Children’s Nonfiction and Historical Fiction: ConsiderationsMeghann MeeusenENG 170 Lecture

Nonfiction: Common QuestionsFictional Stories in Nonfiction- What is the boundary between fiction and fact in nonfiction books? Can the presentation of facts be enhanced by the presence of a fictive element?

Nonfiction: Common QuestionsSimplification and Complexity: When presenting scientific processes, historical events, or life stories to younger readers, how much simplification is acceptable without losing accuracy?

Nonfiction: Common QuestionsAccuracy and New Research: Is there any such thing as a “classic: work of nonfiction or do works of nonfiction inevitably become dated in light of new research/discovery?

Life Writing Terms Biography– a story about a person’s life

decision about what part of a person’s life should be revealed or emphasized

Autobiography- story about a person written by that same person

Memoir- similar to autobiography, but cover a segment of life, not its entirety

Diaries- immerse readers in the voice of an individual speaker, usually intended private and published later

Historical Fiction Considerations Trauma Theory: the interdisciplinary

study of trauma and culture, including literary & cultural constructions or representations

Freud: “disaster stories model a range of human relationships to misfortune and keep our defenses exercised. They may function as a reality check even as they frame, and distance us from, horror”

Historical Fiction Considerations Nostalgia- a wistful or excessively

sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period; the Western frontier and medieval England are two common sources of nostalgic reflection in popular culture, perhaps because they give a sense of national or cultural origin

Nationalism- in articulating national identity, there is a tendency to exaggerate difference between groups or and to promote a divisive sense of conflict or competition

Problems with Representing the Past Fiction Versus History- Rethinking the

Writing of History (is history every completely true?)

Use of Primary Sources Accuracy and Authenticity- the

correspondence between recorded history and fictional representation, versus how a literary work fills in the gaps of the historical record and whether the imaginative component of the work are plausible

Problems with Representing the Past Presentism: the idea that the work

depicts an ideology or psychology more characteristic of the present than the past

Artistic Freedom versus Historical Responsibility

Picture Book BiographiesA Few More Notable Books

The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps Hardcover by Jeanette Winter

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos Hardcover by Deborah Heiligman (Author), LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau Hardcover by Jennifer Berne (Author), Éric Puybaret (Illustrator)

The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever Hardcover by H. Joseph Hopkins (Author), Jill McElmurry (Illustrator)

Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Paperback by Doreen Rappaport (Author), Bryan Collier (Illustrator)