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Read the first chapter out loud, without announcing the book as “historical fiction.”A story that reaches out and grabs you becomes a book you can’t put down. As a fifth grader, I counted many historical fiction novels among my all-time favorite books, but it never occurred to me they were historical fiction. The books I loved were compelling stories about characters I adored. |
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Tell “kid-friendly” stories about the history behind the books. If you are introducing kids to the Tales from Alcatraz series beginning with Al Capone Does My Shirts and you begin by telling true stories of the escape attempts on Alcatraz, kids will become interested. I guarantee it. |
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Act and reenact. Not all kids are hams, but a surprising number of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders want to act out a skit, read a scene, participate in a book-related improvisation like the improvisation for Chasing Secrets. |
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Find books that are a mix of contemporary and historical fiction. For example: The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson, The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. |
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Book talk by interest not by historical timeframe.War stories, love stories, elephant stories, dog stories, baseball stories. Strong historical fiction is not “about” history. History is simply the setting for the story. Hand The Hero Two Doors Down by Sharon Robinson to a kid who is interested in baseball, for example. |
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Consider some of our most beloved novels. They weren’t historical fiction when they were written but they are historical fiction now. A Little Princess and A Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett |
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Think in kid time. The 1990’s is ancient history to kids born in 2008, which means that a book like The Front Desk is historic fiction. |
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Think fantasy. Take advantage of the natural kinship between historical fiction and fantasy. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman is pure historical fiction but it feels almost like fantasy. Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan is a mix of historic fiction and fantasy as is The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz, The Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne. |
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Check out graphic novels. Mira’s Diary Series by Marissa Moss. The Odyssey and The Illiad adapted by Gareth Hinds, Maus by Art Spiegelman. |
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