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historical fiction -- what kids bring to a book
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From: Barbara Kerley <Barbara>
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 09:33:35 -0700
I really appreciated Monica's post on what prior knowledge kids bring to a book when they first open the pages.
"The learning specialist who works in my classroom is always horrified when my students look at us blankly when we ask them about some sort of basic American history question, say what the 4th of July signifies. I reminder her that even if they were told what it meant more than once in the past, they had no reason to remember it. But I do think that book creators sometimes make similar assumptions about what child readers bring to their reading of a particular book."
I approach this issue from the other side (as a writer of nonfiction), but I hope you'll bare with me as I share a relevant anecdote.
I've just finished up a nonfiction book about the poet Walt Whitman and his years of volunteer service in the Civil War hospitals of Washington D.C. During the writing of this book, my editor Tracy Mack and I had many long discussions about how much background information would be needed for young readers to understand the story.
Tracy reminded me, for example, that I needed to say "President" Abraham Lincoln -- that I couldn't assume that kids coming to the story would know Lincoln had been president. Similarly, I vividly remember back to my own school days studying the Civil War and how I used to mix up which side was the Blue and which, the Gray. I'm positive this information was presented more than once in class, but still -- I remember getting the colors mixed up. In my Walt Whitman book, when I wrote that Walt "proudly watched as his brother George, in his blue Union jacket, marched off to war," I was actually thinking back to my kid-self, who needed a reminder...
Other thoughts on this issue??
Barb Kerley
Received on Mon 10 May 2004 11:33:35 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 09:33:35 -0700
I really appreciated Monica's post on what prior knowledge kids bring to a book when they first open the pages.
"The learning specialist who works in my classroom is always horrified when my students look at us blankly when we ask them about some sort of basic American history question, say what the 4th of July signifies. I reminder her that even if they were told what it meant more than once in the past, they had no reason to remember it. But I do think that book creators sometimes make similar assumptions about what child readers bring to their reading of a particular book."
I approach this issue from the other side (as a writer of nonfiction), but I hope you'll bare with me as I share a relevant anecdote.
I've just finished up a nonfiction book about the poet Walt Whitman and his years of volunteer service in the Civil War hospitals of Washington D.C. During the writing of this book, my editor Tracy Mack and I had many long discussions about how much background information would be needed for young readers to understand the story.
Tracy reminded me, for example, that I needed to say "President" Abraham Lincoln -- that I couldn't assume that kids coming to the story would know Lincoln had been president. Similarly, I vividly remember back to my own school days studying the Civil War and how I used to mix up which side was the Blue and which, the Gray. I'm positive this information was presented more than once in class, but still -- I remember getting the colors mixed up. In my Walt Whitman book, when I wrote that Walt "proudly watched as his brother George, in his blue Union jacket, marched off to war," I was actually thinking back to my kid-self, who needed a reminder...
Other thoughts on this issue??
Barb Kerley
Received on Mon 10 May 2004 11:33:35 AM CDT
