Tag Archive: YA
By Melissa L.
Since my historical fiction is set mostly in non-English speaking places, I’m not especially concerned about when particular words entered the English language. But when I attended a historical fiction conference recently, one of the presenters shared a link to an etymology site, and I must admit: I am now obsessed.
The Online Etymology Dictionary (www.etymonline.com) can tell you when any word, prefix, or suffix was first used in English—and includes a fair number of phrases and expressions, too. This obviously comes in handy if you’re setting your novel in a specific year and are unsure about a particular word. It can be surprising to see when words first appear: I would have thought that “bomb” was fairly modern, but its use actually dates back to the 1580s. Similarly, I always believed that “D-day” was first used to refer to the operations at Normandy during World War II, but it actually came into use in 1918.
The Online Etymology Dictionary does offer the disclaimer that its dates may not be entirely accurate, “since a word may have been used in conversation for hundreds of years before it turns up in a manuscript that has had the good fortune to survive the centuries.” I also believe that a word’s appearance in one manuscript at a given time doesn’t necessarily mean it was in common use. Still, if your novel is set in 1776 and a particular word wasn’t in use until 1976, you need a substitute. Resources like this one can make your novel stronger by pinpointing such anachronisms.
(And by the way: If I were writing this in the 19th century, I wouldn’t have used the word “pinpoint.” It was originally aviator’s slang, and it isn’t attested until 1917.)
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
Over the past twenty years or so, history and historical fiction books have been used more and more as part of the school curriculum. In many of the books I’ve reviewed lately, I’ve noticed an abundance of features that are clearly intended to make the titles classroom-friendly. Bibliographies or “further reading” sections give teachers resources they can use to build an entire unit around a historical event. Glossaries define unfamiliar terms. And author’s notes provide additional information about a topic and, in the case of historical fiction, help to explain what parts of the book have been fictionalized.
Of course, there are definitely some budding history buffs who read historical books outside of school, and these resources can also help them to sink their teeth into a topic. But overall, it seems to me that features like this are designed to make it easier for teachers to use books in the classroom. Being unpublished myself, I don’t know whether authors write glossaries and author’s notes early in the process and submit them with the manuscript or if the publisher suggests them later, but all of these things are definitely something to consider as you write.
So have you noticed any particular features in historical titles that seem engineered for use in the classroom? What do you think about them?
And if you’re a published author who has experience with glossaries, bibliographies, and the like, I’d love your input on when they become a part of the book!
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
While many areas are underrepresented in historical fiction, there are also some that are way overrepresented. That’s not to say that books about these topics don’t need to be on the market, but they take up an incredibly large share.
In historical fiction about the United States, the overrepresented areas can be expressed in one word: wars. The American Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II are all extremely popular topics (though World War I isn’t as prominent). I suspect that wars are covered so often in children’s fiction because they’re a great chance to write action scenes, particularly if your novel takes place on the battlefield. This tactic can help to draw reluctant readers, especially boys.
In the rest of the world, it’s harder to say what areas are overrepresented since there’s a much wider variety of titles. Wars tend to be covered pretty well in world history too, with the French Revolution and World War II (especially the Holocaust) being popular topics. And there’s an abundance of fiction about Western Europe during virtually every time period.
It’s certainly not impossible to write and sell a novel about one of these topics, but you’ll definitely need a fresh angle. A title we recently featured at Wonders & Marvels, The Sniper, is a good example. While it’s a World War II story, it approaches the war from an unusual perspective: a Russian teenager recruited as a sniper.
So what areas are overrepresented in historical fiction for children?
How do you make such topics fresh? And what makes wars so popular?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Patricia Elliott
My novel, The Pale Assassin
, is set during the French Revolution. As a writer, what fascinated me during my research was the discovery of how many contradictions this extraordinarily dramatic period contained.
The complex character of the king, Louis XVI: compassionate, but blind to the suffering of his people. His queen, Marie-Antoinette: vain and extravagant, yet one who endured her imprisonment with great fortitude. Then the aristocrats, privileged and wealthy, yes, but many of whom actively supported the introduction of a constitution that would bring equality and the end of the corrupt ancien regime.
Foremost among them was the Marquis de Condorcet, who drafted the first constitution, basing it on the Declaration of Independence – it is said with the help of George Washington. And Robespierre, the most powerful man in the new Republic, who lived a life of moral purity, yet was the cold-blooded architect of the Terror, when thousands were guillotined in order to preserve a “republic of virtue.” The Terror itself was sanctioned by a government paranoid about the enemy within, for, as Jefferson is believed to have said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” But the majority of the Terror’s victims were not the hated aristocracy but the ordinary, innocent people of France.
Lastly, the most tragic and ironic paradox of all was that in order to uphold the ideals of “liberty, equality and fraternity,” the revolutionaries resorted to a ruthless denial of human rights that was to have its echo down the ages.
Patricia Elliott’s novels for young adults have received critical acclaim. Her newest novel is The Pale Assassin.
Visit her website at patriciaelliott.co.uk.
By Melissa L.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of the books that have won the Newbery Award (the most prestigious award in children’s literature) are historical fiction. Exactly half of the ten most recent award-winners were historical novels. And while 2010’s Newbery medalist isn’t historical, two of the honor books are—The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.
Why is historical fiction so overrepresented among Newbery winners? Historical titles definitely don’t constitute half of all the books being published, or half the books that customers buy. Some people might argue that the number has to do with the Newbery’s selection process: Winners are chosen by a committee of librarians, who tend to be more partial to historical fiction than the rest of the population.
I think the reason runs deeper than that, though. When you write historical fiction, you have to review your text over and over again just to get your facts straight. And as you go over every single word so many times, your writing improves, too. The eventual result is a highly polished, well-written book.
This isn’t to say that writers in other genres can’t revise extensively and create beautiful stories. They can and they do. But extensive research and revision is a more necessary part of historical fiction, and overall I think this leads to better books.
Why do you think so many Newbery winners are historical? Is it because of the selection process, the quality of the writing, or both? Or is it another factor?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
History can be ambiguous. Sometimes there are multiple versions of the same event, and sometimes the details we most want to know have been lost. Fortunately, as a historical fiction writer, you can use this ambiguity to your advantage. As long as your book is labeled fiction, young readers will understand that it isn’t completely true, and you can fill in the gaps with your own interpretations of events.
For example, consider the two young English princes, Edward and Richard, who were imprisoned in the Tower of London in the late 15th century. In 1483, they disappeared, and no one has ever been able to say conclusively what happened to them. If you write a novel about these two boys, you might decide to say that they were murdered, or you might devise a way for them to escape. As long as the events you describe are plausible based on what we do know, no one can say that you’re wrong.
These types of situations are also good examples of places where an author’s note can come in handy, especially when you’re writing for young readers. While kids are smart enough to realize that historical fiction has at least some parts that came from the author’s imagination, they may not be clear on which parts—so tell them. This way, they won’t get a false impression of history.
What do you think about filling in the gaps in history? What’s the best way to do it? Is there a point where it becomes too much? And what are some books that do this well?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Beth Ain
In 1776 Paris, when Jean-Honore Fragonard sat down to paint the portrait he would call Portrait of a Young Girl Reading, I’m betting it never crossed his mind that sometime in the year 2008 in New York City, a writer would come upon his painting and feel inspired to write a book about a girl he spent about one hour painting. No, the artist probably thought he had done just about all there was to be done with the work. And of course, he had. It is a lovely portrait.
And I might have left that painting alone, too, if it weren’t for one burning question I had. What was that young girl reading? I had to figure it out. What I learned, though, was that Portrait of a Young Girl Reading was not painted at a traditional portrait sitting. More likely, it was one of Fragonard’s “fantasy portraits,” portraits that came from somewhere inside of him, someone he’d observed or wondered about. I took Fragonard’s affection for conjuring paintings out of his own imagination as my cue. I don’t know who that girl was to Fragonard. I couldn’t possibly know. But I could figure out who she was to me.
So why would that girl be there and what was she reading and why was she reading a book during a portrait sitting at all? Well, it had to be that this young girl was like so many young girls throughout time—she had to have angst! So, I looked at her face and thought that she probably had to go and sit for her portrait because her overbearing, social climbing mother made her go. And she had to have been nervous and her body would not be able to settle. So what would the artist have done? I think he might have thought to hand her something to hold onto, something like a book, a battered copy of Candide to still her fidgety hands. And I think his idea would have worked. Her body would have settled, but a spark would have been ignited that would have turned her own revolutionary rumblings into little earthquakes.
And all of a sudden, she would see everything differently. At a time when the world was changing in ways that would re-shape history, she would want to participate in it and not be a pretty picture at all. She would want to feel what love feels like and what dinner with thinking and acting people feels like. And she would want to meet, have to meet, that Benjamin Franklin, whose presence in Paris meant swooning for most aristocratic Frenchwomen, but for her it meant something more.
She was changed. The girl in the painting would have become someone who wanted her life to mean something and who would find a way to make it happen at any cost. And that was that. My story was born. Out of a painting by a man who painted so many young women in his lifetime—young women who swung on swings, played games, held babies close. But only one was holding a book, so only one could be Sabine.
IMAGE:Young Girl Reading, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1770. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.
By Melissa L.
At the end of each year, School Library Journal publishes a list of the best books for children and young adults. I was heartened to see that on the 2009 list, fourteen of the fifty-four featured titles were history or historical fiction—that’s about 26%. While that might not seem like an impressive number, it’s definitely better than 2008, when historical titles made up only 18% of this special list.
These statistics tell me that 2009 was a year when lots of great historical titles were being published—and, more importantly, that many of them were being recognized as some of the year’s most outstanding books. History and historical fiction are genres that often don’t get a lot of attention (except, of course, on Wonders & Marvels). By placing so many of these titles on their list, the editors of School Library Journal are giving them the recognition they deserve.
Furthermore, wider recognition for historical titles can also lead to a wider audience. The editors and reviewers for School Library Journal are mostly librarians, and if they’re recognizing these titles for their excellence, they’re probably also buying them to put on their shelves. The more these books are in the libraries, the more they can get into the hands of young people.
What do you think about the year 2009 in history and historical fiction? Were there any titles that were especially great? And finally, what more do you hope to see in 2010?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
IMAGE:
By Melissa L.
Here’s a look at what’s coming up in YA.
Beth Ain’s The Revolution of Sabine
is set in 1776 Paris. The American Revolution is the talk of the town, and everyone is planning parties to honor the man behind it all: Benjamin Franklin. Sabine Durand’s mother, obsessed with making her party perfect in order to impress the other members of the French aristocracy, is no exception.
But Sabine herself has much less regard for the social conventions that seem to dictate her mother’s life. When she secretly renews her friendship with Michel, her governess’s son, and has her portrait painted by the famous Fragonard, her outlook begins to change. She visits her first salon, meets Mr. Franklin himself, and begins to read the works of Voltaire. Now Sabine longs for change in her own life…but can she defy her mother and the rest of the aristocracy?
Beth Ain is a former editor who is also the author of When Christmas Comes Again
, a novel set during World War I. In her post for us, she plans to describe how she got the idea for The Revolution of Sabine.
Look for a post from Beth soon on Wonders & Marvels!
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
By Melissa L.
The diary is a narrative form that’s especially popular in historical fiction for children. The best-known example is probably the Dear America series, which was published by Scholastic in the late 1990’s. The format is very difficult to pull off—your narrator’s voice has to be perfect, and since you’re writing about specific days in history, attention to detail is vital. Still, I personally enjoy diary stories if they’re done well.
I’ve met some librarians and history teachers, though, who don’t care for this format. One teacher told me that she didn’t want her students, who were learning about primary and secondary sources, to read the Dear America books. She was afraid the kids wouldn’t realize that the novels were fiction and would confuse them with actual primary sources.
Personally, I think that children who are old enough to be reading novels like Dear America should be able to understand the books aren’t real diaries, though teachers should definitely clear this up if it’s confusing. I also think that these books provide a valuable historical experience for kids. Young readers may not be quite ready to tackle the archaic spelling and grammar of many primary sources—but a mock diary written in more modern language can still give them a good feel for the times.
So what do you think about the diary format for historical fiction? Is it confusing for kids? Is it a good way to teach history? Or is it just another way to tell a story?
Melissa L. is the YA Editorial Assistant for Wonders and Marvels. You can read more about her here: Editorial Staff.
IMAGE: Courtesy of Wikipedia public domain
438 members
