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Illuminating Effects of Historical Fiction
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From: BudNotBuddy at aol.com <BudNotBuddy>
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 10:25:59 EDT
So far this year I have found two pieces of YA historic fiction that do an excellent job of illuminating history and enticing readers to consider further study:
"Two soldiers tell Buck and me to step aside while they haul a man up front and lay him across a table that was meant to be a teacher's desk. A doctor with a bloody butcher's apron looks at the man's arm, which is split open down the side, and the blood drains into the pool under the table. Just behind the table is a pile of arms and legs, legs that still have on socks and shoes like they are fixing to walk on out of there by themselves. The doctor picks up a saw."
HOW I FOUND THE STRONG: A CIVIL WAR STORY by Margaret McMullan, Houghton Mifflin, April 2004, ISBN: 0a85008-X, not only provides readers with a graphic depiction of what war is really all about, but it hopefully leaves them thinking about the costs of the Civil War to the family of the book's eleven-year-old main character, Frank "Shanks" Russell. On a practical level, that family's potential gain from a successful war was the continued ownership of their one slave. But they have everything to lose from it. Astute readers will get the message that Frank is subtly provided by a guy in the makeshift hospital, that this (like many wars) is a rich man's war.
" 'Would you look at that monkey go? Look at her go. She climbing down or falling?' Deacon Hurd watched the last leap to the ground. 'Sheriff Elwell, I believe she thought you might shoot her.'
" 'Wouldn't have been any trouble, Mr. Hurd. One less colored in the world.'
"
LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY by Gary D. Schmidt, Clarion Books, May 2004, ISBN 0a8C929-3, based upon a true situation in early 1900s Maine, reveals that widespread racism was not confined to the South. Like Karen Hesse's WITNESS, which would make a great companion read to this one, we see a variety of sentiments within the community. Those two wonderful adolescent characters in the midst of the insanity will attract the affinity of teen readers. The story's Darwin angle could similarly lead readers in that direction for further study--everything from the Scopes trial to the illustrated Sis book from last year.
Richie Partington http://richiespicks.com BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Wed 19 May 2004 09:25:59 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 19 May 2004 10:25:59 EDT
So far this year I have found two pieces of YA historic fiction that do an excellent job of illuminating history and enticing readers to consider further study:
"Two soldiers tell Buck and me to step aside while they haul a man up front and lay him across a table that was meant to be a teacher's desk. A doctor with a bloody butcher's apron looks at the man's arm, which is split open down the side, and the blood drains into the pool under the table. Just behind the table is a pile of arms and legs, legs that still have on socks and shoes like they are fixing to walk on out of there by themselves. The doctor picks up a saw."
HOW I FOUND THE STRONG: A CIVIL WAR STORY by Margaret McMullan, Houghton Mifflin, April 2004, ISBN: 0a85008-X, not only provides readers with a graphic depiction of what war is really all about, but it hopefully leaves them thinking about the costs of the Civil War to the family of the book's eleven-year-old main character, Frank "Shanks" Russell. On a practical level, that family's potential gain from a successful war was the continued ownership of their one slave. But they have everything to lose from it. Astute readers will get the message that Frank is subtly provided by a guy in the makeshift hospital, that this (like many wars) is a rich man's war.
" 'Would you look at that monkey go? Look at her go. She climbing down or falling?' Deacon Hurd watched the last leap to the ground. 'Sheriff Elwell, I believe she thought you might shoot her.'
" 'Wouldn't have been any trouble, Mr. Hurd. One less colored in the world.'
"
LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY by Gary D. Schmidt, Clarion Books, May 2004, ISBN 0a8C929-3, based upon a true situation in early 1900s Maine, reveals that widespread racism was not confined to the South. Like Karen Hesse's WITNESS, which would make a great companion read to this one, we see a variety of sentiments within the community. Those two wonderful adolescent characters in the midst of the insanity will attract the affinity of teen readers. The story's Darwin angle could similarly lead readers in that direction for further study--everything from the Scopes trial to the illustrated Sis book from last year.
Richie Partington http://richiespicks.com BudNotBuddy at aol.com
Received on Wed 19 May 2004 09:25:59 AM CDT
