Reading Historical Fiction
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| Seventh grade students read historical fiction books set before, during, and after World War II. |
At the beginning of this unit, my students and I always take a moment to consider why historical fiction can be a difficult genre of literature. One of the challenges of reading historical fiction is its unfamiliarity. We cannot simply pick up a book about World War I and understand it or appreciate it without first building our background knowledge of its historical context.
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| Students noticed how authors write about conflict. Some conflicts arise from the historical setting and some conflicts arise between characters. |
In February, to prepare ourselves for this unit, seventh grade students and I read nonfiction texts related to World War II. We studied World War I and shared our learning with each other by creating information stations in the classroom. While they were reading nonfiction and researching World War I, seventh graders were also completing their History Exhibitions, which related to what we were studying in reading.
Now, as we enter the final days of our historical fiction unit, seventh grade students have read at least four historical fiction books, they have shared their reading in groups, and they have written about their reading. Our discussions and writing were shaped by our thinking about topics including: the physical and emotional settings of the stories, the historical and fictional conflicts in the stories, the impact of minor characters, and how the stories developed over time.
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| This week, seventh grade students thought about how minor characters impact the protagonist(s) and the story. |
But we are not finished yet. There is more to think about and many more books to read before the year is over!
After all, we are not simply reading because we enjoy stories or we want to know more about a historical period.
We are reading to understand the world we live in today.
We are reading to understand how our choices and our actions make an impact on the world.
Yesterday, I asked the seventh grade class to write in response to this question:
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| Students wrote about their reading in class during the week. |
Here are just a few examples of what the seventh graders wrote:
“We can learn about what it was like to live in that certain time period and how life worked. We also get to see different points of view."
“I think we learn about historical fiction because we should know about what happened in the past. I also think we should know it so we understand how much freedom and rights we have now. We should also remember those who stood up and sacrificed themselves for people. By learning this, we could be leaders and stick up for what is right.”
“Historical fiction can help us understand more about why our world is what it is today. It teaches us why certain things are what they are.”
“You can see different perspectives. You can see how people felt when it was happening to them in the moment.”
“We can learn about patterns in history by noticing patterns in historical fiction books. We can also learn about events in history that led up to things that are happening now.”
“We can learn about how the world got to where it is now… Even if it is historical fiction, it is based on facts.”
“We can learn more about history by experiencing it from the perspective of a person who was there rather than the perspective of a historian."
“We can learn how much people sacrificed for our world to be like it is.”
“When reading historical fiction, you not only learn about the history but also the many different cultures of the world. You really get to zoom in on the possibility of a boy at war or girl in a concentration camp. You learn…about the people.”
As the seventh graders prepare for their next reading unit, we will be returning to this question and others like it in order to reflect again about how our choices and our actions make an impact on our world.