Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish that other bloggers are welcome to join in, to create Top Ten lists on varying topics. This week it’s  a Back To School Freebie and from the give prompts we’ve gone with Books To Complement A History Lesson. 

Paein

1 Outlander – 18th Century Scotland/ Post WWII

by Diana Gabaldon

This is the story of a nurse from the 1940′s being transported back in time to the 1740′s in Scotland. Not ony does it give you a lot of information about the 1740′s but it also gives you a lot of history about Scotland before the battle of Culloden. I’ve learnt a lot so far and I’m only 1 and a half books in. I think it may take me a while, the story around the history is heart wrenching, but fantastic

2 The Ruby in the Smoke – Victorian London/India etc

by Philip Pullman

This is a story, set in Victorian London, about a girl who is ahead of her time. Her father dies. leaving behind a mystery spanning all the way to India. While the characters don’t go to India in the story, important events happened there – I seem to remember a flashback -, and it’s possibly enough to encourage further investigation.

3 Memoirs of a Geisha  - Pre and post WWII Japan

by Arthur Golden

This is the fictional memoir of a geisha, from the age of nine through to adulthood. It’s set in in pre- and post WWII Japan and follows her life as she goes from trial to triumph or possibly trial again, depending on your views… It’s an interesting insight to an old Japanese custom – The Geisha.

4 The Help – Mississippi 1960′s, Segregation

by Kathryn Stockett

This is the story of a young woman who is upset to discover that the black maid who raised her has gone ‘missing’ while she’s been at college. Getting no satisfactory answers and deciding to do something about it, she gets together with various other black maids around town and starts to write down their experiences in a book.
It’s 1962 in Mississippi, it goes about as well as you’d expect, but it’s a really good read.

5 Water for Elephants – 1930′s Great Depression/Circus Circuits

by Sara Gruen

It’s about a young man who suddenly finds himself orphaned and instead of continuing his life to become a vet, he leaves it all behind and inadvertently joins the circus and befriends the elephant. The circus is struggling but with his help it stays afloat. The main thing this book taught me is the accuracy of someone saying “I carried water for the elephants.” when saying they worked for the circus, but it was an interesting look at part of a world I knew nothing about.

…

Ms4Tune

  

6 And I Darken - 1400′s The Ottoman Empire

by Kiersten White

I knew nothing about the Ottoman Empire before reading this book. This was sold as a Female version of Vlad the Impaler and because I enjoyed it so much I instantly googled everything to do with the Ottoman Empire, Vlad the Impaler and the general history of the 1400s. I think this is what history classes need. Something that makes you want to research the events yourself.

7 Salt to the Sea -  Prussia during World War 2

by Ruta Sepetys

Salt to the Sea is about a rather unknown story from the second world war, the heartbreaking story of the Ship, Wilhelm Gustloff. The wholes story is cleverly written from four different points of view. Each person is from a different country and experiences completely different sides of the war. I really think every child should know this story.

8 The Incarnations - China throughout the Centuries

by Susan Barker

This book was set in a number of different time periods but gave the reader a good introduction to Chinese culture and history. This would definitely have to be for an adult history class though as there are some rather disturbing events (think Game of Thrones) but either way it got me googling Chinese history.

9 The Diviners - New York 1920′s

by Libba Bray

Ok so this one is definitely more fiction than fact but the 1920′s setting really works for this supernatural mystery. I loved the descriptions of the outfits and the music. It made me really wish I could timetravel to see New York during this period.

10 The Flamboya Tree - Java (Japan) during World War 2

by Clara Olink Kelly

This was a heart wrenching true story of a girl who’s family was pulled apart during the second world war. She grow up on a Japanese island called Java and when she was four the Japanese army invaded the American Troop base. They removed all the men and penned in all the women and children. At first they were treated with some respect but slowly the conditions they were kept in got worse and worse and day to day life became difficult and life threatening. We weren’t taught this part of the second world war in school and I found it very hard to read. It was interesting to see it through the eyes of a child in retrospect. At the time, Clara was unaware of how much danger they were in because her mother sheltered her, starving herself to feed Clara and her sister. It was only looking back that Clara could appreciate how much her mother sacrified. Definitely an important part of history for children to learn.