Thanks so much to all of you who sent ideas for promoting historical
fiction. As you’ll see below, I’ve got a wide variety of ideas to try now.
So, here are the suggestions:
In the past, I had a world history teacher who, with my input, assigned each
student to read a hist fic novel taking place outside of the US. I
compiled lists and did displays and book talks. They wrote a three page
report on the book, outlining the plot and characters. Then she read the
reports and highlighted three researchable items--people, places, events,
items, etc. Then the students chose one of those 3 and had to write another
paper about the
highlighted item. I worked very closely with her and it was a great lesson
about research and history and how they relate.
My current social studies teachers have the exact same mind set as yours.
It is truly difficult for them to cover everything in the state standards
which are a mile wide and inch deep. But the standards also contain a
strand about research!! They are choosing to ignore those and concentrate
on the content matter. I even spoke to the principal and our district-level
social studies consultant who almost didn't believe me--now she does.
When I work with social studies classes in our middle school, I usually put
relevant historical fiction books on display close to where they will be
sitting and provide the students with an annotated list. In addition to my
research instruction, I tell the students how helpful HF can be for getting
the flavor of an era or period. Some bite; some do not.
In addition, I always work in one or two relevant HF titles (i.e. pertaining
to a unit they have studied, or will be studying) in my booktalks to the
same students when they come with their LA classes.
I have found that in presenting booktalks I can hook kids on historical
fiction. Slip in some facts about what the book was based on and it is easy
to sell. An example would be the books about Emmett Till, Mississippi 1955
and the book Getting Away With Murder the True Story of Emmett Till. I use
the books together and after the first booktalk the books are rarely on the
shelf until the end of the year. I will get kids in who are interested in
history and will grab almost anything I can give them---fiction or
nonfiction.
I have a great deal of interaction with my history teachers surrounding
their use of historical fiction. Their students are to read one fiction per
term, relating to an event or person or even time period set in the
historical period covered in their class content. The student writes a basic
review and then includes a statement of how the book relates to what they've
learned in class. Lots of higher level thinking and open discussion occurs
as well.
I am lucky. My social studies teacher do a variety of things to promote
historical fiction reading. Some simpy require an independent reading
project. each marking period. Another one has students select a time period
for research and must read a historical fiction book about the same time
period and identify the accurate facts in the fictional story. All my
social studies teacher use picture books to introduce or clarify historical
events. My picture book collections was zero just three or four year ago.
Now it takes up nearly four shelves in my middle school library.
I dress up as Ben Franklin, or in that particular time period. Hippie-look
for Vietnam War books, It works even for the older kids.
As an historical fiction buff, I would offer it as an other genre that might
appeal to kids that are interested in history. It works especially well if
your social studies teachers make history come alive. That sparks an
interest in what life was like during the times they are studying. Find out
what era they are studying and pick books that correspond. You still need
to sell the story just as you would in a "regular" work. A lot of the time,
just knowing books are out there is enough to get a student to pick it up
and check it out.
Please use my website. I welcome any feedback. I am adding teen/young adult
titles. http://bookgirl3.tripod.com/historicalfiction.html
I'm in an elementary school, but this still may be adapted for high school.
I pulled several historical fiction books and did book talks. The Dear
America books flew off the shelves after that. Even the boys wanted to read
about Marie Antoinette after they learned that she had been beheaded for
real. I explained that the book would not have mean, gross stuff. They
wanted to read it anyway. Maybe you could give book talks about the
historical part and explain that the fiction part makes the history seem to
come alive and makes history easier to understand. I have seen on CSPAN
where people dress up as historical characters to promote historical
fiction. Benjamin Franklin is a popular historical figure that I've seen
acted out to describe a historical book -- fiction and nonfiction.
Blackbeard is another one. Now, let your mind wander and imagine the
possibilities.
Extra credit? Always works at my school.
Thanks again to all who responded!
Deb Waugh
Librarian/Instructional Technologist
The Emmett G. Shufflebarger Library
at Graham High School
Bluefield, Virginia
debwaugh.lm_net@frontiernet.net
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