Chapter 10

In reading the chapter in the text on historical fiction, I was again reminded of my own love for this genre of literature. As a young child, I read many of the American Girl books, as well as those in the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. I found myself fascinated with colonial American life, everything from the day to day keeping of house to the settings, cities and prairies. I found myself having “ah-ha” moments as I saw familiar titles, and making a list of others that might appeal to me. Katherine Paterson’s Lyddie jumped off of the page for me, because this is one that my grandmother (who was a librarian) gave to me for my birthday one year. That book is one that is still in my collection, as well as other classics such as Johnny Tremain.

I find historical fiction so intriguing simply because of the way that many of the authors go about creating their setting and the tone of the story based on the character. For instance, In Johnny Tremain the author doesn’t simply retell the story of the American Revolution, she creates a character and the setting of Boston through this character to retell some of the key events. The key players in the American Revolution are not the main character in the story, yet they appear and the story of the Revolution is still told so that the reader can piece together the knowledge of history that they brought to the text, as well as the details, both factual and fictional, that the author provides, to create a vivid and memorable story. The ability of an author to tap into a reader’s prior knowledge through the genre of historical fiction is an incredible thing to me, and perhaps why I enjoy this type of literature so much, since it takes the seemingly dry things of the past and makes it come to life.