First of all I should mention that our teens have read King Arthur and such books, for free reading not their history studies. When we study history we have made a point of looking for books that are grounded in fact as much as is possible with history. I have no problem with literature books like King Arthur and Robin Hood; I just don’t treat them as history, more as folklore. I should also say I am covering history with teenagers so the things we are reading are perhaps not suitable for younger children. I do know that there are some pretty good books covering the middle Ages from Yesterday’s Classics, I have seen them at a friend’s house and they are geared to a younger audience, so you may find some there, my friend really enjoys them with her children. She says some of these cover the more mythical and folkloric tales and have little real history in them, however as long as you are aware of this, then enjoy them if you want to read adventure stories.
I called her today to ask about the books for younger students and she came up with
Heroes of the middle Ages by Eva March Tappan ages 11 and up
When Knights were Bold by Eva March Tappan ages 11 and up
Page, Esquire and Knight by Marion Florence Lansing ages 10 and up
These come from Yesterday’s Classics, I had a look at their website and they have a lot of books for younger readers.
Also Magna Charta by James Daugherty is an excellent book
Quite a lot of British history especially in the early days is full of witchcraft, sorcery and magic, so if those things cause offense, then one has to be very discerning about the books that you choose to read. Some of them are easy to skim over, others less so.
The American website below is one my friend uses regularly to look things up; they have a lot of interesting stuff.
http://www.britannia.com/
My own personal favorite is
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/Default.aspx
This has a lot of wonderful stuff on it, including a lot or original source material which I like to use in my history teaching.
Some of the books my teens have enjoyed are:
Life in Medieval Times by Marjorie Rowling
1215 The Year of Magna Carta by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham
Warriors of God, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade
1066 The Year of Conquest by David Howarth
The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World
All of these books are adult level and secular; however as my daughters are now seniors they can discern and discuss with us the things in the books. They also enjoy all of the books by Alison Weir, she has written many historical books covering various times and they are very good, however not easy reads for teens that don’t care for history. I also use a lot of my own college notes to study the period with them, and discuss the various aspects, I make up my lessons using these and then reading and discussion.
I think you will find a lot of good information on the websites above, and good luck with the studies.