Fictional Texts in the Classroom: Historical Fiction

About the Genre

A story written to portray a time period or convey information about a specific time period or a historical event
The event is usually 30 years in the past
In this genre, setting is the most important element of the story
Because the author is writing about a specific time period, the information about that time in history must be authentic and accurate
In order to do this, the author must do research prior to writing
The characters can either be imaginary or real people that lived
The plot events can also be real or made up
Any fictional aspects of the story have to be presented authentically so that it is perceived that they could actually happen
Information gathered from: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson404/HistoricalFictionDefn.pdf

Use in the Classroom

Historical fiction enhances the social studies curriculum
It catches students' curiosity
Reading historical fiction as a class evens the playing ground. This means that some students come into the discussion knowing a lot about the topic and others come in with very little background knowledge about the topic. Reading historical fiction provides academic equity because it can be compared to other historical fiction texts that everyone has read. This gives everyone an equal opportunity to participate in the conversation.
Reading historical fiction promotes multiple perspectives. It is important for students to gain perspectives from a variety of people when discussing a certain event in history.
It helps teachers to integrate social studies across the curriculum
Information gathered from: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/why-how-i-teach-historical-fiction

Reference Information:

Grade Level

Themes

Qualities of Writing

The poetic form of the book is very well written
Because of the few words, the illustrations play a large role in the comprehension of the book
It is a very inspirational book that explains the promise of equality
Coretta Scott King illustrator award winner in 2013

Difficult Components of the Book

Like I said, there are few words so the students have to infer what the author means most of the time
Because of the poetic form, there is a lot of room for opinion about what the author means
The students would have to have some background knowledge of slavery/civil rights in order for them to fully understand the text

Grade Level

Themes

Qualities of Writing

Gantos does a really good job a implementing historical pieces into the story through newspaper articles and through casual conversation between the characters
There is a good mix between comedy and mystery
The writing helps the reader have a good view about history because of the values that Miss Volker and Jack had in the story

Difficult Components of the Book

The students may have troubles picking up on the fictional historical pieces of the text
The book has a very slow start, so readers who are easily disengaged in a text may struggle pushing through
This historical fiction book is not about one particular time in history, but rather it touches on many events without ever going in depth with any. Therefore, students who don't really love history are not going to remember these historical facts. It is fun to read one and realize that you have heard about it and know more than what is said in the text, but as far as new information, it probably won't be remembered just from reading this book.