The 1700s ran on wind, muscle, candlelight, and a growing confidence that the world could be measured. Sailors worked longitude, printers spread arguments, natural philosophers tested electricity, composers filled courts and churches, and inventors sent the first passengers aloft in a hot-air balloon — though those passengers happened to be a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. Revolutions redrew governments, ocean voyages connected distant ports, and ordinary households still made nearly everything by hand.
Drawing from Bookroo’s collection of 229 books about the 18th century, our editors chose fifteen that make the period vivid without turning it into a parade of dates. The shortlist travels from Salem docks and Boston workshops to Parisian experiments, a Nez Perce homeland, a storm-beaten Scottish sea stac, the stages of London, and the slave-trading coast of West Africa. Start there, then use the picture-book and chapter-book shelves for biographies, adventure, science, and historical fiction suited to your reader.
A small, bookish apprentice in Salem teaches himself the mathematics that will make ocean navigation safer.
Enslaved in New York in 1776, Isabel becomes a spy while both Patriots and Loyalists talk grandly about liberty.
Yellow fever empties Philadelphia in 1793, leaving a girl to keep herself, her family, and their coffeehouse alive.
A map, a one-legged cook, and a crew full of secrets send Jim Hawkins after Captain Flint’s buried gold.
A quiet observer in a lively country household discovers that ordinary people make excellent material for extraordinary novels.
The 1793 yellow fever epidemic shuts down the nation’s capital and turns a medical mystery into a civic emergency.
Sophie Germain studies mathematics by candlelight and submits her work under a man’s name when the schools close their doors to her.
In 1764, a proud young Nez Perce rider must earn back her family’s trust — and then find the courage to escape captivity.
A gifted Boston silversmith’s apprentice loses the use of his hand and finds a new place in a city tipping toward revolution.
Benjamin Franklin takes on Paris’s most fashionable miracle worker with blindfolds, careful tests, and a refusal to be impressed.
Nathan Hale’s doomed spy mission opens a fast, funny graphic history of the American Revolution.
A 1727 birding party is stranded on a sheer Scottish sea stac while the boat that should carry the boys home never returns.
In 1786, a girl searches for her stolen brother as a French orphan boards a slave ship hunting for a pirate’s treasure.
A 1766 shipwreck begins five generations of London theater history, told in hundreds of cinematic pencil drawings.
Illustrated biographies, true stories, and historical fiction about inventors, writers, musicians, famous experiments, and daily life in the 1700s. Ages 4–10.
A biography of George Washington's life, highlighting his love for animals and his role in the American Revolution.
A mistreated girl finds magic and a chance at love.
A daring Christmas night gamble could change the fate of a nation.
A daring woman leads a secret militia to defy British rule.
Discover how Jefferson's book obsession rebuilt the Library of Congress.
A boy's abduction into slavery tests a father's resolve and hope.
Explore the journey of a leader from Virginia youth to founding president.
Discover the journey of America's first president from soldier to leader of a new nation.
A quest for mammoth bones challenges a French insult to America's strength.
A girl defies societal norms to become a legendary novelist.
Discover how a queen's festive idea sparked a beloved holiday tradition.
In war-torn Philadelphia, a young girl becomes a spy, risking everything for freedom.
Classics, biographies, graphic history, and historical fiction set amid revolutions, epidemics, ocean voyages, workshops, farms, and cities. Ages 7–13.
A young girl must navigate a treacherous journey to deliver a secret message to a tavern owner in a small town.
A girl fights to rescue a mistreated horse.
A boy becomes a spy amidst pre-Revolutionary War tensions.
A young boy must choose between family loyalty and revolutionary ideals.
Two siblings travel back in time to the Revolutionary War to help a magical librarian save Camelot
Explore world history through captivating tales from 1600-1850.
Witness the 24 hours that ignited the American Revolution.
A boy defies his family's beliefs to pursue his passion for painting.
Time-traveling crew joins the American Revolution, facing danger and discovering heroism.
A history teacher and his talking horse travel to 1765 Boston to witness the American Revolution's beginnings.
A stolen journal leads kids on a treasure hunt, shadowed by a vengeful figure from their past.
A hidden map, a secret society, and a quest to save magic itself.
