Topic: Historical Fiction (1)

10-second review: Brief reviews of recent historical fiction in children’s literature paired with nonfiction texts.

Title: “The Return of Historical Fiction.” MT Rycik and B Rosler. Reading Teacher (October 2009), 163-166. Topics include the values of using historical fiction. Responding to historical fiction with modern technology. The importance of historical fiction.

List of Recent Historical Fiction in Children’s Literature.

Pilgrim Cat. Peacock, 2004. Colonial America. Cat and a young Pilgrim girl on the Mayflower. Both begin their lives in the :Plymouth settlement. Nonfiction: Life in Colonial America. Copeland, 2002.

The Blue and the Gray. Bunting, 1996. Flashback to the U.S. Civil War. Nonfiction: For Home and Country: A Civil War Scrapbook. Bolotin and Herb, 1995.

Grandfather’s Journey. Say, 1993. Emigration from Japan to America. Nonfiction: Ellis Island. Lauday, 2008).

Across the Blue Pacific. Borden, 2006. Flashback to World War II. Nonfiction: World war II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities. Panchyk, 2002.

The Cats n Krasinski Square. Hesse, 2004. Warsaw, Poland, 1942. A young girl and her friends devise an ingenious plan to smuggle food into a Jewish ghetto. Nonfiction: Ten thousand Children. Fox and Abraham-Podietz, 1999,

Players in Pigtails. Corey, 2003. 1940’s America. A girl tries out for a female professional baseball team.  Nonfiction: A Whole New Ball Game: The Story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League,  Macy, 1995.

Brothers in Hope: The “Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Williams, 2005. 1980s Sudan. During the Sudanese Civil War, refugees are forced to walk more than 1,000 miles to safety. Nonfiction: Sudan in Pictures. DePiazza, 2006.

Comment: One of the values of reading professional journals consists in keeping up to date with children’s books that might be of interest. RayS.