Historical Fiction or Fictionalized History?

     Reading this article enlightened me on how hard it can be for author's to write accurate historical fiction while still engaging and entertaining a reader.  I didn't realize that historical fiction is sometimes looked down upon in the fictional realm of books either. I have always enjoyed historical fiction, so I had no clue that it can be so difficult for kids to engage in and such.  I also really liked how the article talked about how historical fiction does not have to include historical figures. I think this is a really great point.  I tend to enjoy historical books that don't include prominent historical figures, but are about young, seemingly insignificant people who make a difference.  This brings me to the points in the articles about how historical fiction authors tend to write about these "real" people who become so heroic that they don't seem "real" at all anymore.  I think this is also a great point and is actually what I have experienced in a lot of my reading of historical fiction. 

     The quote above stuck out to me a lot in the article.  This really showed me the real challenges of writing good historical fiction.  I would really like to find historical fiction for my students that is a good mixture of heroic characters and historical facts.  We just read My Brother Sam is Dead for our other LLED class and actually ended up talking about the anti-war message and the time in which it was written, another point made in the article.  I thought the book portrayed a great message about the consequences of war, but when we talked about it in class, we discussed how it was written around the time of the Vietnam War.  The book received very negative criticisms in the 1970s because of its message.  I found this article very interesting, and it taught me a lot I wasn't aware of about historical fiction.

Code Name Verity

     I have a confession to make.  I am exercising my right to not finish a book.  This is a right I have used not very often in my lifetime.  I am always compelled to know how a book ends, but all the distractions from aspects I didn't care for stifled that desire in me for now.  After I was about one hundred pages in, I just couldn't do it anymore.  
     The story in this book is no doubt amazing and suspenseful.  It just wasn't for me though.  I am a little picky about an author's style when reading a book.  I just don't like the way Wein writes I think.  I also found it a little hard to follow.  I couldn't imagine being a middle school student trying to read this book. I wonder if maybe it would be better used for high school students or even adults. I was fascinated by the story, and I am going to try to finish it, maybe even next week over Spring Break.  I just felt like it wasn't something I could read over a few days or even a week. It was almost so much to take in that I felt as if I needed a fairly long period of time to read it. I also felt like I was reading it rather slowly, another reason why I couldn't imagine giving it to a middle school student.  My opinion may change after finishing the novel, but as of now, I'm not convinced that it's the most middle grades appropriate book.  I guess you could say I am choosing to take a long break from the book rather than not finishing it.  (Not finishing it is just too much for me to deal with perhaps).  Although I don't enjoy the author's style and am not sure of the appropriateness for age level, I would still offer it to my students if I found out it was readable for middle school students. I look forward to hearing what you and my classmates who read it (or tried to) have to say tomorrow.  I also look forward to trying to finish it if for nothing else than the challenge of finishing a book that presents a style that is not my favorite and a little confusing. 

American Born Chinese

I have already figured out that I don't particularly love graphic novels.  I recently read The Tempest in graphic novel form and was not a fan.  I assumed that because I didn't like The Tempest, I would not enjoy American Born Chinese also.  To my shock and surprise, American Born Chinese was a very enjoyable and enlightening read.  The book tells great stories about issues that students will face, especially in middle school.  Lots of great themes surface in the book including fitting in with peers and dealing with stereotypes in school.  This book could spark such great discussion among students about how to treat others and what's important in life.  For middle school students, it would be very beneficial as sometimes they need a little help with how to treat one another.

The illustrations go great with the story and the words were very easy to follow on the page.  It was quite a quick read which I think would hold true for middle school students as well.  I also think it would be a useful introduction to graphic novels...I consider it one for myself.  I was confused about one aspect of it.  Tze-Yo-Tzuh basically quoted Psalm 139 at one point, and some parts in particular seemed very symbolic of stories in the Bible.  I just could not ever decide though how religious of a text it really was though.  Like was the author trying to make a point with the incorporation of the Biblical references? I couldn't ever decide.  Any thoughts?
  

Biography Picture Books

Ella Fitzgerad: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

This book was really cute.  The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous and a little more abstract than normal I think.  A variety of color was used throughout the illustrations which will keep students interested throughout the book.  One of the great qualities of the book was that it was more than just a list of facts about Fitzgerald, but was most definitely a story that children could be entertained by.  The author wrote about how Fitzgerald actually failed before she became successful.  A story like this one is sure to inspire students to continue trying even when the first few times aren't successful.  The book was told through the voice of a Scat Cat who also appears on every page.  There are also little "chapters" of the book referred to as tracks like on a record.  I thought these aspects might have had a little too much going on for the story in some regards.  With so much going on in the story, I think younger students may find it a little hard to follow.  Overall though, it's an entertaining, colorful book that tells a great story about an African-American female who overcame adversity to be very successful!

Abraham Lincoln, by Amy L. Cohn and Suzy Schmidt, pictures by David A. Johnson

While giving the facts, this book is also written to tell a story about the life of Abraham Lincoln.  The illustrations are nice, not too bright, but are great for the story.  Most of the facts in the book, I had heard before about Lincoln. One thing I did really love about the book was that it had direct quotes from Lincoln.  Almost every page contained one.  At first, I thought it was strange how much the author focused on Lincoln's tall stature, but on the last page, a picture of the Lincoln Memorial accompanies the words, "He looks like a giant, doesn't he? He was."  These few words say a lot about Lincoln's life and how he poured himself into efforts like uniting the country during the Civil War and fighting for the freedom of slaves.  This would be a great book to use for teaching Lincoln, presidents, or the Civil War! 

Choosing Not to Read

This article was very insightful.  Being a person who loves to read and who always has, it is sometimes hard for me to understand why someone wouldn't like to read.  I have often thought about how I would deal with students who didn't like to read as I would have to be the person who made them read and want to be the person who inspired a love of reading in them.  I know that a lot of middle school students are not fond of reading, but I think the article helped me realize it may be more than I originally thought.  It really inspired me to want to cultivate a love of reading in my students, but more than that, to advocate how important of a role parents play in students ability and love for reading.

I grew up with a grandmother, mother, and aunt who constantly read to me, bought books for me, took me to the library, and would spend any amount of time or money on my love of reading and books.  I knew that these were the reasons I loved it so much, but I never thought about if my situation had been the opposite.  If I had not had one member of my family who took an interest in introducing me to and keeping a passion for books and reading, would I have loved it? After reading this article, I'm not sure I would.  My heart breaks to know that students possibly hate to read because a parent or family member did not nurture that so important need in a child's life.  

Another realization that made me sad was to realize that students hate reading because of what we, teachers and educators, have turned it into.  I think the interview with Katy, which is repeated twice in the article, puts it the best:

“So, Katy, what should I tell teachers to do so that they can help students like to read?”

“Tell them to ask the students what they thought. No teacher ever asked me what I thought. And when I start to tell them what I thought, they say, ‘We all have our opinions, but what does the story tell us?’ and you know what that really means? That really means what I think isn’t important. But maybe it is; maybe it was important to me.”

Katy's thoughts simply prove how important it is to recognize children's thoughts, not just about literature, but about everything.  Children need to know their thoughts are important and valued.  Honestly, if I was told that my thoughts didn't matter, I wouldn't like the subject it pertained to either.  Teachers must keep in mind that they do have control over how much a student can grow to love reading in their classroom. Teachers have to create a classroom environment which allows readers to grow in their passion and love for reading. 

On a final note, society as a whole has to put an emphasis back on reading.  Students interviewed in the article cited things like TV, Internet, and video games time and time again as past times that were more entertaining and exciting than reading a book.  We, as a world, as educators, as parents, have a duty to show children the magic, adventure, emotion, and love that can be found between the cover of a book.

The link to the article is below.  It is well worth the thirty or so minutes it might take you to read it:

http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Reading/Useful%20Articles/Beers-Choosing%20not%20to%20Read.pdf

The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum

I picked this book out in the library because I wanted a biography about someone different, someone whom I didn't really know anything about.  Before reading this, the only thing I knew about Barnum was in reference to Barnum and Bailey's Circus.  I have come to find out there was quite a lot I didn't know! Fleming does a fabulous job of telling the story of Barnum's entire life from childhood all the way to death and everything in between.  She covers his years of owning museums in New York as well as his many personal and financial struggles.  I thoroughly enjoyed learning just how much of a prankster Barnum was and how he shaped American history.  

The book is a little lengthy, but I think it's completely worth the read.  It includes all black and white pictures and photos from Barnum's life, but they are all very interesting and worth looking at.  There are also black inserts on a lot of pages offering extra information like information about Barnum's hometown and circus talk.  I think the book could most definitely be used for middle schoolers.  If I was doing a unit on biographies and requiring students to read a biography, I would most definitely recommend this one. It is around 130 pages, but a student could probably read it in a week's time at most.  The author keeps the reader invested wanting to find out what happens next in Barnum's roller coaster of a life.  Great for middle school students or adults! Fascinating story about an extremely interesting man!

Informational Text Picture Books

Georgia: Past and Present, by Stephanie Watson

This book offered a lot of interesting information about Georgia.  The information wasn't an overwhelming amount and covered a variety of facts about Georgia.  The charts, maps, and photos were also very helpful and showed important facts about the state.  This book wasn't necessarily anything special, but it did give valuable information about Georgia and could be used in a Georgia studies class or as a source to gather information about Georgia.  The glossary and lists of important facts and events in the back of the book are also useful.

The Battle of Bull Run: Confederate Forces Overwhelm Union Troops, by Wendy Vierow

  













This book was interesting.  It was a little lower reading level than I initially thought it would be, but it would be great for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.  I really liked that it was set up like newspaper headlines and articles.  Each page/section also had an illustration or picture that went along with it which was nice.  The book covered a bit more than just the Battle of Bull Run which I was a little disappointed in because I thought it would just that battle.  It seemed to be slightly scattered because it started by talking about Bull Run, then the beginning of the Civil War, then Bull Run again, and then after Bull Run.  Overall though, it was a good informational text and would be great for younger middle grades students.