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Re: Historical Children's Books versus Historical Fiction/Nonfiction
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From: Monica Edinger <monicaedinger_at_gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:53:29 -0500
I really appreciated Maryann's explication of the way she defined historical fiction for her dissertation. Just a few weeks ago we got into an interesting discussion on child_lit when a subscriber described Eliot Schrefer's *Endangered* as historical fiction. I questioned this as the book, with cell phones and internet, appears contemporary to me, and the resultant discussion moved into some fascinating directions in terms of how subscribers viewed historical fiction.
What I came away with from that discussion is that we have to be very careful about recognizing the difference in how we adults view a recent event like 9/11 or Katrina and how children view it. That is, while my 9 year old NYC students definitely see 9/11 as history (as was especially clear to me this past anniversary when we discussed it in class) it is not yet history to me. And I feel that we simply haven't had enough time pass for it to be considered artistically as history by those who were old enough to experience it. Eventually, perhaps by some of my 9 year old students when they grow up, there will be sufficient distance for some to write powerful historical fiction about it.
I think of works about the Holocaust. Judith Kerr's semi-autobiographical story, *When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit*, was published in 1971, meaning she'd had decades of distance from the events that inspired her story. I suspect that distance has to happen for us to be able to reflect and create about the past and this is different from thinking about how young readers respond to it.
Monica
Monica Edinger 600 West 111th Street Apt 2A New York NY 10025 educating alice _at_medinger on twitter My Huffington Post Blog
Received on Tue 06 Nov 2012 05:53:29 AM CST
Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2012 05:53:29 -0500
I really appreciated Maryann's explication of the way she defined historical fiction for her dissertation. Just a few weeks ago we got into an interesting discussion on child_lit when a subscriber described Eliot Schrefer's *Endangered* as historical fiction. I questioned this as the book, with cell phones and internet, appears contemporary to me, and the resultant discussion moved into some fascinating directions in terms of how subscribers viewed historical fiction.
What I came away with from that discussion is that we have to be very careful about recognizing the difference in how we adults view a recent event like 9/11 or Katrina and how children view it. That is, while my 9 year old NYC students definitely see 9/11 as history (as was especially clear to me this past anniversary when we discussed it in class) it is not yet history to me. And I feel that we simply haven't had enough time pass for it to be considered artistically as history by those who were old enough to experience it. Eventually, perhaps by some of my 9 year old students when they grow up, there will be sufficient distance for some to write powerful historical fiction about it.
I think of works about the Holocaust. Judith Kerr's semi-autobiographical story, *When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit*, was published in 1971, meaning she'd had decades of distance from the events that inspired her story. I suspect that distance has to happen for us to be able to reflect and create about the past and this is different from thinking about how young readers respond to it.
Monica
Monica Edinger 600 West 111th Street Apt 2A New York NY 10025 educating alice _at_medinger on twitter My Huffington Post Blog
Received on Tue 06 Nov 2012 05:53:29 AM CST
