Historical Fiction Novels from Reconstruction to 1900

Some ideas:

Cane River (2001) by Tademy, Lalita
"An accomplished first novel weaves fragments of real-life family lore into a vivid tale of four generations of African-American women struggling to hold their families together, first as slaves, then as freed people subject to Jim Crow laws and white vigilantism.The story opens in 1834, on a plantation on the Cane River in Louisiana, as Suzette turns nine. She's a house slave who often works in the kitchen with her mother Elisabeth, the cook and family matriarch whose love and wisdom will sustain them all in the years ahead. Though born in Virginia, where she had two sons by her white master, Elisabeth had to leave them when she was sold to the present French family, the Derbannes. It's a time when color divides both blacks and whites. Light-skinned freed slaves despise their darker enslaved kin, and white plantation owners sell their children by slave women when they need money. Elisabeth has high hopes for Suzette until her daughter is raped by visiting Eugene Daurat and bears him two children, Gerant and Philomene. As the plantation fails and the family scatters, the story turns to Philomene, who recalls how she became the mistress of white planter Narcisse Fredieu, a man who adores their beautiful daughter Emily. But although Narcisse gives Philomene land when slavery ends, prejudice and custom still prevail, as Emily learns when she falls in love with Frenchman Joseph Billes. Joseph, a rich farmer who marries a white woman when the locals threaten to ostracize him, tries to provide for Emily and their children—until a theft and murder intervene. Tademy's people are distinctive personalities, enough so to compensate for the slackening of narrative energy as the story moves into the 1930s. The result is a richly textured family saga that resonates with intelligence and empathy."

Red River (2007) by Tademy, Lalita
"In 1873, during Reconstruction, black voters in Colfax, LA, many of whom were freed slaves, took up arms to install the legally elected white Republican Party sheriff, who was seen by angry whites as a hated carpetbagger. A violent standoff at the town courthouse resulted in great loss of life and ushered in a new era of intimidation and discrimination that many Southern blacks had hoped was ending with Reconstruction. This engrossing and eyeopening emotional family saga spans several generations while bringing an African American perspective to a very painful time in U.S. history." - Library Journal (starred review)

One Came Home (2013) by Timberlake, Amy
"By turns humorous and reflective, Georgie's unique and honest voice includes confusion about her feelings for Billy and doubts about her ability to kill even in desperate circumstances. Timberlake seamlessly integrates information about two significant events that occurred in Wisconsin in 1871: the largest recorded nesting of passenger pigeons in spring and devastating firestorms in fall. Georgie's physical and emotional odyssey that occurs between those two events will linger in readers' minds" - School Library Journal (starred review)
Sara's notes: this one might be an easier read as it is a YA book, but I've heard very good things about it...

True Grit (1968) by Portis, Charles
Sara's notes: you probably already know what this one is about, but it does bring the time to life and has a teenage protagonist. I think it is a great book for teens to read.

Lonesome Dove (1985) by McMurtry, Larry
Sara's notes: I know, I know, but the two main characters were Texas Rangers during the war and it is both a great book to read and an accurate picture of the time.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1971) by Gaines, Ernest J.
"Gaines's Miss Jane is an invented character roughly in the standard mammy mold, but with such strong personal presence that readers may still have to remind themselves this is fiction. Born a slave on a Louisiana plantation, she was not yet in her teens when emancipation came and she began her journey toward freedom as a literal walk overland to Ohio. When her narrative ends she is still moving out to join the freedom marchers though she is well over one hundred and has made precious little progress geographically or legally." Kirkus

On Agate Hill (2006) by Smith, Lee
"The time period that Lee knowledgably sets this involving novel within encompasses the years between the end of the Civil War and the dawn of the twentieth century; her setting is North Carolina. The novel's conceit is not particularly original--it is purportedly composed of real documents, such as diary entries, letters, and court documents--but Lee nevertheless fashions, in gradual steps through time and from the telling perspectives of different individuals, the riveting character Molly Petree. She is an orphan at war's end, dependent on being taken in by family, but she isn't the type to stay at the mercy of anyone. Her pluck, fortitude, resilience, and wisdom prompt her not only to take things as they come during this disorderly time in the South but also to dictate her own fortune and make a life in which she can find some peace. This novel of treachery and resolution provides an intimate picture of the Reconstruction era, observed through the lens not of politicians and generals but of the common folk upon whose shoulders the actual reconstruction of a ravaged land rested." - Booklist

Flashmob song idea for Read Across America Day

You Should Read With Me
(to the tune of "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift)

Upham celebrates Read Across America Day

Sit back relax because we've got a lot to say

We hope you like to read the way we do

Here's a book, its particularly good to me,

And here's another if that's not the type you read

Take a look 'cause there's plenty out there for you...

She reads chapter books

He reads picture books

I read comic books then nonfiction books.

Fantasies, Adventures of all kinds

That book you're looking for has been here to whole time

If you can read then you can make a new discovery

Have some fun and try a new series.

READ!  come on won't you read

You should read with me.

Ohhh, I remember finishing my book in the middle of the night,
there were some that make me laugh, and a few that make me cry
So bring your favorite books, you can read about your dreams
See I know that you should read
Come along and read with me...

Can't you find that book that really entertains you?
It's been there all along so why can't you
Read...., come on  won't you read...

If you can read then you can make a new discovery

Have some fun and try a new series.

READ!  come on won't you read

You should read with me.