Historical Fiction in the Classroom

Personally, I love historical fiction. Margaret George and Phillipa Gregory are usually listed in my favorite author lists. So, it seems natural to implement this type of literature into the classroom. Students usually don't enjoy history class. They think that learning about people who are dead is a waste of time, but historical fiction has a way of bringing the past to life. This might actually help students to enjoy reading from the genre in the future, or it may inspire students to just read in general. For my library services class, we were allowed to choose which historical fiction book we would like to read (all three choices span a different time period, but for the class you could give students a choice from books that take place during the same period of time for class purposes). I chose Uprising which is a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire.

This is actually an event that I had no prior knowledge about, so I was interest in the story and reading more about the time period. The story takes place during the early 1900s in the middle of the industrial age and the women's suffrage movement. Both these topics are covered during an American History class, which makes this book a perfect choice to offer students to read. This book would also be good for students because there is a lot of information for them to dissect. Such as the chapters are written in different points of view, so students will have to keep up with who's point of view they are reading. Also, two of the main characters are immigrants who speak Italian and Yiddish. This is something that your students might need to recognize to understand the content a little better. Another topic that could be tied in with this book is the fall of the Russian czar. Yes, even Anastasia could be brought in when reading this book.

As for my opinion, this book would be perfect for the classroom. Although the end of the book involves hundreds of people dying in a fire, the content is not graphic by any means, almost down-played. The writing is pretty easy for middle school to high school students to comprehend, but I was not impressed. I have not done much research on Haddix, but she does not write with the confidence and expertise like George R. Martin, Gillian Flynn, or Phillipa Gregory. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it is not my favorite by any means. A few suggestions for historical fiction that I enjoyed would be The Other Boelyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory, Mary called Magdalene by Margaret George, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, or The New Orleans Legacy by Alexandra Ripley.