The+Value+of+Historical+Fiction

What is the value of historical fiction?
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Posted by Mary McGuinness

The value of historical fiction is that it allows access to history and historical facts in an interesting and engaging manner as opposed to the boredom of textbooks. Historical fiction encourages children to think as well as to feel. Every book set in the past invites a comparison with the present. In addition, opportunities for critical thinking and judgment are built into the many novels that provide conflicting views on an issue and force characters to make hard choices (HH&H 601). Any issues we are dealing with today such as going through tough economic times are issues that we have dealt with in the past. Stories such as //Children of the Great Depression// written by Russell Freedman or //Kids During the Great Depression// by Lisa A. Wroble share with children the causes of the Great Depression and how it affected schooling, work life, and the lives of families. Children who are affected by today’s economic strains may find some similarities in these stories. Many have moved in with extended family, one or both parents may be out of a job, and such necessities as food and clothing are hard to come by. But what is valuable about historical fiction is that it can also open up someone’s eyes, those who may not be poor, or Asian, or African American and engage them in the journey.

Children’s Literature in the elementary school by Charlotte S. Huck, Susan Hepler, Janet Hickman, 5th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993.

Posted by Audrey Alenson

Textbooks and informational books are important tools for the study of history, but they don’t engage readers emotionally, the way works of fiction do. A well-told historical fiction story provides a personal perspective on historic events or times, and it will convey a depth of experience to the reader that’s not found in textbooks. Readers of historical fiction are able to encounter the drama of the times and experience the complexity of controversies as they unfold. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever, some characters quickly admit that there is an epidemic occurring in Philadelphia, but there are others who are invested, for various reasons, in maintaining the peace, and they turn a blind eye to some alarming evidence in order to affirm the contrary. Readers are able to understand how each of these opposing views is possible. They are also given the opportunity to better understand their own experience and milieu by having the chance to compare and relate to earlier times, times which had some impact on the present.

Morgan, Mia. “Historical Fiction and Biography: Lessons Learned from Actual People and Historic Events.” LBS 803, Fall 2009.