Books for Young Readers: The Middle Ages and Renaissance

I compiled this list for a webpage of suggestions for librarians who wished to feature books on the Middle Ages and Renaissance in conjunction with medieval events & activities. These would also be good choices for parents who want to provide their children with interesting books on medieval history. I've updated the list with a few newer titles, and added links to Amazon for the books that are still available in-print.

This list mixes non-fiction with historical fiction; read the descriptions on Amazon for details.

A list of children's books on life in the 18th century is available elsewhere on this site.

ALEX SUGGESTS …

Castle: Medieval Days and Knights: The text is geared towards older readers, but younger readers will enjoy the beautiful illustrations and imaginative pop-ups.
The Bravest Knight: Obviously not the most authentically medieval story out there (it's a reissue of Mercer Mayer's Terrible Troll), but a funny little story about imagining the perils of life in the Middle Ages. (Kindergarten to Grade 2)
The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur: Beautiful pictures accompany a story drawn from actual medieval literature. (Grades 3 and up)
• A Medieval Feast by Aliki
• The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Volume 2: The Middle Ages From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance) by Susan Wise Bauer
• The Duke and the Peasant: Life in the Middle Ages by Sister Wendy Beckett
• Galileo's Treasure Box by Catherine Brighton
• Chanticleer and the Fox by Geoffrey Chaucer
• A Year in a Castle by Rachel Coombs
• Knights by Catherine Daly-Weir
• Leif the Lucky, Columbus by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire
• Smelly Old History: Medieval Muck, Reeking Royals, and Tudor Odours by Mary Dobson
• The Pirate Meets the Queen by Matt Faulkner
• Living in Castle Times by Robyn Gee
• Knights in Shining Armor by Gail Gibbons
• A Boy Named Giotto by Paolo Guarnieri
• The Kitchen Knight: A Tale of King Arthur and Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady by Margaret Hodges
• Sophia, the Alchemist's Dog by Shelley Jackson
• A Kid's Life During the Middle Ages by Sarah Machajewski
• If You Lived in the Days of the Knights by Ann McGovern
• The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C.M. Millen
• Magic in the Margins: A Medieval Tale of Bookmaking by W. Nikola-Lisa
• The Making of a Knight by Patrick O'Brien
• The Little Jester by Helena Olofsson
• C Is for Castle: A Medieval Alphabet by Greg Paprocki
• Michelangelo's Surprise by Tony Parillo
• Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta, 1325-1354 by James Rumford
• Follow the Dream: The Story of Christopher Columbus and Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sis
• Biographies by Diane Stanley: Joan of Arc, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare, and Good Queen Bess: The Story of Elizabeth I of England
• Knight: A Noble Guide for Young Squires by Dugald A. Steer
• A Three-Dimensional Medieval Castle by Phil Wilson
• Sundiata: Lion King of Mali by David Wisniewski
• Kids in the Middle Ages and Kids During the Renaissance by Lisa A. Wroble
• You Wouldn't Want To: You Wouldn't Want To Be a Viking Explorer, You Wouldn't Want To Live in a Medieval Castle, You Wouldn't Want To Be a Crusader, You Wouldn't Want To Be in a Medieval Dungeon, You Wouldn't Want To Be a Medieval Knight, You Wouldn't Want To Sail With Christopher Columbus, You Wouldn't Want To Be Married to Henry VIII, You Wouldn't Want To Sail in the Spanish Armada, You Wouldn't Want To Be Mary, Queen of Scots, You Wouldn't Want To Explore With Sir Francis Drake, and You Wouldn't Want To Be Sick in the Sixteenth Century

• The Horrible, Miserable Middle Ages: The Disgusting Details About Life During Medieval Times by Kathy Allen
• The Door in the Wall (Newbery Medal) by Marguerite de Angeli
• Crispin: The Cross of Lead (Newbery Medal) and Crispin: At the Edge of the World by Avi
• The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Volume 2: The Middle Ages From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance) by Susan Wise Bauer
• The Real Vikings: Craftsmen, Traders, and Fearsome Raiders by Gilda Berger
• Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections: Castle and Stephen Biesty's Castles
• The Shakespeare Stealer Series (The Shakespeare Stealer, Shakespeare's Scribe, and Shakespeare's Spy) by Gary L. Blackwood
• National Geographic Kids Everything Castles by Crispin Boyer
• Fire, Bed & Bone by Henrietta Branford
• The Brilliant Brits series by Richard Brassey: Boudica, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Shakespeare
• A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
• Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali by Kephra Burns
• Granuaile: Sea Queen of Ireland by Anne Chambers
• The Children of Odin: The Book of Northern Myths by Padraic Colum
• King of Shadows by Susan Cooper
• Cultural Atlas for Young People: The Middle Ages by Mike Corbishley
• Feast of Fools by Bridget Crowley
• The Midwife's Apprentice (Newbery Medal) by Karen Cushman
• Young Joan by Barbara Dana
• D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths by by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire
• Clothes and Crafts in the Middle Ages by Imogen Dawson
• The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Lost Baron: A Story of England in the Year 1200 by Allen French
• Leonardo's Horse by Jean Fritz
• Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc by Nancy Garden
• Torch in the Darkness: The Tale of a Boy Artist in the Renaissance by Alan Garinger
• The Winter Hare and Peregrine, and Paradise by Joan Elizabeth Goodman
• A Boy and His Bear by Harriet Graham
• Blood Red Horse and Green Jasper by K.M. Grant
• The Knight's Handbook: How to Become a Knight in Shining Armor by Christopher Gravett
• Tudor and Stuart Life by John Guy
• The Minstrel's Tale by Berit Haahr
• The Viking at Drumshee by Cora Harrison
• Beric the Briton, The Dragon and the Raven, In Freedom's Cause, The Boy Knight, Winning His Spurs, A Knight of the White Cross, and Wulf the Saxon by George A. Henty
• Saint George and the Dragon (Caldecott Medal) by Margaret Hodges
• The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric Philbrook Kelly
• A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver and The Second Mrs. Giaconda by E. L. Konigsburg
• The Falconmaster by R. L. La Fevers
• Medieval Knight Science: Armor, Weapons, and Siege Warfare by Allison Lassieur
• The Apprentice by Pilar Molina Llorente
• Castle (Caldecott Honor), Cathedral (Caldecott Honor), and Ship by David MacAulay
• The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History by John S. Major
• The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C.M. Millen
• Renaissance Town by Jacqueline Morley
• Antonio's Apprenticeship: Painting a Fresco in Renaissance Italy and Neptune Fountain: The Apprenticeship of a Renaissance Sculptor by Taylor Morrison
• Seawolves from the North by Michael Mullen
• Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli
• Castle: Medieval Days and Knights by Kyle Olmon
• A Single Shard (Newbery Medal) by Linda Sue Park
• The Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson
• Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page by Richard Platt
• Beorn the Proud by Madeleine A. Polland
• Otto of the Silver Hand and Men of Iron by Howard Pyle
• Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal by Robert Reilly
• Marguerite Makes a Book by Bruce Robertson
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (Newbery Medal) by Laura Amy Schlitz
• The White Stag (Newbery Medal) by Kate Seredy
• Tibaldo and the Hole in the Calendar by Abner Shimony
• The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela: Through Three Continents in the Twelfth Century by Uri Shulevitz
• The Edge on the Sword and Far Traveler by Rebecca Tingle
• I, Juan de Pareja (Newbery Medal) by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
• Adam of the Road (Newbery Medal) by Elizabeth Gray Vining
• My Guardian Angel by Sylvie Weil
• Son of Charlemagne by Barbara Willard
• Bibles and Bestiaries: A Guide to Illuminated Manuscripts for Young Readers by Elizabeth B. Wilson
• Queen's Own Fool: A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots and Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris
• Eyewitness: Arms & Armor, Castle, Knight, Medieval Life, Renaissance, and Viking
• How To Be: How to Be a Medieval Knight and How to Be a Samurai Warrior
• How Would You Survive: How Would You Survive as a Viking and How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages
• Inside Story: A Viking Town, A Medieval Castle, A Medieval Cathedral, A Medieval Monastery, A Renaissance Town, A Samurai Castle, and A 16th Century Mosque
• Living History: The Vikings, Fourteenth-Century Towns, and Knights in Armor
• Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Vikings, Knights And Castles
• Medieval World: Arts and Literature of the Middle Ages, Children and Games in the Middle Ages, Clothing in the Middle Ages, Famous People of the Middle Ages, Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages, Medieval Law And Punishment, Life in a Castle, The Life of a Knight, Life on a Medieval Manor, Life in a Medieval Monastery, Manners And Customs in the Middle Ages, Medieval Medicine and the Plague, Medieval Myths, Legends, And Songs, Places of Worship in the Middle Ages, Medieval Projects You Can Do!, Science and Technology in the Middle Ages, Medieval Society, Medieval Towns, Trade, and Travel, Medieval Warfare, and Women and Girls in the Middle Ages
• Newspaper Histories: Viking Invader and Medieval Messenger
• The Other Half of History: Women in Medieval Times
• The Royal Diaries: Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South, Southern China, A.D. 531; Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, A.D. 595; Lady Of Palenque : Flower of Bacal, Mesoamerica, A.D. 749; Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine; Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, Spain, 1466; Anacaona: Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490; Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor, England, 1544; Mary, Queen of Scots: Queen Without a Country, France, 1553; and Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Matamba, Angola, Africa, 1595
• The Working Life: A Medieval Knight, A Medieval Merchant, A Medieval Monk, A Renaissance Painter's Studio, and An Actor on the Elizabethan Stage

• The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder
• Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett
• Primavera by Mary Jane Beaufrand
• There Will Be Wolves by Karleen Bradford
• Queen Eleanor: Independent Spirit of the Medieval World and Beyond the Myth: The Story of Joan of Arc by Polly Schoyer Brooks
• The Book of the Lion, The Leopard Sword, and Raven of the Waves by Michael Cadnum
• It Happened At A Hanging by Hattie Clark
• Catherine, Called Birdy (Newbery Honor) and Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman
• The Red Keep: A Story of Burgundy in 1165 and The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow by Allen French
• The World of the Medieval Knight by Christopher Gravett
• The Samurai's Tale and The Boy and the Samurai by Erik Christian Haugaard
• The King's Swift Rider by Mollie Hunter
• Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish and Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife by Morgan Llywelyn
• Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey
• The Zenta and Matsuzo samurai stories by Lensey Namioka: The Samurai and the Long Nose Devils, White Serpent Castle, Valley of the Broken Cherry Trees, Village of the Vampire Cat, Island of Ogres, The Coming of the Bear, and Den of the White Fox
• Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale and Breath by Donna Jo Napoli
• The Hawk That Dare Not Hunt By Day by Scott O'Dell
• Shylock's Daughter by Mirjam Pressler
• Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Ann Rinaldi
• The Strongbow Saga by Judson Roberts: Viking Warrior, Dragons from the Sea, and The Road to Vengeance
• Song for Eloise by Leigh Sauerwein
• Spider's Voice by Gloria Skurzynski
• The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Shining Company, The Shield Ring, and Sword Song by Rosemary Sutcliff
• The Beduins' Gazelle and The Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple
• Augustine Came to Kent and If All the Swords in England by Barbara Willard
• Young Royals: Patience, Princess Catherine, Doomed Queen Anne, Mary, Bloody Mary, Beware, Princess Elizabeth, and Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de'Medici

• Dover coloring books: Castles of the World, Celtic Animals, Celtic Design, Color Your Own Book of Kells, Gargoyles and Medieval Monsters, Knights and Armor, Life in a Medieval Castle and Village, Medieval Fashions, Medieval Tapestries, Story of the Vikings
• Shakespeare for Kids, His Life and Times: 21 Activities by Colleen Aagesen and Margie Blumberg
• The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Activity Book Two: The Middle Ages From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance) by Susan Wise Bauer
• Great Medieval Projects You Can Build Yourself by Kris Bordessa
• Days of Knights and Damsels: An Activity Guide by Laurie M. Carlson
• Coat of Arms by Catherine Daly-Weir
• Medieval Projects You Can Do! by Marsha Groves
• Hands-On-History: Middle Ages: 20 Enchanting Art Projects and Other Creative Activities That Illuminate and Enrich Your Study of the Middle Ages by Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord
• Knights & Castles: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience the Middle Ages by Avery Hart & Paul Mantell
• In the Middle of the Middle Ages: Integrating Content Standards and the Arts by Mary Wheeler & Jill Terlep