Historical fiction can be used to teach history much more effectively than many textbooks. History is a study to be enjoyed. It provides us with windows into times and places we couldn't visit ourselves. History connects us to our past and gives us a sense of our own place in time. Hopefully, knowing history keeps us from making some of the same mistakes over again.
I have no great love for history texts. For a class I took several years ago, I did an analysis of the elementary history textbook we were then using in our high school special needs classes. The text was written at a 1-2 grade level, and the book was selected because it was the only low-level history text we could find that didn't look too juvenile for high school students. It covered American History from the Native Americans and explorers through the early 1990s, included lots of pictures, and did it all in less than 200 pages. Information was sketchy at best, women and minorities had been added in an attempt to multiculturalize the book. For instance, after several paragraphs telling about Roger Williams starting a new colony, a sentence had been tacked on that Anne Hutchinson had also founded a colony. The picture of her that accompanied the text showed her on trial with men brow-beating her.
There didn't seem to be much logic behind what subjects were included and what wasn't. The wars, including the Spanish American War, were given the most space. There were whole chapters devoted to Mary Lyon and Cesar Chavez, but many more prominent historical figures were ignored completely. Pictures throughout the book depicted mostly men; when women were included, they were portrayed as subordinate and weak. When I “tore it apart” and analyzed it, I was appalled to discover how poorly it was written as well as what a distorted picture it gave of American History. I had no choice but to continue to use it as a textbook, but I made sure that I brought in additional materials and activities to add interest and depth to the lessons. It's hard to believe that a reputable textbook company had actually published a book that was that poorly done and charged $25.00 each for them. How can children learn if this is the kind of material that is presented to them?
There was a lot more, but I'm sure you're getting the idea. I chose not to use the text as our main source of information.
Now that I'm teaching 1st grade, I have gathered a varied lot of materials I'm using to teach Core Knowledge. I have included many historical fiction picture books in my materials. I can remember as a child that the main biographies available to me to read were those old orange childhoods of famous people ones. Reflecting back, I don't think they were very accurate. The stories had far too much dialog in them (which there's no way a biographer could have known), and as I remember them, they included childhood friends and anecdotes. Since that time I've learned that very little is even known about the childhoods of many of these people. Back then, though, I was fascinated. Reading these little books, however poorly written and however fictional, opened a whole new world of history to me, and I've been hooked for life.
Fortunately we have much more accurately-researched children's books today. Good historical fiction includes authentic characters, settings, and themes. I don't advocate using ONLY fiction in teaching history, but I do feel it makes great supplementary materials. And I can't see what it would hurt. Later this year I will be doing a unit on Ancient Egypt. As I put together materials for this unit, I included books on the pyramids, hieroglyphics, mummies, Queen Nefertiti, King Tut, etc. I also included picture books like Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile and The Egyptian Cinderella. These books make an old, potentially dry subject more interesting for small children, and it's their attention I'm after. I want them to become so interested that they want to explore the subjects further as they become able to do so.
Historical fiction gives the children bright pictures, characters they can identify with, and a feel for the time and place being described. For instance, the book Encounter presents the children with a new view of Columbus. Everything I've ever read about Columbus has made him sound noble and heroic. I liked hearing a different side to the story, a more realistic, human side. I'm sure Columbus had many of the bad traits we all have. In reality, we don't know a great deal about his true personality. Historical fiction presents the “what ifs…” It makes children think about what has happened before today. They find out that their own problems aren't unique, and they learn how others have solved the problems.
Many writers of historical fiction know their topics so well that their stories are mistaken for fact. For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder protested people using her books as history. She said they were only stories loosely based on her memories of childhood. By the time she wrote the books, her parents and Mary had passed away. Carrie and Grace would have been too young to remember most of the family history, so all Laura had to go on was her own memories. Think back to your childhood and see if you can remember enough actual information to write a whole series of books, and you'll be able to see the obstacles she had to writing accurate history. Even so, she did live all the experiences of a pioneer on the American prairies, so even her fiction is probably more accurate than a lot of factual material produced.
There are many good points about Historical Fiction that help it override the lack of complete historical fact. Through the eyes of fictional characters children can learn about historical events. They become involved with the characters. They learn to reflect on their own lives and those in other cultures. It widens their perspectives and deepens their feelings. Historical fiction can make history, theme and character come alive which interests and motivates students. Children focus much more while the teacher is reading a story than they do during discussion times and times reading history facts. The bottom line is that teachers have to get a student's attention in order to teach him, and Historical Fiction can do just that.
