Historical Fiction, an alternative to the textbook

It's a question that you hear a lot, "how do you get kids interested in history?" The history that I learned in elementary and high school was your typical Rich White Man History, and I have to admit, it was boring and irrelevant to my life. I have given considerable thought to how I became interested in history and came to the conclusion that it was the things I experienced outside of school that piqued my interest in this subject, like reading books, visiting pioneer villages, and watching movies. This blog will deal with my three favourite historical fiction books from when I was a tween. In later entries I will discuss my favourite historical travel destinations and movies.

1) The King's Daughter by Suzanne Martel
Published by Groundwood Books, 1974.

Martel tells the story of an orphaned French girl, Jeanne Chatel, who becomes a King's Daughter, travels to New France and marries a French settler. I enjoyed (and still do) reading this book because of all the adventures Jeanne has while attempting to settle in what is now Quebec. She first faces a treacherous cross-Atlantic journey, and once in New France she has to suddenly adjust to the responsibilities of raising two step-children with a new husband she barely knows, who is often away. This book is unique because it is told from the female point-of-view when most histories of this time come from the male inhabitants. It proves that women also came to North America looking for adventures.

2) The Dark Tower by Sharon Stewart
Published by Scholastic, 1998.

This is another novel about a girl living in France, and although she tries to escape the country with her family, she is not so lucky. Stewart based this book on the journal written by Marie Therese Charlotte de France, the oldest child of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Reading this book was my first introduction to the French Revolution. I became familiar with some of the causes and key players of the revolution. This novel also does a good job of dispelling some of the myths surrounding the French Revolution, especially in regards to Marie Antoinette. Stewart does a good job showing what it might have been like to be a member of the royal family living in Versailles and during the French Revolution.



3) Spying on Miss Muller
Published by Fawcett Juniper, 1995

In this novel, Bunting explores the lives of four girls living and learning in an Irish boarding school during the Second World War. The students suspect that their German language teacher is a spy for the Nazis and attempt to catch her in the act. The book reflects what many people living in Britain experienced during WWII; air raids, family members enlisting in the army, and suspicion of German people now living in the UK. Even though the war was going on, the girls still had experiences that I could relate to as a tween in elementary school.

Now, you may have noticed that these books all have female protagonists. I was obviously biased towards books about girls when I was younger, which is understandable... it was the age of the Spice Girls and Girl Power, and I wasn't learning about females in my history classes at school. Aside from The Dark Tower, these novels also deal with middle to low class characters whose names will not appear in history books. Because I read these books as a youth I discovered that women and so-called "common" people had a role in history and to me, their stories and experiences were more intriguing than those of the Rich White Men.