Medieval to Modern History Books for Kids: CC Cycle 2 Reading List

“Do you have any book recommendations?”

Immediately, my brain opens about five hundred tabs at once. Should I share my personal favorites? The Newbery winners? Or a CVS-receipt-length list of all-the-books-you-should-read that sends people running for cover? I really do believe every great homeschool year starts with a great book list. However, it has to be the kind that makes it easy to choose from the buffet of wonderful literature, not feel buried by it.

Our family spent many years as part of the Classical Conversations homeschool community and the medieval to modern history (Cycle 2) years introduced us to so many great books. So I’ve gathered our favorite medieval to modern history books for kids into one curated list. These are stories that have worked well for our family and that, I believe, offer rich, engaging reading opportunities for a range of ages. Whether you’re cycling through this time period again or exploring it for the first time, I hope this list helps set a feast of stories for all the book lovers in your home.

When my boys were 4 and 6, many of the books on this list were simply too long to hold their attention. (I still remember attempting The King’s Fifth far too early!) Once we entered middle school I rejoiced at being able to fully appreciate the beauty of cycling through the same time periods with older, more attentive readers.

This list is perfect for any family studying medieval times, European exploration and trade, the Renaissance, Reformation, or the World Wars. The intention is NOT to read EVERY book listed for each week, but to pick the 1-2 that make sense for your learners and fit their interests. Return to this list in the future and pick a few new books from the list!

If you want to know how I decided which books to put on the list, or my criteria for what made the list, check out our Book List Criteria post HERE, that goes into how I gauge age appropriateness, values, historical content, and more, when putting together the list.

Scroll to the end of the post for a pdf download of the list that you can use at bookstores and libraries. The lists are also available in my Amazon store (links at end of post).

Book Codes

• (IEW) = Recommended reading by the Institute for Excellence in Writing program
• (PB) = Picture Book
• (PRB) = Picture Reference Book
• (IB) = Illustrated Book (more pages / text than most picture books)
• (Comic) = Comic strip format
• (Audio CD) = physical CD
• (Series) = Additional books follow or precede

FICTION MEDIEVAL TO MODERN HISTORY BOOKS FOR KIDS

THE MIDDLE AGES

• King Arthur: Tales from the Round Table – Andrew Lang (CB) (IEW)
• Son of Charlemagne – Barbara Willard (CB)
• The Magic Runes: A Tale of the Times of Charlemagne  – Emma Leslie (CB)
• The Squire’s Tale – Gerald Morris (CB)
• The Minstrel in the Tower (Stepping Stone) – Gloria Skurzynski (CB)
• The Whipping Boy – Sid Fleischman (CB)
• The Story of Beowulf – HE Marshall (CB)
• Caedmon’s Song – Ruth Ashby (PB)
• Saint George and the Dragon – Margaret Hodges (PB)
• Henty’s Wulf the Saxon – G. A. Henty (Jim Weiss) (Audio) (IEW)
• The Apple and the Arrow  – Conrad Buff (CB)
• The Hidden Treasure of Glaston – Eleanore M. Jewett (CB)
• The King’s Shadow – Elizabeth Alder (CB) (IEW)
• The Sword in the Tree – Clyde Robert Bulla (CB)
• Marguerite Makes a Book – Bruce Robertson (PB)
• Favorite Medieval Tales – Mary Pope Osborne (CB) OR
  Medieval Tales – Lorna MacDonald Czarnota (CB)
  Tales of Court and Castle  – Joan Bodger (CB)
  Stories from the Crusades – J Kelman (CB)
• Adam of the Road – Elizabeth Janet Gray (CB) (IEW)
• Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitane – Kristiana Gregory (CB)
• The Canterbury Tales – Geraldine McCaughrean (CB)
• The Great and Terrible Quest  – Margaret Lovett (CB)
• King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table – Roger Lancelyn (CB)
• The Kingdom Series – Chuck Black (Series)
• Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess – Richard Platt (PB)
• The Squire and the Scroll: A Tale of the Rewards of a Pure Heart – Jennie Bishop (PB)
• The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur – Hodges, Margaret (PB)
• The Making of a Knight – Patrick O’Brien (PB)
• Big John’s Secret – Eleanore M. Jewett (CB)
• The Lost Baron – Allen French (CB)
• Gabriel and the Hour Book – Evaleen Stein (CB)
• Robin Hood – Margaret Early (PB) OR
  Robin Hood – J. Walker McSpadden (CB) (IEW)
• Robin Hood And The Golden Arrow  – Robert D. San Souci (PB)
• Rupert’s Parchment: Story of Magna Carta – Eileen Cameron (PB)
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead – Avi (CB) (IEW)
• The Door in the Wall – Marguerite de Angeli (CB) (IEW)
• Catherine Called Birdy – Karen Cushman (CB)
• The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry – Danna Smith (CB)
• From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – E.L. Konigsburg (CB)
• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare – E. (Edith) Nesbit (CB) OR
  Shakespeare’s Stories for Young Readers – E. Nesbit (CB)
  Tales From Shakespeare – Tina Packer (CB)
• The Shakespeare Stealer Trilogy – Gary Blackwood (CB)
• Tales from Shakespeare – Marcia Williams (Comic)
• Saint Francis – Brian Wildsmith (PB)
• Brother Hugo and the Bear – Beebe, Katy (PB)
• Francis Woke Up Early – Nobisso, Josephine (PB)
• The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane – C.M. Millen (PB)
• Pippo the Fool – Tracey E. Fern (PB)
• Rembrandt and the Boy Who Drew Dogs – Molly Blaisdell (PB)(IEW)

AGE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHS

• Dangerous Journey (The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress) – Oliver Hunkin (CB)
• The Beggars’ Bible – Louise A. Vernon (Series)
• A Murder for Her Majesty – Beth Hilgartner (CB)

THE EXPLORATION AGE

• To the Edge of the World – Michelle Torrey (CB)
• Spice and the Devil’s Cave – Agnes Danforth Hewes (CB)
• The Kite Rider – Geraldine McCaughrean (CB) (IEW)
• The King’s Fifth – Scott O’Dell (CB)

AGE OF INDUSTRY

• In the Reign of Terror – G. A. Henty (Audio)
• In Search of Honor – Donnalynn Hess (CB)
• Les Miserables (A Stepping Stone Book) – Monica Kulling (CB)
• Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles – Kathryn Lasky (CB)
• Saint Bartholomew’s Eve A Tale of the Huguenots – G. A. Henty (CB)
• Stone Soup – Marcia Brown (CB)
• The Escape: The Adventures of Three Huguenot Children – A. Van Der Jagt (CB)
• Betsy and the Emperor – Staton Rabin  (CB)
• White Stallion of Lipizza – Marguerite Henry (CB)
• My Napoleon – Catherine Brighton (PB)
• The Twenty-One Balloons – William Pene du Bois (CB)
• The Bobbin Girl – Emily Arnold McCully  (PB)
• Claude Monet: The Painter Who Stopped the Trains – P. I. Maltbie (PB)
• Degas and the Little Dancer – Laurence Anholt (PB)

THE WORLD WARS

• Philomena – Kate Seredy (CB)
• The Good Master – Kate Seredy (CB)
• The Singing Tree – Kate Seredy (CB)
• Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear – Lindsay Mattick (PB)
• Fly Cher Ami Fly!: The Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion – Robert Burleigh (PB)
• Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story – Margot Raven (PB)
• War Game Village Green to No Man’s Land  – Michael Foreman (PB)
• War Horse – Michael Morpurgo (CB)
• The House on Walenska Street – Charlotte Herman (CB)
• Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes – Eleanor Coerr (CB)
• The Little Riders – Margaretha Shemin (CB)
• Yellow Star – Jennifer Roy (CB)
• Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust – Eve Bunting (PB)
• The Butterfly – Patricia Polacco (PB)
• A Place to Hang the Moon – Kate Albus (CB)
• North to Freedom – Anne Holm (CB)
• The Upstairs Room  – Johanna Reiss (CB)
• Twenty and Ten – Claire Huchet Bishop (CB)
• When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – Judith Kerr (CB)
• Always Remember Me: How One Family Survived WWII – Marisabina Russo (PB)
• Boxes for Katje – Candace Fleming (PB)
• One Candle – Eve Bunting (PB)
• War Dogs: Churchill & Rufus – Kathryn Selbert (PB)

EASTERN EUROPE

• Angel on the Square (Russian Saga) – Gloria Whelan (CB)
• The Endless Steppe – Esther Hautzig (CB)
• Breaking Stalin’s Nose – Eugene Yelchin (CB)

MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, & ASIA

• Goodbye Vietnam – Gloria Whelan (CB)
• Little Cricket – Jackie Brown (CB)
• The Wall – Eve Bunting (PB)
• The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis (CB)
• The Soccer Fence: A story of friendship, hope, & apartheid – Phil Bildner (PB)

BIOGRAPHY

• John Calvin (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) – Simonetta Carr (CB)
• Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World  – Paul L. Maier (PB)
• Johannes Kepler: Giant of Faith and Science – John Hudson Tiner (CB)
• Who Was Marie Antoinette? – (CB)
• Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind – Margaret Davidson (CB)
• Napoleon: The Story of the Little Corporal – Robert Burleigh (PB)
• George Müller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans – Janet Benge (CB)
• The Story of Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin  – Frances M. Perry (CB)
• Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes – Dave Jackson (CB)
• Isaac Newton: Inventor Scientist and Teacher – John Hudson Tiner (CB)
• Brother Andrew: God’s Secret Agent – Janet and Geoff Benge (CB)
• Who Was Anne Frank? – (CB)
• Eric Liddell: Running for a Higher Prize – Janet and Geoff Benge (PB)
• Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den – Janet and Geoff Benge (CB)
• Corrie Ten Boom: Shining in the Darkness –  Renee Meloche (PB)
• Water Buffalo Days  – Huynh Quang Nhuong (CB)
• Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution  – Ji-li Jiang (CB)
• Children of the Storm: The Autobiography of Natasha Vins – Natasha Vins (CB)
• Richard Wurmbrand: Love Your Enemies – Janet and Geoff Benge (CB)
• Who Was Nelson Mandela? – Pam Pollack (CB)
• Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela (PB)

NON-FICTION MEDIEVAL TO MODERN HISTORY BOOKS FOR KIDS

BIBLE

• International Children’s Bible Field Guide – Larry Richards, Chris Garborg (IB)
• A Kid’s Guide to the Armor of God – Tony Evans (CB)

GEOGRAPHY

• A Child’s Geography – Explore Medieval Kingdoms – Ann Voskamp (CB)
• Window on the World: When We Pray God Works – Molly Wall (IB)
• Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air – Stewart Ross, Stephen Biesty (IB)
• The Kingfisher Atlas of the Modern World – Simon Adams (IB)
• The Kingfisher Atlas of the Medieval World – Simon Adams (IB)

WORLD HISTORY

• The Story of the World: Volume 3: Early Modern Times – Susan Wise Bauer  (Audio)
• The Story of the World: Volume 4: The Modern Age – Susan Wise Bauer  (Audio)
• The Story of the World: Volume 2: The Middle Ages – Susan Wise Bauer  (Audio)
• The Usborne Book of Living Long Ago – Felicity Brooks, Helen Edom  (IB)
• A Child’s History of the World – V. M. Hillyer (CB)
• The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia –  (IB)
• Usborne Encyclopedia of World History –  (IB)
• When on Earth? – DK (IB)

THE MIDDLE AGES

• Medieval Towns Trade and Travel – Lynne Elliott (IB)
• The Medieval Cookbook – Maggie Black (IB)
• Science and Technology in the Middle Ages – Joanne Findon (IB)
• Built to Last – David Macaulay (PB)
• Manners And Customs in the Middle Ages – Marsha Groves (IB)
• The Bayeux Tapestry – Lucien Musset OR Denny and Filmer-Sankey (CB)
• The Bayeux Tapestry: The Comic Strip – Pivard (Comic)
• Illustrated history of 1066 – Charles Jones (PB)
• Design Your Own Coat of Arms – Rosemary A. Chorzempa (Activity)
• Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaurs – Laura Welch (PB)
• You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Crusader! – Fiona MacDonald (PB)
• Picture That: Knights & Castles – Alex Martin (PB)
• Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland – Cindy Neuschwande (PB)
• The Magna Charta – James Daugherty (CB)
• The Magna Carta: Cornerstone of the Constitution – Roberta Baxter (PB)
• A Medieval Feast – Aliki (PB)
• Joan of Arc: Heroine of France – Ann Tompert (CB)
• Joan of Arc – Demi (PB)
• Joan of Arc – Diane Stanley (PB)
• Joan of Arc – Josephine Poole (PB)
• Plagues Pox and Pestilence – Richard Platt (PB)
• Starting Chess – H. Castor (IB)
• Along Came Galileo – Jeanne Bendick (CB)
• Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer – Robert Byrd (PB)
• Michelangelo – Mike Venezia (PB)
• Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare –  Diane Stanley (PB)
• Will’s Words: How William Shakespeare Changed the Way You Talk – Jane Sutcliffe (PB)
• William Shakespeare & the Globe – Aliki (PB)
• Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci – D’Agnese, Joseph O’Brien, John (PB)
• Nicolaus Copernicus: The Earth Is a Planet – Dennis B. Fradin (PB)

AGE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHS

• Courage and Conviction: Chronicles of the Reformation – Brandon Withrow (CB)
• Monks and Mystics: Chronicles of the Medieval Times – Mindy Withrow (CB)
• The Monk Who Shook the World – Cyril Davey (CB)
• Lady Jane Grey (Christian Biographies for Young Readers) – Simonetta Carr  (CB)
• Who Was Henry VIII? –  (CB)
• Peter the Great – Diane Stanley (PB)
• Brilliant Brits: Henry VIII – Richard Brassey (PB)
• The King’s Day: Louis XIV of France – Aliki (PB)
• Good Queen Bess : The Story of Elizabeth I of England – Diane Stanley (PB)
• The French Revolution (Cornerstones of Freedom) –  Josh Gregory (CB)
• The Moon Book – Gail Gibbons (PB)
• The Heroic Symphony – Anna Harwell Celenza (PB)

AGE OF EXPLORATION

• Explorers Who Got Lost – Diane Sansevere-Dreher (CB)
• The Discovery of New Worlds – MB Synge (CB)
• The World of Columbus and Sons – Genevieve Foster (CB)
• Who Was Ferdinand Magellan? – SA Kramer (CB)
• Marco Polo – Demi (CB) (IEW)
• The Look-It-Up Book of Explorers – Elizabeth Cody (IB)

THE WORLD WARS

• The World Wars – Paul Dowswell (IB)
• Christmas in the Trenches – John McCutcheon (PB)
• The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans – Barbara E Walsh (PB)
• What Was the Holocaust? – Gail Herman (CB)
• I Will Come Back for You: A Family in Hiding – Marisabina Russo (PB)
• Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story – National Geographic (PB)
• Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World – Douglas Wood (PB)
• The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk – Louise Borden (PB)
• I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings & Poems from the Terezin Concentration Camp- Hana Volavkova  (Poetry)
• Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift’s “Chocolate Pilot” – Michael Tunnell (CB)
• Stalin: Russia’s Man of Steel – Albert Marrin (CB)
• Christmas from Heaven – Tom Brokaw (PB)
• Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot – Margot Raven (PB)

EASTERN EUROPE

• Where is the Kremlin? –  (CB)
• Eyewitness: Russia – Kathleen Berton Murrell (IB)
• BOMB: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon – Steve Sheinkin  (CB)
• Spying and the Cold War – Michael Burgan (IB)
• Ronald Reagan: Fortieth President 1981-1989 – Mike Venezia (PB)
• Cold War Correspondent (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales #11): A Korean War Tale – Nathan Hale (Comic)
• The Wall: Growing Up behind the Iron Curtain – Peter Sis (PB)

MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA, & ASIA

• Peacebound Trains – Haemi Balgassi (PB)
• America at War: Desert Storm – John Perritano (IB)
• DK Eyewitness: Oil – (IB)

Get a FREE Printable Copy of this Ancient History Book List!

Meanwhile, if you’d like a printable copy of this list for library runs or shopping at thrift stores, I have that for you! This printable is organized both by genre AND by CC Weeks!

Sign up for my emails below. The PDF list will be delivered to your inbox after you confirm subscription. It will also include this handy week-by-week Reading list for the 24 weeks of CC study with additional titles for Science, Math, English, and Fine Arts topics!

 Or, check out our handy Amazon buying guide here:

Medieval to Modern Booklist on Amazon

Want more Medieval History resouces for your Homeschool?

Check out my Medieval to Modern Classical Morning Menu – a full year of morning time materials to start your day! Scripture, Poetry, Artwork, and more in a handy PDF you can use on your device or print out and put in an actual menu!

See how we use these menus in our morning time!

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• Learning Art From Great Artists
• Homeschooling a Preschooler with A Year of Playing Skillfully
• Classical Morning Menu for Homeschool

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