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List of Narrative Historical Nonfiction for Middle Schoolers


Did you like the I Survived books?

Do you enjoy stories by Alan Gratz or Jennifer Nielsen? Then give these books a try!

Narrative historical nonfiction tells true stories in a way that feels like reading a novel. 

It helps you connect with real events and the people who lived through them.

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin | Book | E-book (Libby) | E-audio (Libby)

Unbreakable the Spies who Cracked the Nazis’ Secret Code by Rebecca E. F. Barone | Book

The 57 bus by Dashka Slater Book | E-book (Libby)| E-audio (Hoopla)

Survivors club : the true story of a very young prisoner of Auschwitz by Michael Bornstein and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat

Book | E-audio (Libby) 

Symphony for the City of the Dead : Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad by M.T. Anderson Book | E-book (Libby)

Flesh & blood so cheap : the Triangle fire and its legacy by Albert Marrin Book | E-book (Libby)

The family Romanov : murder, rebellion & the fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming Book | E-book  (Libby) | E-audio (Libby)

The Mona Lisa vanishes : a legendary painter, a shocking heist, and the birth of a global celebrity by Nicholas Day

Book | E-book (Libby) | E-audio (Libby)

They called themselves the K.K.K. : the birth of an American terrorist group by Susan Cambell Bartoletti Book | E-book (Libby)

Hitler Youth : growing up in Hitler’s shadow by Susan Cambell Bartoletti Book

Bootleg : murder, moonshine, and the lawless years of prohibition by Karen Blumenthal Book 

Six days in October : the stock market crash of 1929 by Karen Blumenthal Book

Master of deceit : J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies by Marc Aronson Book

The real revolution : the global story of American independence by Marc Aronson Book 

Trapped : How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet below the Chilean Desert by Marc Aronson Book | E-book (Libby)

The notorious Benedict Arnold : a true story of adventure, heroism, & treachery by Steve Sheinkin Book | E-audio (Libby) 

Witches! : the absolutely true tale of disaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer Book | E-book (Libby) 

The Nazi hunters : how a team of spies and survivors captured the world’s most notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb Book

Superman versus the Ku Klux Klan : the true story of how the iconic superhero battled the men of hate by Rick Bowers Book