Ideas for dd1 who adores reading and is obsessed with history?

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She's borrowed most of the horrible history books from the school library. I was wondering if there were any childrens novels with a history element to them?

Lady Grey Mysteries?
Roman Mysteries?

Sorry grace not gray

I can't remember what they are called but we have a series of books that are written from a child's perspective in different periods of history. I think one was a child growing up in Victorian England, another was living in London during the Great Fire, that sort of thing.

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Magic School Bus books.

Depends on her age ... if she's yr2-3 or so the My Story series (link for helpfulness) is great.

Then, even better, there are all the marvellous authors from the 50s/60s/70s Puffin list who made historical fiction their specialty - Rosemary Sutcliff, Henry Treece, Geoffrey Trease - worth looking in your library to see whether they are the right level for her now. They are a fantastically rich vein when you're ready for them, masses & masses of wonderfully written atmospheric engrossing stories.

Oh, and of course Cynthia Harnett is another of that rich vein.

And then when's she 12 or 13 she can read Mary Renault's books set in ancient Greece & wonder rather innocently quite why there seems to be this sort of crackling excitement around the young heroes & their relations with each other ...

Thank you, thank you, I've noted these all down.

Blink she's year 4 and has always enjoyed 'old fashioned' books like Milly Molly Mandy, Pippi Longstocking, Mrs Pepperpot etc, but is ready for something older. Her brief was something with adventure and history. Am off to look at the book people and amazon.

I'm a Book People addict (been trawling them today) and I'm not sure there's anything ideal for a proto-historian year 4 at the moment ...

Re Amazon etc. searches, I think Cynthia Harnett is the one that works best first - Wool-Pack, and Load of Unicorn, maybe. You might have to get them second-hand (shocking that they aren't currently in print). The others are more around the age 10 mark.

Agreed Blink, have just looked at The Book People and there's not much that fits the brief, but they are a fab company. Off to Amazon now - will search Chynthia Harnett.

DD2 who is 8 and loves history, likes those My Story books. They are not all that well written but are well-researched and informative. She also loved War Horse by Michael Morpurgo as she has a World War One obsession.
I would certainly recommend the Roman mysteries too as they fit the adventure and history bill perfectly.

She might also like Carrie's War (Nina Bawden), When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Judith Kerr of Mog fame), Charlotte Sometimes (Penelope Lively) and A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley.
The first three deal with WW1 or WW2 history, as you might expect - the latter two are about time-shifting rather than being set in the past per se
Depending on how emotionally mature she is to match her reading appetite, two other lovely books are The Gentle Falcon by Hilda Lewis (Richard II's second wife, Isabelle of France), and The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (persecution of Quakers in 17th century New England).
And a fab anthology is Geraldine McCaughrean's Britannia. Highly recommended, loads of short stories about a wide variety of historical events in Britain's history.

Oh great more good ideas, I'd forgotten about Charlotte Sometimes - I loved it as a child.

Scanner - does she (and/or do you) know Lucy Boston's The Children of Green Knowe? It's not exactly a historical fiction - it's more like Charlotte Sometimes in bringing together different eras - but it does a very wonderful unusual take on the Great Plague. Perhaps you should have a read of it first though - as the Children are effectively ghosts?

Recently I (and that is me, not any of my children) rather enjoyed At The Sign of The Sugared Plum (link is to one of those Amazon lists including it, which might give you other ideas too, though it's described as a "teen" list) - another hear-the-sounds-and-smell-the-smells-of-the-Great-Plague kind of thing.

Finally, as actual history rather than novels, how about the classic Our Island Story?

Marina, that anthology sounds very interesting - will have to investigate!

Marina, A Traveller in Time is still my favourite ever book! You beat me to it!

One I used to like at your dd's age was 'The Wolves of Willoughby Chase' by Joan Aiken. I got my dds a copy of this, but we haven't read it yet (thought we'd do it for bedtime reading - me reading to them!)

I notice someone else has mentioned Carrie's War. I read this to my dds last month and they both liked it, although I think you do have to help explain a few bits.

Another 'yes' for Roman Mysteries, Rosemary Sutcliff and Michael Morpurgo.

It's jolly hard work but DH is reading DS1 (9, loves history) Children of the New Forest atm and they are both enjoying it. I'm reading him Tom Sawyer which is obviously set in 19th C America and DS is confused, amused and fascinated at the same time.

not novels - but the Tony Robinson worst jobs for children in history and his kings/queens books are really good

Another "yes" for Rosemary Sutcliff. The Eagle of the Ninth might be one to start with?

Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce - one of my fave reads as a child. Set in 1960's but boy goes back in time to Victorian period.

Also Goodnight Mr Tom (WW2) and anything by Michael Morpurgo (WW1, WW2) - but they may be a bit old for her yet, more Y5/6

My five year old is absolutely obsessed by the film version of Tom's Midnight Garden, she watches it whenever she gets to choose a DVD. When I tried to read them the book though they got bored half way through which was very disappointing.

As well as Rosemary Sutcliff, don't forget Henry Treece - most of his are out of print but easily picked up on Abebooks. Hounds of the King was my absolute favourite book at that age.

I'm 42 and I still read the Woolpack regularly. I also still have Rosemary Sutcliffe and Geoffrey Trease on my shelves. I loved her book about the war of the Roses. Jean Plaidy also wrote two for children about Mary Queen of Scots, and Elizabeth.