Historical fiction: snooze inducing or inquiry provoking?

At 13, my younger brother, who is three years my junior, was diagnosed with a chronic illness. Afterwards, he retreated inward and found solace and entertainment in books. Although I had always been an avid reader, this was the time when he discovered his love for reading.

At 16, my reading preferences and habits were naturally very different than his given our age and gender divides, but when he begged me to read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I reluctantly acquiesced. While it wasn't anything I would ever read by choice, I read it for my brother. I saw it as a way to spend time with someone who was spending less and less time with people, and more and more time with books.

I loved it. And I have no shame. I remember thinking it was so cool that the author explained events about Lincoln's life that were common knowledge through the lens of his (fictional) career as a vampire hunter. Yes, this book also lives in the space of fantasy, but the historical fiction element of placing fantastical events within the life, motivations, and accomplishments of a real man was fascinating to me.

Historical fiction, is a genre that students often encounter in classic texts, and I think they also encounter it when they aren't ready for it. I read historical fiction throughout my life, but I never explicitly thought "I love this genre" until I read Ashley Hope Perez's account of the 1937 New London school explosion, Out of Darkness. I may have had this implicit realization through my experience with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter at 16, but I wouldn't begin to seek this genre out for another ten years.

I want my students to have this realization well before their mid twenties.

The Age of YA: A Timeline of Historical Fiction is an excellent resource for teachers and students who consider themselves historical fiction experts or novices. The timeline breaks popular historical fiction books down by time period, which could be an excellent way for readers to find entry points into the genre. Students could choose eras in history that they are familiar with or interested in, or they could choose eras that the know little to nothing about.

Historical fiction can be a legitimate way to learn about the past, but it is important that teachers remind students about the fictional element. Most historical fiction novels have an excerpt written by an author or a historian in the back that explain key elements of the story in relation to history. An author, for example may say that a character was not a real person, but instead a amalgamation of different people. They may note the elements of their story that they embellished and the elements that are true to history. I think teachers should encourage students to view this author's note as a crucial piece of the novel. In this way, reading historical fiction could be a catalyst for students to research time periods and evaluate the ways the story fits or does not fit into the factual history. This could be a way for teachers to inspire students to pursue inquiry on their own.

Like I was, many young readers are ready to love historical fiction, we just have to put the right books in their hands and have these explicit conversations. We have to know our students and their interests as well as their knowledge gaps in order to do this. Historical fiction is not and does not have to be boring.