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ccbc-net digest 9 Apr 2002
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From: GWoelfle at aol.com <GWoelfle>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 18:16:47 EDT
As a writer of biography, historical fiction and nonfiction, I've been glued to my screen this month reading the wonderful discussions of "creative" and
"historical" and "nonfiction." The issue of historical "truth" is one that underlies all these discussions. Writing relatively brief works for children, "telling the truth" can involve sins of commission or omission. Omission is an especially slippery slope to navigate, and we can only use our best judgment in selecting material that supports our point of view without distorting the whole picture. The shorter the book, the harder this is to pull off.
Sins of commission -- that is, reporting the facts falsely -- are a little easier for a writer to avoid. Imagine my chagrin when I read the new Abrahan Lincoln picture book biography by Amy L. Cohn and Suzy Schmidt (Scholastic 2002). It's a stunning book in terms of design and illustration and has a wonderful narrative voice. But halfway through we read "After nearly two years of war, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves free." This stopped me in my tracks. As we know the E.P. freed only the slaves in the Confederacy, not in the slave states of the Union. So practically speaking, the E.P. freed NO slaves at all. I am astonished that the authors would write and the publishers would publish such a statement. As children's writers of history and information in general, we certainly need to simplify but we cannot do this by falsifying. Some foul are hard to call, but some are easy.
Gretchen Woelfle
Received on Fri 12 Apr 2002 05:16:47 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 18:16:47 EDT
As a writer of biography, historical fiction and nonfiction, I've been glued to my screen this month reading the wonderful discussions of "creative" and
"historical" and "nonfiction." The issue of historical "truth" is one that underlies all these discussions. Writing relatively brief works for children, "telling the truth" can involve sins of commission or omission. Omission is an especially slippery slope to navigate, and we can only use our best judgment in selecting material that supports our point of view without distorting the whole picture. The shorter the book, the harder this is to pull off.
Sins of commission -- that is, reporting the facts falsely -- are a little easier for a writer to avoid. Imagine my chagrin when I read the new Abrahan Lincoln picture book biography by Amy L. Cohn and Suzy Schmidt (Scholastic 2002). It's a stunning book in terms of design and illustration and has a wonderful narrative voice. But halfway through we read "After nearly two years of war, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves free." This stopped me in my tracks. As we know the E.P. freed only the slaves in the Confederacy, not in the slave states of the Union. So practically speaking, the E.P. freed NO slaves at all. I am astonished that the authors would write and the publishers would publish such a statement. As children's writers of history and information in general, we certainly need to simplify but we cannot do this by falsifying. Some foul are hard to call, but some are easy.
Gretchen Woelfle
Received on Fri 12 Apr 2002 05:16:47 PM CDT
