Allen, Merritt. Battle Lanterns. White Plains, NY: Longman, Inc., 1949.

This is a historical adventure of the Revolutionary War that is set in South Carolina and with the leadership of the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion.

 

Asim, Jabari. Road to Freedom: A Story of the Reconstruction. Providence, RI: Jamestown, 2000.

From 1865 to 1869, freed slaves Ezra--ten years old at the end of the Civil War--and his father deal with their newfound liberty, traveling from their former master's North Carolina plantation to finally settle in a community of free blacks in Charleston, South Carolina, where they gain education and professions.

 

Beatty, John Louis. Who Comes to King’s Mountain? New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1975.

Living in the South Carolina hills in 1780, a young Scottish boy, whose own family is divided between Loyalist and rebel, must decide for himself which side he will follow.

 

Best, Herbert. Carolina Gold. New York: The John Day Co., 1961.

Eliza Lucas discovered indigo and helped to save the colony of South Carolina from economic starvation.

 

Bodie, Idella. Ghost in the Capitol. Columbia, SC: Sandlapper Press, 1990.

Three youngsters are determined to meet the poltergeist that seems to inhabit the State Capitol Building in Columbia.

 

Bodie, Idella. The Mystery of the Pirate’s Treasure. Columbia, SC: Sandlapper Press, 1973.

A young Charleston boy finds clues to pirate Stede Bonnet’s treasure but a mysterious man who seems to be following him around town complicates his search.

 

Bodie, Idella. The Mystery of the Telfair Inn. Columbia, SC: Sandlapper Press, 1971.

After their father was sent to South Carolina by a northern university, Marcy and Phil Dunlap discover the beginnings of a mysterious secret that is locked deep within an old inn.

 

Bristow, Gwen. Celia Garth. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1959.

Celia lived in Charleston, South Carolina during British takeover during the American War for Independence. People almost give up hope, but Frances Marion appears, and Celia becomes a spy for him.

 

Brown, Belinda. Black Oaks. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing Company, Inc., 2001.

Two girls find adventure and mystery right in their own little town of Taylors, South Carolina.

 

Byars, Betsy Cromer. Coast to Coast. New York: Delacorte Press, 1992.

Thirteen-year-old Birch encourages her grandfather to fulfill his dream of flying his old Piper Cub plane from South Carolina to California and then informs him that she is coming along. ( 570L)

 

Draper, Sharon. Copper Sun. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2006.

Amari is a 15-year-old Ashanti girl who is captured by slavers and taken on the infamous Middle Passage to colonial South Carolina.

 

Edwards, Sally. When the World’s on Fire. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1972.

During the Revolution a nine-year-old black slave girl is given the task of blowing up ammunition stored in the British barracks in A Charleston.

 

Eleazer, J. M. A Dutch Fork Farm Boy. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1952.

This is the story of a boy whose family plans on settling in New York or Philadelphia, but when they are on a ship bound for Charleston settlement instead in Dutch Fork in the late 1700's. The story follows the family for their first year in South Carolina.

 

Emery, Anne. Jennie Lee, Patriot. Lexington, KY: Westminster Press, 1966.

Jennie Lee’s life in South Carolina becomes complicated during the Revolutionary War when she sides with the rebels, but must still serve the British officers stationed in her home.

 

Fast, Howard. Freedom Road. New York: Amsco School Publications, Inc., 1970.

When an ex-slave and a Union soldier return to South Carolina, they find a new kind of tyranny.

 

Fuqua, Jonathon Scott. Darby. New York: Candlewick Press, 2002.

In 1926, nine-year-old Darby Carmichael stirs up trouble in Marlboro County, South Carolina, when she writes a story for the local newspaper promoting racial equality. ( 790L)

 

Hansen, Joyce. I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly. New York: Scholastic, 1997.

Patsy, a freed slave, becomes a great teacher for her people. ( 820L)

 

Hansen, Joyce. The Heart Calls Home. New York: Walker & Company, 1999.

Obi, a former slave that fought for the Union army, musters out in Beaufort; he seeks the woman his love, and decides to settle on the South Carolina Sea Islands. ( 650L)

 

Hansen, Joyce. Out of this Place. New York: Walker & Company, 1988.

A fourteen-year-old black girl tries to find a fellow ex-slave, who had joined the Union army during the Civil War, during the confusing times after the emancipation of the slaves. ( 680L)

 

Hansen, Joyce. Which Way Freedom. New York: Walker & Company, 1987.

Obi escapes from slavery during the Civil War, joins a black Union regiment, and soon becomes involved in the bloody fighting at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. ( 700L)

 

Kjelgaard, Jim. Rebel Siege. New York: Holiday House, 1953.

Kin, a mountaineer in the Blue Ridge is talked into fighting the British, and he eventually help catch the British at the Battle of King’s Mountain.

 

Lavendar, William. Just Jane: A Daughter of England Caught in the Struggle of the American Revolution . Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2004.

Fourteen-year-old Jane Prentice, orphaned daughter of an English earl, arrives in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1776 to find her family and her loyalties divided over the question of American independence. ( 740L)

 

Le Grand. Tom Benn and Blackbeard, the Pirate. New York: Abington Press, 1954.

Thom is tired of his normal life and goes to live with Blackbeard, and when Tom takes a hand in settling Blackbeard’s fate, he learns a thing or two about pirates.

 

Marsh, Carole. The Charming Ghost of Charleston. Historic Bath, NC: Gallopade, 1989.

Three kids and a baby on a madcap tour of historic Charleston in search of the ghost with the most!

 

Means, Florence Crannell. Tolliver. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1963.

Tolly’s boyfriend confesses to cheating on a final exam, and she returns to her home in South Carolina determined not to get close to anyone, but can she keep it up?

 

Meyers, Anna. The Keeping Room. New York: Puffin Books, 1999.

Left in charge of the family when his father leaves their South Carolina home to fight in the Revolutionary War, thirteen year-old Joey Kershaw finds all his resources tested when General Cornwallis comes to town and chooses the Kershaw house as his headquarters. ( 780L)

 

Meyers, Walter D. Glory Field. New York: Scholastic Books, 1994.

This novel follows five generations of one African-American family from Africa to a South Carolina plantation, through the Civil War, the end of segregation, and beyond. ( 800L)

 

McGill, Alice. Miles’ Song. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.

Miles, a 12-year-old slave, transforms from complacent house slave to potential runaway in her historical novel set on a South Carolina slave plantation in 1851. ( 880L)

 

McWilliams, K. J. Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo. Dayton, OH: 1 st Books Library, 2001.

Ruby Jo is a slave girl living with her mother and father on a rice plantation in South Carolina, and she moves for the summer to Charles Town where she witnesses Blackbeard’s blockade of the town.

 

Reeder, Carolyn. Before the Creeks Ran Red. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

This is a collection of three stories of three fourteen-year-olds caught up at the beginning of the Civil War.

 

Rhyne, Nancy. The South Carolina Lizard Man . Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 1992.

In 1846 while exploring the swamp on their South Carolina rice plantation, fifteen-year-old twins, Josh and Matt, find a six-foot-tall lizard-like creature that walks on its hind legs.

 

Rinaldi, Ann. Cast Two Shadows. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998.

In Camden, South Carolina in 1780, Caroline, a fourteen-year-old girl, learns the true nature of war with the terrible toll taken on her family and friends. ( 610L)

 

Rue, Nancy H. The Ally. Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family Publishing, 1998.

Living with his uncle on a South Carolina plantation in 1860, eleven-year-old Austin decides to disobey the law and teach reading to a slave he has befriended, an act that endangers his friend but prompts his uncle to reconsider the treatment of his slaves.

 

Rue, Nancy N. Misfit. Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on Family Publishing, 1997.

Living with his uncle on a South Carolina plantation in 1860, eleven-year-old Austin befriends a young slave boy and learns more about how Jesus loves people who are different.

 

Rue, Nancy N. Trap. Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on Family Publishing, 1997.

Having become embroiled in one troublesome situation after another while living on his uncle's plantation in South Carolina in 1861, eleven-year-old Austin accuses his older relative of hypocrisy.

 

Rumsey, Marian. Carolina Hurricane. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1977.

Lost in a crab boat in the middle of a South Carolina salt marsh, twelve-year-old Morgan endures the full brunt of a hurricane.

 

Seabrooke, Brenda. The Bridges of Summer. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1992.

When she reluctantly comes to stay on a small South Carolina island, fourteen-year-old Zarah gradually accepts her grandmother’s Gullah traditions and different way of life. ( 630L)

 

Seaton, Anya. My Theodosia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941.

This is the novel about the strange and romantic life of the daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia, who married a South Carolinian.

 

Spratt, Barnett. Miss Betty of Bonnet Rock School 1864-1865. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1965.

A seventeen-year-old schoolteacher keeps a diary of her experiences during the War Between the States .

 

Swagert, Christine. Black Crows and White Cockades. Florida: Southern Heritage Press, 1999.

Set in Revolutionary Camden, South Carolina, a young girl spies for Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox.

 

Swagert, Christine. If My Country Ever Needs Me . Florida: Southern Heritage Press, 2001.

This is the continuation of the story begun in Black Crows and White Cockades, and this novel takes the family to the end of the Revolutionary War.

 

Tate, Eleanora E. The Secret of Gumbo Grove. New York: Franklin Watts, 1987.

While helping to restore the cemetery of the old Baptist church, eleven-year-old Raisin solves the mystery surrounding the founding of her hometown and gains pride in her family’s past .

 

Werstein, Irving. Jack Wade, Fighter for Liberty. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1963.

Sixteen-year-old Jack Wade joins the rebels to fight for freedom as the British attack Charleston, South Carolina. ( 740L)

 

Wisler, G. Clifton. Kings Mountain. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002.

Frank, a fourteen-year-old, does not really fit in, but he shines when he leaves his home to fight for the patriot cause at Kings Mountain in South Carolina. ( 700L)

 

Zach, Cheryl. Dream of Freedom. New York: Bantam Books.

Set before and during the Civil War, Hannah, a slave, dreams of freedom, and when sent to work in Charleston, she meets a free man of color and begins working with the Underground Railroad.