LSSL 5385: Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Historical Fiction 

The definition of historical fiction lives in the eye of the beholder. For young children, history could be something that happened to them only that morning. Older students may think of historical events happening as something that took place when they were younger. Adults think of historical events as something taking place before they were born. No matter the definition, historical fiction allows readers the opportunity to discover what it may have been like to live during a different time period. 
Some criteria for historical fiction books include: 
Having a good story that blends into the history. 
Keeping facts of the time period accurate, as well as popular social and cultural trends such as clothing, slang, and the like. 
Revealing the values of the time period. 
Having a theme that is universal in nature; a theme that contemporary readers can relate to. 

Every time I read a historical fiction book that mentions an aspect of history I am unfamiliar with, I tend to look it up. For example, after I read All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg, I looked up Operation Airlift. It was something I had never heard of before! There is a plethora of historical fiction regarding World War II and the Holocaust, but not Vietnam. When I read books like this or Soldier Boy by Keely Hutton, I am interested in learning the actual history behind the book. 
It wasn’t until the children’s literature course that I realized how loose the definition of historical fiction really is. Things that are happening in my lifetime will become - and have become - considered history. Nick Lake wrote a novel describing an event after the Haitian Earthquake of 2010 titled In Darkness. The book also goes into detail about the Haitian Revolution. At the time I read the novel, not much time had passed. But now, in 2019, this book about the earthquake that rocked Haiti could indeed be considered historical fiction.