Taking a page from previous Public History bloggers Jenna Leifso and Sophie Malek, I wanted to share with you a few of my favourite examples of historical fiction written for Young Adults.
1) Kit Pearson's Guests of War Trilogy (The Sky is Falling, Looking at the Moon, and The Lights Go On Again): It's been well over a decade since I last read these books, but something about this trilogy has stayed with me. The books are set during the tumultuous years of the Second World War and follow the lives of two English children (Norah and her younger brother, Gavin) who are forced by their parents to evacuate their country and move to Canada for the duration of the war. Centering on the coming of age of a female protagonist that was approximately my age when I first read the books and set at least partially in my own country during the historical time period that I have always been most interested in, it is no wonder these books quickly became some of my favourites.
2) Karleen Bradford's The Nine Days Queen: Sophie was a fan, and so was I. This book tells the story of Lady Jane Grey, a young woman who was a reluctant pawn in a chess game played by more powerful men than her. Set in Tudor England, Jane Grey becomes the Queen of England for only nine days before she is dethroned by Mary I and shut away in the Tower of London. If I recall correctly, this was the first book to introduce me to Henry VIII, his wives, and the ensuing struggle between Mary I and Elizabeth I and I have been hooked ever since. In fact, I took a course in 4th year undergrad on Queen Elizabeth I's court. Although a number of other more significant factors played into that decision, my interest in the topic of the English courts probably had some of its roots in my reading of this book.
3) Tie - Ann Rinaldi's A Break With Charity and Arthur Miller's The Crucible: After exhausting my library's WWII historical fiction, I moved on to many other books which prominently featured young female characters. A Break With Charity was my first exposure to the subject of the Salem Witch Trials, a topic which has interested me ever since, inspiring me to read more detailed and accurate historical monographs and to write university level papers on the Salem "witch craze".It is no secret that traditional history - that which deals with topics such as war, conflict, monarchy and religion - often focuses on old, white men, either as the subject of the piece or as its storyteller. Conversely, historical fiction for young adults - especially books which are geared at younger females - tend to be written by women and focus on young, female characters. They often relate the experiences of middle or lower class families, resulting in a story which is just as likely to feature an extraordinary female at the centre of a conflict or controversy as they are to feature an unnamed witness to the event (an "any woman," if you will). In a lot of cases, these books were my first taste of social history and they had the ability to show me at a very young age the potential that the study of history had.
It might also be interesting to note that reading these books, combined with my subsequent interest in history, has led me to visit both London, England and Salem, Massachusetts to see first-hand the places described in the novels I read as a child. Speaking from first-hand experience, I fully believe that historical fiction has the ability to expose children to history if not in an always accurate or nuanced way, a meaningful way nonetheless. Obviously my understanding of these historical events which I originally obtained through reading these books has been refined, expanded and/or corrected in the years that followed, but the fact remains that this early exposure was critical to the development of my interest in the discipline.
