I'm looking for well-written and lesser-known historical fiction aimed at middle readers ...

... thoughts? ... elliptical thoughts?

perusing past lists of newberry winners could be rewarding

being an aussie I shouldn't be expected to know that's newbery....not berry

Right now I've got

Jayhawker (Patricia Beatty)
Shades of Gray (Caroline Reeder)

The Smoky Valley Claim is a very old adventure novel about gold prospecting in Alaska, the younger me thought it was THE BOMB DIGGETY. How about White Fang?

I'm really not sure what you mean by "literary" for that age group, Remy. There are bad books in every range, certainly, and more people do seem to think that they're capable of writing children's books because, you see, THEY'RE SHORT. AND EVERYONE USED TO BE A CHILD, AFTER ALL. Makes my eyes cross just to think of the slush piles. Anyway, I can list some titles I like/d and vouch for them as books, that's about it.

Sarah Plain and Tall
The Strawberry Girl (Florida)
Incident at Hawk's Hill (and sequel, Return to Hawk's Hill)
The Sign of the Beaver
Journey to Nowhere/Frozen Summer/The Road to Home (loose trilogy)
The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (gold rush)

Sorry that's a bit "girl"-heavy. I'll try to scare up some more.

Also you've made me remember that my mother has an ancient copy of The Littlest Rebel, that Civil War story that got made into a movie with Shirley Temple, apparently. For all I know it's completely awful, I haven't read it since I was probably 13. But it's out there!

Amazon search has reminded me of some other familiar faces:

The Courage of Sarah Noble
Caddie Woodlawn
The Matchlock Gun (French & Indian War)
Mr. Tucket
Last of the Mohicans (OBV)
The Cabin Faced West
Shane

Some more "boy" options here, but I'm warning you: some of the titles listed (in any of my posts) have awfully sentimental "girl" covers. Most of 'em didn't USE to, or I don't remember them, but EW -- just don't be fooled by overly sweet covers, the story could still be solid.

Okay, I got a little over-excited and somehow I missed the "lesser-known" part of yr request. So ignore at will.

Laurel -- that's really helpful!

(And by 'literary' I only meant to suggest novels that were more than childrens' potboilers; that were more than just contemporary plot grafted into historical surroundings. A lot of the childrens' novels I've been reading lately are shoddily written. Cheap and quick. Sub-Tom-Swift. I guess the writers/editors/critics feel they have a captive and uncritical audience but ... to paraphrase C.S. Lewis: 'a waltz that isn't good when you're not dancing it isn't a very good waltz.')

When I wrote my own first YA novel -- 'The Nothing Place' -- I think it was exactly the misguided 'everybody can write for children' idea that gave me the confidence to power through a project of 200+ pages. I was young, inexperienced, and hadn't the faintest idea how to compose a story longer than 15000 words. So even though my first long piece was crap (unmitigated, and ruining of a decent idea) I was forever able to tell people I'd written a novel. And move onto the second... the third... Now that I'm on my (number omitted, because it'll tell you how much time I've wasted on children's writing) novel, I'm passionately aware of the difficulties of composing for young readership. And especially if one has a poetic/visual agenda beyond the simple narrative-reportial style espoused in most so-so children's pieces.

I think C.S. Lewis's '3 Ways of Writing For Children' holds the place of a gospel in my life.

/rant.

(Also I ordered Sarah Noble, Mr. Tucket, Cabin Faced West and Ballad of Lucy Whipple.)