What is Historical Fiction?
Historical fiction requires authenticity and that includes stories about the real problems people have faced throughout the history.
It is frequently organized around historical eras or important events from history.
Historical fiction stories are set in the past with the details pertaining to that time.
Title:
The Book Theif
Author:
Markus Zusak
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
It is 1939, Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- When Death tells a story, you pay attention. Liesel Meminger is a young girl growing up outside of Munich in Nazi Germany, and Death tells her story as “an attempt—a flying jump of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it.” When her foster father helps her learn to read and she discovers the power of words, Liesel begins stealing books from Nazi book burnings and the mayor’s wife’s library. As she becomes a better reader, she becomes a writer, writing a book about her life in such a miserable time. Liesel’s experiences move Death to say, “I am haunted by humans.” How could the human race be “so ugly and so glorious” at the same time? This big, expansive novel is a leisurely working out of fate, of seemingly chance encounters and events that ultimately touch, like dominoes as they collide. The writing is elegant, philosophical and moving. Even at its length, it’s a work to read slowly and savor. Beautiful and important. (May 20, 2010)
Activities For Teachers:
Color and Poetry- In the novel The Book Thief the narrator, Death, sees the world, people and events in colours. Have students choose a significant or memorable day from their life and create a collage which focuses on colours to reflect the events, their feelings and emotions. Then have them write a free verse poem which explains and describes their collage. See here for details...
The Book Thief Movie Trailer
The Book Thief Book Trailer
Activities For Teachers:
Write a poem- In the " Boy in the Striped Pajamas", two boys become friends but in an unlikely situation. Write a short story or a poem about an unlikely friendship. See here for more...
Title:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Author:
John Boyne
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
Germany 1942: Bruno's family moves to a new house, where he he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own. Their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin. The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyle’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice. Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (May 20, 2010)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Book and Movie Trailer
Activities For Teachers:
Create a collage- Sini and Annie regard the calendar as one of their essential possessions, and they mark off the days as they pass by. Time passage is a burdensome task for Annie and Sini because they must live in hiding until the war is over. Ask students to create a collage that expresses a feeling about the passage of time, such as the notion of time passing quickly, or dragging on, or standing still. Use pieces of an old calendar, magazine pictures, newspapers, bits of torn paper, photographs, etc. see here for more...
Title:
The Upstairs Room
Author:
Johanna Reiss
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
When the German army occupied Holland, Annie de Leeuw was eight years old. Because she was Jewish, the occupation put her in grave danger-she knew that to stay alive she would have to hide. Fortunately, a Gentile family, the Oostervelds, offered to help. For two years they hid Annie and her sister, Sini, in the cramped upstairs room of their farmhouse.Most people thought the war wouldn't last long. But for Annie and Sini -- separated from their family and confined to one tiny room -- the war seemed to go on forever. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- As Jewish girls in Holland Mrs. Reiss and her older sister Sini spent more than two years during the German occupation in the upstairs room of a Dutch farmhouse. From the first meeting the girls liked Johan (who used ""damn"" twice in one sentence), his wife Dientje who had Sini sleep on a mattress on the floor and took Annie into bed with herself and Johan (""I told you we're not fancy people""), and his toothless mother Opoe (who refuses to buy new teeth for the little time she has left) with her repeated ""God-o-god-o-god, what a human being doesn't have to go through."" Then come the agonies and uncertainties of confinement (Sini desperate without boys or the chance of a suntan, Annie remembering that there was once a war that lasted for 80 years), the adjustments to a home where the only meat is pork and the only book War and Peace (Dientje having borrowed her minister's fattest volume when the girls asked for something to read), the moments of terror when soldiers search the house and the months of special caution when a group of officers operates from headquarters in three downstairs rooms. Then everyone is watching the Canadians enter the town: Opoe out for the first time in 22 years, Sini climbing on the tanks to kiss soldiers, Johan behind her asking ""have you cigarets me"" -- and Annie? ""To tell you the truth I don't feel a thing. My hands move up and down."" Mrs. Reiss, now an American, recalls it all with pain and humor and evident love for the Oostervelds, whom she and her daughters visited recently (finding Opoe still toothless at 92), and tells it with affecting precision and control.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/johanna-reiss-2/the-upstairs-room-2/
The Upstairs Room Book Trailer
Activities For Teachers:
The “Rules” of English Grammar- Learning the rules of English language is one of the challenges Hà faces while attending school in Alabama. But how solid are these so-called “rules”? Hà points out the many inconsistencies and contradictions in the English language that make it difficult to learn as a nonnative language. Divide the class into small groups, and have them divide a page into three columns. Have them list all the English grammar rules they know in the first column, any exceptions to those rules in the second column, and any examples of each in the third column. After studying the sheet and discussing the complexities of the language, encourage them to come up with creative, effective ways of learning all of these confusing rules and exceptions. Read more...
Inside Out & Back Again Book Trailer
Title:
Inside Out & Back Again
Author:
Thanhha Lai
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
Based on the author's own childhood and written in free-verse poems, this unforgettable story captures a fierce girl's struggles to find her place in her family, in her new home, and in the world. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- An enlightening, poignant and unexpectedly funny novel in verse is rooted in the author's childhood experiences. In Saigon in 1975, 10-year-old Kim Hà celebrates Tet (New Year) with her mother and three older brothers; none of them guesses at the changes the Year of the Cat will bring. (Hà’s father’s been MIA from the South Vietnamese Navy for nine years.) On the eve of the fall of Saigon, they finally decide they must escape. Free verse poems of, usually, just two to three pages tell the story. With the help of a friend, the family leaves, and they find themselves trapped at sea awaiting rescue. Only one of her brothers speaks English, but they pick America as their destination and eventually find a sponsor in Alabama. Even amid the heartbreak, the narrative is shot through with humor. Hà misunderstands much about her new home: Surely their sponsor, who always wears his cowboy hat, must have a horse somewhere. In a school full of strangers and bullies, she struggles to learn a language full of snake’s hissing and must accept that she can no longer be at the head of her class…for now. In her not-to-be-missed debut, Lai evokes a distinct time and place and presents a complex, realistic heroine whom readers will recognize, even if they haven’t found themselves in a strange new country. (Jan. 8th, 2011)
Activities For Teachers:
A Parallel Timeline- Have students identify the main historical events against which the action of the book takes place and arrange them on a timeline. They should then identify key story events and arrange these events on the opposite side of the timeline. You may want to have students construct this parallel timeline on a roll of mural paper. Use the finished timeline to review what was happening in American history and what was happening to Johnny Tremain. See here...
The Sons of Liberty scene from Disney's Johnny Tremain (1957)
Title:
Johnny Tremain
Author:
Esther Forbes
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
Johnny Tremain tells of the times in Boston just before the American Revolution through the eyes of Johnny Tremain, a young silversmith who is drawn into the war after meeting Rab, a daring young member of the Sons of Liberty. Working closely with Paul Revere and the revolutionists, Johnny must learn to overcome the obstacles in his path through his courage and determination and help prepare Boston for the battle ahead. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- This is delightful reading, but at the close it seems to leave less sense of substance and permanence than her best work (Paradise and Paul Revere), but to me it was more satisfying than The General's Lady or Mirror for Witches. Once again she has tapped the rich vein of Boston of the verge of Revolution, the Boston of Paul Revere's time. Once again she has made the drama of that period come alive, this time through the story of Johnny Tremain, youthful and cocky apprentice to a silversmith, who loses the use of his right hand in an accident -- and has to be virtually reborn. In this process, his friendship with a printer's lad, his work connected with the first formting of the pattern of revolution, his contacts with the great men of Boston of those troubled days -- all play a part. The story is slight -- the romance slighter -- but there is ample incident to carry one along. Plus sale for young people.....She can write, this Esther Forbes.
Johnny Tremain Book Trailer
Preview of Johnny Tremain Disney (1957)
Activities For Teachers:
Writing Song Lyrics- Write a song that you think might appeal to soldiers camped at the battlefront. Your song should have at least two verses and one chorus. You may wish to set your lyrics to music and perform your song for the class. See more...
Title:
Across Five Aprils
Author:
Irene Hunt
Sub-Genre:
Historical Fiction
A little bit about the book:
Across Five Aprils is a historical novel about a boy who grows up during the Civil War. Jethro's family farms in Southern Illinois and is divided about which side of the war to support. Two of his brothers fight for the North and one fights for the South. The remaining family members face trouble from the community because of the brother who went South. When Jethro's father has a heart attack, Jethro has to become the man of the family and the main farmer. He is a sensitive boy and hears of the war through letters, finding out that it is not a pleasant experience. By writing a letter to Abraham Lincoln, his hero, Jethro helps his cousin who deserted the Northern army. By the end of the novel, an enlightened Jethro comes to the realization of the horrors of war. Read more...
Reviews:
A Kirkus Review- This is the Follett Prize book. It is, as the publisher claims, a book for all age levels, although older readers will be better able to appreciate its many nuances. It begins in April, 1861 on the Creighton farm in southern Illinois; it ends on the same farm in April, 1865, thus the title. April is the month of beginnings and endings, when the cold winds reluctantly give way to the soft breezes that signal rebirth. In 1861, young Jethro Creighton is warmed by the romantic idea of war; of banners flying, bands playing, men marching. By April 1865, he has lost his brother Tom, witnessed the burning of his father's barn because his brother Bill joined the Confederates and seen his father become an old man. He has himself gone from boyhood to manhood in these pages. The joy of peace is lost in the tragedy of Lincoln's assassination, yet life must go on, and Jethro faces his life with the maturity of one who has been tested. A beautifully written, spare prose makes all this come vividly, sometimes painfully, alive. Despite the large number of Civil War books, there is always room left for one like this.
Across Five Aprils Book Trailer