Booklist for European History

Books related to Social Studies - Medieval/European History

We began this list some years ago with a group of books that were primarily historical fiction. Well-written historical fiction holds a student's interest with a good narrative line while painlessly imparting factual information that is woven into the story. Conversely, as a student learns more about a particular time period or culture, related fiction becomes more meaningful and helps the student turn that factual knowledge into a deeper understanding. Some of these books will be offered to students to read independently or in small discussion groups as we move through the year.
Now we have begun adding books that are non-fiction, along with more good stories. We have also re-sorted them more or less by topic. The newly-added books will always appear at the top of each topic section. Some are serious references that are more likely to be part of a classroom collection than found on a student's personal bookshelf. Others invite browsing and serve as good introductions to a deeper study and may be of great interest to learners who have a special affinity for history. Some are just for fun, but they are more fun if you know something already about the history that is their take-off point.
The books listed here are likely to be of interest to many in the class. Some are written at a fairly challenging level. Others are easy to read. All are rich in content. Many are available in the school library or your local library. Here, some are linked to Amazon Books. If you click on any of the hot-linked titles, you will go to Amazon and find a more detailed description of the book, perhaps some readers' reviews, and a chance to order the book if you wish. If you order through that Amazon link, our classroom budget will receive a small commission which we will probably spend on -- you guessed it -- books.
Anyone looking for young reader or adult books that are specifically Irish in content or authorship may want to investigate Kennys Bookshop and Art Gallery in Galway, the place from which we obtain many of our Irish resources for the classroom when we make our annual excursion to Ireland. They are an enormous online bookshop (as well as a bricks-and-mortar place) that will offer advice and recommendations along with quick e-mail response and reasonable shipping fees. If you contact them, please tell Des Kenny that I sent you.

General Books
Horrible Histories by Terry Deary are a set of books that exemplify how much funnier things are when you know something about them. Irreverent, disrespectful, rude and crude, grotesquely illustrated, perfect for middle schoolers! Titles of interest to our class include The Rotten Romans, The Measly Middle Ages, Ireland, The Vicious Vikings, The Cut-throat Celts, The Slimy Stuarts, The Terrible Tudors, and others of that ilk. Some are not yet published in the United States but should be available from Amazon.uk or easily found by someone going to Britain or Ireland, if you become addicted.
The Young Oxford History of Britain and Ireland by Corbishley and Morgan, editors This is a major reference book that gives brief, middle-school level overviews of the history of these island nations from neolithic times to the 20th century. An excellent classroom resource and perhaps a good addition to a home library for history buffs. Well and lavishly illustrated, now available in paperback in the UK as well as in hardcover in the USA..
Oxford Children's History: Earliest Times to the Last Stuarts by Roy Burrell Another resource more likely to end up in a classroom or library than a home, this is an excellent overview of British history up to 1807, when the last of the unfortunate exiled royal Stuarts died in Rome. (There is a second volume that goes up to the current time.) Each entry spans two adjacent pages, is well-illustrated in color with drawings and/or photographs, and is easily read by middle school students. Elements of daily life among rich and poor and ancient crafts are well explained (such as monastery book-making) alongside the usual summaries of major historical events and lives of leaders. I have begun to suspect it's out of print, but it may be available through libraries or used book suppliers.
The Isles: A History by Norman Davies This is a massive (1200 pages!) book of profound scholarship, great voicing of unbridled opinion, and some overly-artificial devices to achieve the author's end -- namely, to tell the history of Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales before they had those names and without a British-Empire-centered bias. Some of this works and some of it doesn't, but it's a fascinating book all the same. Not for children because of its style and breadth, it should be of great interest to adults who would like to know about the history of this area before as well as after 1066 and without England's being presented as the "civilizing" force for the rest of the world.
A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 B.C.-1603 A.D by Simon Schama Does anyone write a small book on British history? This is the first volume of a trilogy that takes the reader with endurance or lots of time up to the modern age. The trilogy is also available as a 5-DVD set because it was made into a lengthy series on A&E. The books are written with intelligence, some wry humor, and a solid base of research that is carefully distinguished from the author's many astute opinions. Although Dr. Schama is not the world's best documentary narrator, the DVDs greatly enhance the text with their visual appeal. Highly recommended in either format.

Ancient Rome
The Buried City of Pompeii : What It Was Like When Vesuvius Exploded (I Was There) by Shelley Tanaka, Greg Ruhl (Illustrator) This is one of a series in which a fictional character is created to tell a personal story about a real event. Lots of factual material, photographs of archaeological evidence, and the like help to support the fiction with fact.
Pompeii: The Day a City Was Buried by Christopher Rice, Melanie Rice DK makes books and software for fact-lovers. The information-dense style is present in the graphics as well as in some of the text. Still, this is aimed at middle-grade readers and would hold the interest of any child who loves learning "stuff." Similar titles from DK include Castle at War: The Story of a Seige and Eyewitness: Ancient Rome by Simon James.
Ancient Rome (Nature Company Discoveries Library) by Judith Simpson This is a quick tour of a lot of Roman history -- Carthage and Hannibal, daily life, the Etruscans, Pompeii, Masada, and more. Not a deep treatment of anything, but a good place to do introductory work around a topic that can be explored more fully in other sources.
Asterix The Gaul by Rene de Goscinny The "Asterix" comic-style books are funny, irreverent, extremely witty in their use of pun-loaded language, and historically accurate. Little Asterix is a Gaul (a kind of Celt) who lives in a village in the north of France that is the only one still holding out against the Roman conquest. His major adventures are against the Romans, most of whom are comically stupid cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine, but he also travels to other parts of the world in the many books that followed this first one. The Asterix books have been translated into many languages (including English) and have been the basis of several animated videos. Some people find the ethnic caricatures questionable, but they are even-handed in that no one group is spared. The jokes are complex, visual as well as verbal, and based at least as much on history as on slap-stick situations. Asterix the Gaul is the first of the series. Others that are closely connected with our classroom study are: Asterix In Britain, Asterix the Legionary, Asterix the Gladiator, and Asterix and the Normans.
Roman Aromas: Smelly Old History -- Scratch and Sniff Your Way Through the Pastby Dobson, Reid, and Ambrus I think the title says it all. This is one of a series that wouldn't last long in a classroom but might be great fun at home.
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld is a somewhat implausible adventure that features ancient Roman schoolboys who solve a serious mystery and manage to rescue their irascible teacher as well. The setting is accurate and well-described, and the story is fun for modern young readers even though it was written some 50 years ago. Its sequel, Mystery of the Roman Ransom, is another escapade by the same boys. It gives a particularly good picture of the practice of slavery in the Empire. There are a few girls in these stories, but -- just like real girls in ancient Rome -- they are kept fairly close to home and generally out of the action, despite their strong and spunky personalities.
The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff This may be one of her best-loved books. It is the story of a transition period in Britain, as the Roman legions leave for good and a young Roman soldier decides to stay on to fight on the side of the Romano-Britons against the invading Saxons and, in the time that follows, meets the young King Arthur.

Ireland and the Celts
Irish Hero Tales by Michael Scott Several of the traditional Celtic figures are here: Cuhullain, Finn MacCumhal, and Lugh. Saint Patrick makes an appearance in a very Celtic context. These stories are short but vivid, well-told in ordinary language that still has a tone of magic about it. The stark black and white illustrations are very effective.
Brendan the Navigator: Exploring the Ancient World by George Otto Simms This is a book written by a religious scholar in a rather old-fashioned style. It tells the story of the 6th century monk whose legend includes a very big voyage to the New World in a very small boat. Did he really get there? It's a topic of debate among scholars to this day, and author Simms attempts to unravel the mystery. Interesting reading, but probably not the first way a student would want to encounter the tale.
Irish Animal Tales by Michael Scott Why is the wren called "The King of All Birds"? And when a magical cat nearly lost the last of his nine lives, how did he reward the boy who saved him? These tales and others are charmingly told in this book with stark black and white illustrations.
Nuala and her Secret Wolf by Cora Harrison This is the story of an ancient Celtic girl whose family fears and hunts the wolves that attack their flocks -- but she has one of her own! The tale is easy to read and delightful in its resolution. The author has also written several other books set in Ireland's past, including The Secret of the Seven Crosses, The Secret of 1798, The Secret of Drumshee Castle, The Viking at Drumshee, and The Famine Secret.
Absolution by Murder by Peter Tremayne This is the first of series of books about a young and feisty crime-solving nun: Sister Fidelma. She lives in late 7th century Ireland at the time when the Celtic Christian church and the Roman Christian church were engaged in a bitter struggle over certain elements of religious practice, including agreeing on how to set the date of Easter. The Saxons are in power in England, and Ireland is a world famous center of learning. The followers of Muhammad are beginning to reach out to Europe and bring both knowledge and upheaval with them. Like the Brother Cadfael series, these are good puzzle-like mysteries that are liberally sprinkled with history and culture of the time. And, again like Brother Cadfael, they are probably only for very strong student readers. They would also, of course, interest any adults who would like to learn more about this time in Ireland and England. Other books in the series include Shroud for the Archbishop and a boxed set of three titles in paperback that is available from the Past Times catalogue.
A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond Newbery strikes again. This is a time-travel book, in which a child from the present moves between this world and that of 6th century Celtic Wales while unraveling the mystery of a harp tuning key. A lot of young-reader historical fiction is based on time travel, apparently in an attempt to help the reader start out in a familiar setting, and many of those stories are fairly weak. But this is one of the really good ones!
The Hungry Wind by Sionbhe Lally Set at the time of the Great Famine in Ireland, this is the story of two young sisters who eventually end up in Australia, transported by the British government in order to provide its distant colony with the servant girls that its wealthy families need. The first part of the book gives an excellent picture of the lives of Irish-speaking tenants in the West, including a glimpse of the social unrest that arose out of the desperation of the starving people. The second part of the book is set in the workhouse to which the girls and their mother are sent after the death of their father and their eviction from their small cottage. The last part of the book tells of the girls' journey to Australia where they finally are re-united with their uncle, who had been transported for petty theft. The story is clearly told, the characters are realistic, and the setting is historically valid. The reading level is suitable for average fifth graders, and the story is interesting enough to hold the attention of stronger, older readers.
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea This is another time-travel book that works. I'll probably read it aloud to the class later in the year. It opens in a bookshop that is, in truth, Kennys Bookshop and Art Gallery in Galway City. The young protagonists go off on an epic adventure in which they encounter many of the gods and spirits of Irish Celtic tradtion and become entangled in a classic struggle between the forces of Good and Evil. When she went to Ireland, one of (Miquon alum) Sarah Flaherty's missions was to go to Kennys and get her own copy -- which she did. The reading/interest level given at the Amazon link is incorrect, by the way. Perhaps grades 4 - 8, but not ages 4 - 8.
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff writes historical fiction that is impeccably researched, but many students in fifth or sixth grade find her style dense and difficult. A reader who likes rich description and lots of detail and who has a good vocabulary often becomes a rabid fan. This one is set in Bronze Age Britain and, like most of her books, is told from the viewpoimt of a single character -- in this case, a young boy whose physical disability may prevent him from being accepted as a man by his tribe.
Windlord by Michael Scott Time travel again. This is an action-filled book that readers of fantasy will find easy to enjoy. This is the first of a pair of books in which Ally and her brother Ken are swept into a land held by the Tuatha De Danann ("people of the goddess Danu"), beings whom Irish tradition tells us were among the early inhabitants of Ireland before the first humans arrived. Although this book does not draw on Celtic mythology as strongly as it might, the story moves swiftly and the descriptions of characters and places are vivid. Readers who are not yet ready for the density of Tolkien will find this story very accessible. The sequel, Earthlord, involves the same characters and setting.
Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish by Morgan Llywelyn This is a simplified re-telling of the author's novel on the same subject for adults (The Lion of Ireland). Brian Boru lived in the late 10th century and is credited with winning the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, which essentially ended Viking control in Ireland. In truth, the Battle of Clontarf had native Irish on both sides, and it would seem to have been more of an internal power struggle between Irish leaders than an effort to overthrow an occupying people. Brian Boru is regarded as the first High King (ard rí) of Ireland, and this is his story.
Strongbow by Morgan Llywelyn This is the story of the first real Anglo-Norman foothold in Ireland, which occurs through the efforts of a young lord named Richard de Clare, later called "Strongbow." The Normans were actually invited in to help settle a complicated power struggle between two Celtic chiefs that would make a soap opera on its own. When Strongbow eventually gained control of the province of Leinster, King Henry II forced him to acknowledge that all his Irish holdings were subject to the control of the king of England. In the midst of this, there is Strongbow's wife, an Irish woman named Aoife. The story is told by Richard and Aoife in alternating chapters, a device that some readers have found confusing but others see as establishing the two as vividly drawn characters. A challenging book, in any case.
Under the Hawthorn Tree by Marita Conlon-McKenna This is the first of a trilogy set in Ireland during the time of the Famine in the mid-19th century. Three children are left homeless and destitute when their parents fail to return home, and they go off in search of relatives who will take them in. Through the other two books in the series, Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home, the story moves to America and back to Ireland and across many years in the children's lives.
Irish Legends for Children by Yvonne Carroll This is a beautifully illustrated collection of traditional tales told in a somewhat stilted but very readable style. The reading level is suitable for less confident readers, but the old-fashioned style may be hard for some to engage with at first. Hearing an adult read some of it aloud to catch the tone of it might be the solution. It's a lovely book, and the stories are some of the most widely known in the genre.

The Vikings
The Vikings: 350 Years of Adventure to Unlock and Discover by Fiona MacDonald This chunky box, which comes with its own key, is filled with an assortment of things to make, do, and read that relate to the Vikings. Posters show typical settlements and major parts of the mythology. There is a fairly complicated Viking ship to assemble from light cardboard punch-out pieces. There's the hnefatafl board game, which is an excellent strategy game for adults as well as children. The plastic playing pieces resemble the Lewis chessmen. A Viking sundial/compass comes with directions for calibrating it for your location. A 32-page paperback book gives a good overview of Viking culture and history. This would make a wonderful gift, and the game is one that will go on being played long after the boat has fallen apart. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Vikings! Also in this series is a box about Ancient Greeks and one about Native Americans.
How Would You Survive As A Viking? by Jacqueline Morley This is one of a series of books which, though brief, are packed with facts about a culture from the past. Generously illustrated, the books invite browsing and contain enough information to give a student researcher or young history buff an excellent introduction to the topic. The "survival" format culminates in a quiz. Could you make in that place and time? Other titles from the set include As an Ancient Egyptian?, As an Ancient Greek?, As an Ancient Roman?, In the Middle Ages? and many others.
Myths of the Norsemen by Roger L. Green Just what it says -- Norse myths for young readers. Many students are familiar with Greek myths, but they may not have met the gods and heroes of Scandinavia yet. They have a treat in store, especially the fantasy-fans.
Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye This is one of the great monster stories of all time, but it's often presented to high school students in a form that is completely incomprehensible. We sometimes use this book in class as the basis for doing the story as a play. The author has managed to keep the beauty and strangeness of the traditional narrative while delivering a complex tale in modern language.
Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite De Angeli Another fine book that seems to have gone out of print. This is the story of identical twin Viking boys who are shipwrecked on the coast of medieval Scotland and swept into a local power struggle. With their father dead and their mother lost, the boys must find a way to make a home for themselves in a strange and unstable world. Elements of revenge, betrayal, self-discovery, and gripping adventure will sustain a strong reader through a convoluted story line.

The Middle Ages
Castle by David Macaulay This is an exquisitely-drawn and often humorous story of the building of a fictitious castle in Wales during the time of Edward I. It's based on a compilation of several real castles. The black and white line drawings are complex and informative and the text is straightforward. This is only one of many wonderful books by this author-historian-illustrator, several of which have been made into excellent videos. Books and vidoes related to our study include Castle (PBS videotape), Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction, Cathedral (PBS videotape), and City: A Story of Roman Planning and Construction. The books are often available through the Scholastic book clubs at a deeply discounted price, and the videos may be found in PBS shopping catalogs. We'll look at Castle and Cathedral in the classroom sometime during the year.
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman You're rich, young, and clever. But your father wants you to marry someone who will bring money and property into the family, no matter how old or unattractive he may be. So you make sure that every one of those elderly, repulsive suitors decides you are just too awful to marry. It works for a while, and then someone comes along who is not going to be discouraged easily. And the person that you thought you might like to marry becomes engaged to someone else. Now what? Can this have a happy ending? Catherine/Birdy is one of the funniest, spunkiest, most endearing characters to appear in historical fiction in a very long time.
Knight's Wyrd by Debra Doyle This is a fantasy set in a well-researched medieval period, loaded with ogres, dragons, magic, and enemies who turn out to be friends. As young Will is keeping vigil over his armor on the night before he becomes Sir William Odosson and goes out to rescue damsels and distinguish himself in tourneys, he has a disturbing conversation with the castle's wizard. He will never inherit his father's property or title, he is told, and he will meet death soon. Now what? All of his plans for his immediate future (including his betrothal to a very lovely and intelligent young woman) seem to be pointless. He gets swept into a complicated adventure and discovers that the truth of the wizard's prediction is not quite what he had assumed.
The Juggler by John Morressy You're a peasant, an orphan, a young boy. You want to be the best juggler in the world. Practice helps, but then you meet the Devil, and he makes you the classic deal: your soul (in 50 years) for skill beyond your imagination now. Beran takes the deal, of course. But his life is lot more complicated than he expects. A great fantasy/allegory for middle grades set in authentic medieval England.
Fire, Bed, and Bone by Henrietta Branford What a brilliant story! This is set at the time of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, and it shows the causes and events and results of that social upheaval in a way that is quite sympathetic to the peasants' side of the story. However, the narrator is a dog -- a dog accustomed to a life of good care, with the comfort of fire, bed, and an occasional bone shared from the meager resources of its owners. This is a wonderful narrative of human events from an animal's perspective and should be placed along the classics of this genre. Everyone in the class should be able to read this book independently, and its story and style should appeal to just about everyone.
The Winter Hare by Joan Elizabeth Goodman This is set in the same time period as the Brother Cadfael mysteries described further on, when the crown of 12th century England was the prize in a bitter and prolonged battle between Stephen and Matilda. This story should interest fifth-grade-level readers or better who like a good narrative with most of the loose ends tied up at the finish. (It would also work well as a shared read-aloud book.) More than 200 pages long, this book tells the story of a younger son who becomes a page in the house of a nobleman who seems to be an enemy of his family. There are all sorts of small adventures and a very well-described full-scale fight between two armies. The characters grow and change in believable ways, and the final adventure (the escape of the Empress Matilda from Oxford castle) is very well-told. The author is careful to explain in her afterword which parts of the story are based on fact and which come from her imagination. Highly recommended!
King Arthur by James Riordan This is a dramatically illustrated book of the core stories of the King Arthur cycle. Arthur is at the center of all of them, which is not the case for many of the stories that readers will encounter as they explore the cycle more broadly. In truth, the author ("re-teller")has taken some liberties, so that at least one tale has replaced its usual protagonist with Arthur but remained otherwise faithful to tradition. The stories are told in a lyrical, poetic style and are filled with verbal imagery. They should be quite appropriate for fifth and sixth grade level readers. The love triangle (Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot) has been cleaned up a bit, but overall the book is an excellent introduction to the stories and should inspire many readers to venture further on their own. The book is one of an illustrated series published by Oxford University Press, all of which are retellings of classic stories for young readers, including El Cid, The Odyssey, and several others.
The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder This is an excellent first novel by an author who has created a vivid picture of the world in which Harold becomes king of England and then loses his throne and his life to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. The story is told from the viewpoint of Evyn, a Welsh boy who loses his ability to speak in a brutal attack in his village and who is then sold as a slave to the court of Harold's common-law wife. The story is enormous in its scope but uncomplicated in the telling, with action-filled battle scenes and authentic descriptions of the politics and treachery of the time. Suitable for middle school readers, it brings the end of Anglo-Saxon England to life.
The Ramsay Scallop by Francis Temple It was customary in medieval times for the children of nobility to be pledged in marriage by their parents long before they were old enough to understand it. Property, peace, and wealth were the underpinnings of the relationships, not love or compatibility of age and interests. Fourteen-year-old Eleanor and Thomas, who is eight years older, are the betrothed couple in this story, set at the beginning of the 14th century in England. Thomas has been gone on Crusade for eight years, and Eleanor has no desire to marry him (or anyone else), as she recalls his teasing and torment of her when she was small. The two are sent on religious pilgrimage to a shrine in Spain as "chaste companions" by the priest who has been Eleanor's guardian since the death of her parents. On this journey, Eleanor comes to understand that the adult Thomas is not the boy who went away. The story is filled with vivid images of peasant and noble life, and it contains a plot that is as enjoyable as it is predictable. Interspersed are stories told by various characters, clearly evocative of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Good sixth or seventh grade level readers who appreciate strongly-drawn characters and their relationships more than battle-filled action should like it very much.
The Striped Ships by Eloise McGraw Unfortunately, this is out of print but should be obtainable in libraries, inlcluding ours at Miquon. This is a story set in the time of the Norman Conquest, told by a young girl who is set to work on the Bayeux Tapestry. The daily life of the period is vividly described.
The Brother Cadfael Mysteries by Ellis Peters These books can be enjoyed by strong student readers and their parents, and they would also work as shared family read-aloud for students who are not ready to tackle them independently. Brother Cadfael, for those of you who have not met him through the PBS presentations, is a monk who entered the cloister in late middle age, after experience as a soldier in the Crusades, and who brings a practical and worldly intelligence to the politics of the monastery and to the murder mysteries that seem to crop up all around him. These are whodunits in the tradition of Agatha Christie: a good puzzle, enough clues for the astute reader to solve it, and thoughtful commentary on the human condition without gratuitous wallowing in explicit sex and violence. Many of the titles are out of print, but among those that can still be found in paperback at a reasonable price are The Holy Thief, The Potter's Field, and The Heretic's Apprentice.
Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne This is an illustrated collection of traditional stories from several European medieval literary traditions. Beowulf, The Song of Roland, Sir Gawain, and others are here in simplified versions that could serve as a good introduction to more complex tellings.
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli A Newbery medal winner, this classic story may seem a little formulaic and predictable to some readers. It's the story of a boy of noble family who must find a place for himself after he is left crippled by an undiagnosed illness, and of the many social levels and structures of Medieval England. It has a happy ending, but it's earned by the efforts of the characters.
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Jane Grey Another Newbery classic, this is a wonderful adventure. An eleven year old boy sets out alone in 13th century England to find his stolen dog, and his father sets out in search of him.

Books related to Social Studies - Medieval/European History