what Anna’s family has totally failed to realize about Anna for her entire life – Anna has very poor vision and needs glasses and special classes. She’s been struggling all these years because she simply can’t see. Anna finally gets the help she’s badly needed, but her relationship with her mother and siblings are still bad. At school, Anna talks to her teacher and other classmates, and she discovers that other students in her special classes have the same problem with their families. With their teacher’s help, the students learn to make a special present for their families to show them what they’re really capable of doing. By Jean Little.
The Great and Terrible Quest (1970)
This story takes place in a fictional kingdom during the Middle Ages. 10-year-old Trad is an orphan who lives with his wicked grandfather who is part of a gang of bandits. He helps a mysterious stranger with amnesia, a victim of his grandfather and his friends, who only remembers that he is on a great and terrible quest.
Journey to America (1970)
A Jewish girl and her family flee Germany during World War II.
The Master Puppeteer (1975)
A boy in feudal Japan joins a puppet theater and makes startling discoveries about a local folk hero. By Katherine Paterson.
Mystery of the Roman Ransom (1971)
The sequel to Detectives in Togas. A group of boys in Ancient Rome attempt to stop an assassination plot that threatens one of their fathers. By Henry Winterfeld.
The Perilous Gard (1974)
When Kate is sent to a remote manor house as a punishment by the queen in Tudor England, she encounters a village ruled by superstition, the mystery of a missing child, and a cult that practices an ancient religion. By Elizabeth Marie Pope.
The Secret of the Strawbridge Place (1976)
The story takes place in during the Great Depression when Kate learns a secret about her family’s home that dates back to the Civil War. By Helen Pierce Jacob.
Sing Down the Moon (1970)
A young Navajo girl in the 19th century experiences captivity by the Spaniards and the death march known as the Long Walk. By Scott O’Dell.
Six Silver Spoons (1971)
A historical mystery that takes place during the American Revolution and shows Paul Revere’s famous ride. By Janette Sebring Lowrey.
The Slave Dancer (1973)
In 1840, a 13-year-old boy is kidnapped from New Orleans and forced to play his fife aboard a slave ship. By Paula Fox.
Series
Adelaide “Addie” Mills tells stories about her experiences growing up with a widowed father in a small town in Nebraska in the 1940s. All of the books involve Addie, as an adult, telling stories about her youth, and they all center around holidays. By Gail Rock. 1974-1976.
All-of-a-Kind Family Series
Five sisters belonging to a Jewish family have slice-of-life adventures while growing up in 1910s New York. By Sydney Taylor. 1951-1978.
A granddaughter passes on stories that her grandmother told her about growing up on a farm in Michigan during the 1800s. The stories often have a Christian moral. By Arleta Richardson. 1974-1991.
The Great Brain Series
Tom Jenkins is a boy living in the Midwest during the late 19th century. People call him “The Great Brain” because he’s full of ideas and has a way of selling other people on them, getting himself, his brother, and their friends both into and out of trouble and managing to turn situations to his own profit. By John D. Fitzgerald. 1967-1975, 1995.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 