Using Historical Fiction in the Classroom

Recently, I finished reading The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg.  I absolutely loved it, and I would highly recommend it for upper elementary and above.  When I finished it, I sighed partly because I had enjoyed traveling with Homer and partly because the book was over. 

Homer P. Figg lives in Maine during the Civil War.  His adventures begin when he discovers that his older brother was sold into the army on a lie that he was twenty instead of seventeen.  Homer determines that he is going to save his brother from having to fight in the war. 

As he ventures forth on his should-be-his horse, he admits that he often stretches the truth.  For example, he tells people that his father was killed by a tree a mile tall; yes, it was a tree, but no it was not a mile tall.  These embellishments add the humor and the personality to his otherwise quite serious and sensitive story. 

On his adventures, he meets an abolitionist, an underground conductor, a "medicine" show man, an air balloonist, and other liars like himself.  He interacts with both Union and Confederate troops, and he experiences the Battle of Gettysburg. (Sorry if that was a spoiler, but if you are a teacher, you would want to know that).  

This book allows the reader to visualize the Civil War from the farm to the battlefield, but it is also a fast-paced novel where Homer is constantly meeting and interacting with various characters whom he can spin his tales.  And each character is wonderfully described with their own quirks and desires.

To be fair, I do have to mention that there is no bibliography for the sources used, but there is a section with additional Civil War information in the back.  Also, when awarded the Newberry honor, a book should be historically sound or it would not receive such prestige.

So even though I did not do extensive research to verify everything in this book, I would be confident in reading this book with my students.

Of course, I love historical fiction (check out how my love for history developed here).  Historical fiction brings the setting of the past to life.  I can escape from the twenty-first century and go back to the Civil War.  

Since I first developed my love of history from reading historical fiction, I try to bring it into my classroom for my own children to experience.  

Picture from historynet.com/gettysburg-pictures

In fact, this year, I think I may have this book as a read-outloud.  My class studies medieval world history, and so often they do not understand American history.

This book could be an excellent way to introduce them to the Civil War even if we do not formally study it.  In fact, it would likely go well as a companion book when we study Sign of the Beaver, a book about the relationship between American colonists and Native Americans (but I'll save that for another blog post).  

  

If I ever do teach the Civil War, I could see myself bringing in primary and secondary sources from the Battle of Gettysburg to discuss how the book's description line up with the historical accounts.   I could then expand it to include the children's own personal narrative of the war based on the letters, documents, speeches, maps, pictures etc. that they saw.

I have talked with some teachers who worry about bringing in primary sources into their elementary classroom because they feel it is too far above the children.  Yes, many of the written documents are voiced in such a way that the language is difficult to understand.  There have been documents where I have gone through and in brackets defined or explained something; this takes time, but it makes these documents more accessible.  

However, written sources are not the only primary sources that can be used.  Photographs, maps, period artwork etc. are all examples of primary sources that are easily accessible to elementary students, even the primary age.  And whenever, I do bring in primary sources, the discussion is rich within my classroom.

These ideas can really be used with any historical fiction novel to deepen the learning and understanding of the book. 

Another way to use historical fiction is to compare what the author tells us with our own time. 

In fact, this is exactly what I did with Peppe the Lamplighter.  (You can get your copy here). I created a lesson that had the teacher asking questions throughout the book.  These were questions discussing similarities and differences the children noticed about Peppe's time and our time. Then, I modeled a response to reading and finished the lesson with the children's own independent writing.

[In fact:  I'm excited to say that you can get this lesson for FREE from my Teachers Pay Teachers site.  Click here. Be on the look-out for more resources throughout the year!]

The set up of this questioning allowed for a rich discussion and community within the classroom. Some of the students asked very thoughtful questions or pointed out things that I really had not thought of when I had read the story myself.

During the writing, they shared some personal things of how they connected with Peppe.  And even the children who had a difficult time focusing in other activities eagerly participated.

Ultimately, the richness of a historical fiction text is found beyond the history; it is found in understanding how the people in that time period felt emotions and consequences just like us.

History is not a bunch of facts, dates, and data;  it is about real living people and the choices and consequences that they made. 





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