Historical Fiction Makes Learning Fun! Enjoy #HistoricalFiction #MGLit novels and get #LessonPlans for #teachers and #homeschool on these #KidLit #history novels

Student projects based on The Well of Sacrifice

Teachers and librarians know the way to get kids excited about reading and learning is to make reading and learning fun. When teaching history, this means telling exciting stories, not merely teaching boring lists of names and dates.

One teacher used my Egyptian mystery, The Eyes of Pharaoh, in a gifted class of fourth and fifth graders in New Mexico. She said, “Using this historical fiction has been a window into Ancient Egypt – its people, culture, and beliefs. My class enjoyed doing research on Egyptian gods and goddesses, and hieroglyphs. Projects extended their knowledge of this fascinating time and place.”

I often get e-mails from teachers who are using one of my historical novels in the classroom, and they report enthusiasms from the students. A teacher at a middle school in Washington state once told me, “We have been using your book, The Well of Sacrifice, as one of our lit circle books this year. Your book has been a very popular one for the kids … all levels of reading ability, and strongly supports our social studies theme.”

Social Studies and More

Using historical fiction in the classroom can have many educational benefits. First, and most important, many historical novels are a lot of fun. This makes learning easier! In addition, historical fiction can lead to great discussions about fact versus fiction, cause and effect, and viewing history through different perspectives (modern ideals versus the standards of the time, winners versus losers of a conflict, etc.).

These discussions go beyond social studies and can actually contribute to preparing for standardized testing. One positive to the Common Core is that the standards do, in theory, ask students to understand the why and how of events, and not just the factual what. They also ask students to judge between facts and opinions, and to know whether statements are backed by evidence. Historical fiction, perhaps paired with nonfiction, can help introduce these concepts.

Enthusiastic teachers get students involved with the text through a wide variety of projects, some clearly academic and some that appear to be mainly for fun. Students enjoy drawing cartoons or developing skits of scenes in the book. Persuasive letters or group discussions get a playful boost by having the students write or speak from the point of view of one of the book’s characters. Some teachers plan a party (perhaps with accompanying author visit) to wrap up use of the book. Parents may send in appropriate snacks, and the kids give presentations, using posters or dioramas to illustrate their areas of research.

Something for Every Student

To some, this may not look as educational as reading textbooks and memorizing information. However, people learn in a wide variety of ways. Some are more visual, benefiting from seeing lots of images. Others are verbal, learning well from words in speech and writing. Yet others need physical activity to help lock in information. Some students may learn better in social groups, while others work better on their own. Using a variety of projects in the classroom offers something to all of the students.

Historical novels can be used to teach almost any concept you can find in the classroom. Another teacher who used The Well of Sacrifice in her fourth/fifth grade classroom said, “This book is not only a great adventure for middle grade readers, but it is a useful tool for classroom teachers…. We used the book as the backbone of several language arts exercises such as: written and oral reports about the Maya; literary criticism of characters, plot, and sequence; persuasive essays on human sacrifice vs. murder and Mayan culture vs. our own culture; and art projects from wood burning to mapping. We studied geography and the rainforest. The students’ enthusiasm for this book pushed our curriculum into other disciplines including math.”

Wow, what lucky students!

A New Semester

If you are a teacher or librarian (or a parent), I hope you had a fun and relaxing summer. 

Did you also use your “time off” to prepare lesson plans, or at least read books that might work in the classroom? If so, did you have any historical fiction on your reading list?

Lesson plans

For lesson plans for The Eyes of Pharaoh and The Well of Sacrifice, visit my website’s “for teachers” page. 

Chris Eboch’s novels for ages nine and up include The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery in ancient Egypt; The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan adventure; and The Genie’s Gift, a middle eastern fantasy. Her writing craft books include You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers, and Advanced Plotting. Learn more at www.chriseboch.com or her Amazon page.

Chris Eboch on Connecting Kids to #History with #HistoricalFiction #KidLit #SummerReading

Easter festival in Uruapan, Mexico

Historical fiction is a great way to bring history to life. It’s especially valuable for young people, who may not find textbook history interesting and who haven’t lived long enough to understand how quickly and dramatically the world can change.

I’ve received letters from students who have read my Mayan novel The Well of Sacrifice with their classes. One pleasant surprise is that some students say they really like the descriptions of the historical time period. I always find that kind of thing interesting, but sometimes I worry that readers will only be interested in the action. I’m glad I’m wrong about that. It’s nice to know we have some young history fans!

I’ve been impressed with the many wonderful ways teachers come up with to use historical fiction in the classroom. Consider this teacher’s review for my novel The Well of Sacrifice:

“My class (fourth/fifth graders) read this book for our theme: The Maya. The book gave authentic facts about the Mayan culture and a plausible explanation for the demise of their culture. We used the book as the backbone of several language arts exercises such as: written and oral reports about the Maya, literary criticism of characters, plot, and sequence, persuasive essays on human sacrifice vs. murder and Mayan culture vs. our own culture; and art projects from wood burning to mapping. We studied geography and the rainforest. The students’ enthusiasm for this book pushed our curriculum into other disciplines including math.”

Some teachers like to have students write their own versions of what happened after my book ends. Their answers can range from marriage and happily ever after, to massive death and destruction. Their stories probably say more about the students’ personal tastes than about my book, but this type of exercise another way to get young people engaged with history.

The author with a young friend in Mexico

Lessons That Resonate

Using historical fiction in the classroom or at home can help kids understand history better. It can also help them understand and identify with people of the past. If they can do that, they should be better able to understand and identify with different people today.

In an interview, a blogger asked me, “Although Eveningstar Macaw’s culture seems very strange for modern readers, she herself is easy to relate to. What do you think people today have most in common with the Maya?”

Although specifics of religion, social structure, and politics often differ across cultures and over time, I assume all people are motivated by the same basic emotions: love, fear, greed, insecurity, pride, piety, etc. In The Well of Sacrifice, Eveningstar is jealous of her older sister and adores her older brother. She’s nervous about going to a party and wishes she had nicer clothes. She’s growing up and discovering that she can’t always trust the system and can’t rely on others to take care of her. All that could happen today. It’s mainly the setting that’s different.

Looking at those basic human instincts helps keep historical fiction relatable. It also allows writers to address current issues. The story of the Mayan collapse touches upon environmental concerns and the dangers of believing that others – the government, religion, the rich – should be responsible for our happiness and safety. These are lessons for today.

My Egyptian mystery The Eyes of Pharaoh also works as supplemental fiction. There are loads of projects classes can do, from art to discussion groups to persuasive letters. In addition, my book explores themes of national pride and attitudes about foreigners and immigration. These are subtle elements, but the book could be used as a discussion starter.

Making friends in Egypt

But often it’s the simple things that help kids connect. For example, the ancient Egyptians may seem wildly exotic in their religion and architecture. Yet their food sounds tasty, and you don’t find too many things that sound yucky-weird – instead it’s “platters piled with joints of meat, bread baked into animal shapes, cheese, nuts, and fresh fruit.” I did a school visit and one of the students brought in “honey cakes” her mother had made from a recipe she found online. They were similar to cornbread served with honey, simple and tasty.

Historical fiction shows our differences, but also our similarities.

Get lesson plans to use with The Well of Sacrifice, The Eyes of Pharaoh, and The Genie’s Gift at the "For Teachers" tab on my website.

Chris Eboch writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages. In The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan girl in ninth-century Guatemala rebels against the High Priest who sacrifices anyone challenging his power. Kirkus Reviews called The Well of Sacrifice, “[An] engrossing first novel….Eboch crafts an exciting narrative with a richly textured depiction of ancient Mayan society….The novel shines not only for a faithful recreation of an unfamiliar, ancient world, but also for the introduction of a brave, likable and determined heroine.”

The Eyes of Pharaoh, a mystery set in Egypt in 1177 BC. When Reya hints that Egypt is in danger from foreign nomads, Seshta and Horus don’t take him seriously. How could anyone challenge Egypt? Then Reya disappears. To save their friend, Seshta and Horus spy on merchants, soldiers, and royalty, and start to suspect even The Eyes of Pharaoh, the powerful head of the secret police. Will Seshta and Horus escape the traps set for them, rescue Reya, and stop the plot against Egypt in time? For ages nine and up.

Chris Eboch on Learning from the Maya

The author at Coba

After college, I spent a summer traveling through Mexico and Central America. I loved visiting the Mayan sites and learning about their history. The experience inspired my first novel, The Well of Sacrifice, a Middle Grade adventure/drama set in ninth-century Mayan times.

Some people ask why the Maya "disappeared." They didn't; they're still an active culture throughout Mesoamerica. But they did abandon the large cities they built centuries ago, going back to living in small villages and on farms.

Many people think the Maya civilization collapsed because they damaged the environment. Too many people lived in the cities, and the farmers couldn’t grow enough food. The soil got worse because it never had a chance to rest between planting. They used wood for building, cooking, and burning limestone to make plaster to coat their temples. Much of the jungles were cut down, so people could no longer find fruit and animals. And so they abandoned many of their great cities, long before the Spanish invaded.

Uxmal

One thing that intrigues me about history is how some of the lessons of the past resonate today. In The Well of Sacrifice, I explored some of the reasons the Mayan civilization collapsed. But I also showed how one person could have caused change.

Eveningstar and the other characters are totally fictional, but many other things in the book are real. I never studied the Maya in school. I have college degrees in Photography and Professional Writing and Publishing. But once you know how to research, you can write about anything.

I studied history and archeology books to learn about the daily life of the Maya – what they ate and wore, their gods, their buildings, and the land around them. I was also living in New York City when I wrote the book, and I visited the amazing American Museum of Natural History to view their Mayan artifacts.

Previous posts on this blog have discussed the value of historical fiction. I'll admit, my main motive for reading and writing historical fiction is because I enjoy it. But we also can and should learn from the past. Historical fiction is a fun way to do that.

Visit my website for downloadable lesson plans to use with the Well of Sacrifice, plus lists of some historical fiction I enjoy and links to historical fiction databases.

Few books for young people have been written about the Maya, but here are some novels that cover Latin American culture from different eras. If you know of others, please add them to the comments.

Latin America Middle Grade Historical Fiction

• The Well of Sacrifice, by Chris Eboch – ninth-century Mayan drama
• Heart of a Jaguar, by Marc Talbert – Mayan (includes graphic violent scenes)
• King's Fifth, by Scott O'Dell – 1541, New Spain (Mexico)
• The Captive, by Scott O'Dell – Spanish expedition to the New World, with two sequels, The Feathered Serpent and The Amethyst Ring – early Central American civilizations.
• The Incas : A Novel, The Luck of Huemac: A Novel About the Aztecs, and Tikal, by Daniel Peters – massive epics based on the pre-Colombian civilizations of Central and South America.
• Pedro's Journal: A voyage with Christopher Columbus Aug. 3, 1492 – Feb.14, 1493, by P. Conrad
• My Name Is Not Angelica, by Scott O'Dell – 1733 Virgin Islands slavery
• El Guero: A True Adventure Story, by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino –nineteen-century Mexico
• Secret of the Andes, by Ann Nolan Clark – an Incan boy in the mountains of Peru, early twentieth century
• Grab Hands and Run, by Frances Temple – Flight from El Salvador in 1980s

Chris Eboch writes fiction and nonfiction for all ages, with several novels for ages nine and up. The Eyes of Pharaoh is an action-packed mystery set in ancient Egypt. The Genie’s Gift is an Arabian Nights-inspired fantasy adventure. In The Well of Sacrifice, a Mayan girl in ninth-century Guatemala rebels against the High Priest who sacrifices anyone challenging his power. Learn more at www.chriseboch.com or her Amazon page, or sign up for her newsletter.

Chris Eboch: Why Write Historical Fiction for Children?

I’ve always loved foreign countries and ancient cultures. My family lived in Saudi Arabia when I was in grade school, and we visited a lot of other countries. We lived in the US when I was in junior high and high school, but my parents moved back to Saudi Arabia when I was in college. For several years, my brother and I met them in a different country each year over the holidays: Britain, Germany, Australia, Italy, and in one memorable year, Egypt. I later traveled to Turkey with a friend.

I’m interested in local people all over the world, and the ancient cultures that came before them. I like to know who these people were and how they lived – not just the kings and military leaders, but regular people like us.

Drama of the Maya

After college, my best friend and I spent a summer traveling through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica. We visited the sacred pool at the ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico. I imagined a girl being thrown into the well, and living. She had to have a lot of courage and inner strength to do that. I wanted to tell her story. Writing middle grade novels seemed like a natural fit to me. I read an enormous amount as a kid, and I still enjoy reading children’s books. It fits my style, with a focus on simple, clear language and plenty of action and dialogue to keep the pages turning.

A few years later I wrote The Well of Sacrifice. I asked myself, “Why was she sacrificed? How did she survive? What did she do next?” The story came from those questions.

Revisiting The Middle East

What kid isn’t drawn to stories of pharaohs and mummies? Growing up in Saudi Arabia, and visiting Egypt in my 20s, I have some familiarity with the Middle East. I wrote a novel about the six daughters of the Pharaoh Akhenaton and Nefertiti, but it was so complex that I couldn’t quite pull it together.

I decided to write another novel set in ancient Egypt, but with a smaller cast of characters and a shorter timeframe. I was able to use much of the research I’d already done, and although writing a mystery had its own challenges, the shorter timeframe and simpler story worked well. I loved being able to bring ancient Egypt to life through a story of mystery and friendship in The Eyes of Pharaoh.

I visited the Middle East again in The Genie’s Gift. This isn’t straight historical fiction, but rather a fantasy based on the mythology in A Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights.)

The Middle East today is very different from the culture shown in my novel. Still, reminders of those days exist in the buildings, artwork, and food. And of course in the stories. The stories in A Thousand and One Nights came from Indian, Persian, Arabic, and other sources. They were collected over hundreds of years, beginning in the eighth century. They were not originally seen as children’s stories, though later translations targeted kids.

As in The Arabian Nights, The Genie’s Gift is a series of interlocking stories that make up a whole. I started with many traditional stories and adapted them to suit my needs. Legends refer to a sorceress who changed a man into marble from waist down. Gnomes were said to dwell in the mountains and play tricks on people. A mechanical/magical horse of ivory and ebony could fly, controlled by pegs under its mane. Simurgh, a magic bird, offered advice and healed people by rubbing her feathers over wounds.

This fantasy element allowed me to explore history and culture from a different angle, and hopefully reach a new audience that might not know they enjoyed history. It also allows teachers to compare and contrast realistic fiction with fantasy, historical fiction with contemporary, and fiction with nonfiction related to the same subject.

Even though historical fiction has been considered in a slump in recent years, I've been delighted by the response from young readers. Give them an angle they enjoy – a mystery, a fantasy, an adventure – and they're happy to delve into ancient worlds.

Website info and samples:

Chris Eboch’s website, with sample chapters of the books, historical fiction resources for teachers, and tips for writers.

The Well of Sacrifice

The Eyes of Pharaoh

The Genie’s Gift

Kirkus Reviews called The Well of Sacrifice, “[An] engrossing first novel….Eboch crafts an exciting narrative with a richly textured depiction of ancient Mayan society….The novel shines not only for a faithful recreation of an unfamiliar, ancient world, but also for the introduction of a brave, likable and determined heroine.”

The Eyes of Pharaoh, set in Egypt in 1177 BC, brings an ancient world to life. When Reya hints that Egypt is in danger from foreign nomads, Seshta and Horus don’t take him seriously. How could anyone challenge Egypt? Then Reya disappears. To save their friend, Seshta and Horus spy on merchants, soldiers, and royalty, and start to suspect even The Eyes of Pharaoh, the powerful head of the secret police. Will Seshta and Horus escape the traps set for them, rescue Reya, and stop the plot against Egypt in time?

The Genie’s Gift is a lighthearted action novel set in the fifteenth-century Middle East, drawing on the mythology of The Arabian Nights. Shy and timid Anise determines to find the Genie Shakayak and claim the Gift of Sweet Speech. But the way is barred by a series of challenges, both ordinary and magical. How will Anise get past a vicious she-ghoul, a sorceress who turns people to stone, and mysterious sea monsters, when she can’t even speak in front of strangers?

Amazon links:

Amazon page

The Well of Sacrifice

The Eyes of Pharaoh

The Genie’s Gift

Sara K Joiner: History Is a Story

Sara at Hadrian's Wall in England—

the sight of quite a few stories

throughout history!

Welcome to my first blog post for Mad About MG History. I've never been a contributor on a blog other than my own (and I'm pretty terrible about updating that one), so this is a new experience for me.

To help you understand why I enjoy history and historical fiction, I'll tell you a bit more about myself than on the author page. I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. The town was rather insular and almost from a different time (most people still had black-and-white televisions in the late 1970s). One of my current co-workers is almost twenty years older than I, but our childhoods were remarkably similar thanks to my small town.

But to the blog post!

I have another co-worker who is a non-traditional student working on her college degree. Recently she mentioned having some difficulties with her American history class. "I think I need a tutor," she said.

Without a moment's hesitation, I suggested my mother, who taught history in high school for almost thirty years. "She would be a great tutor," I told my co-worker. "She taught me."

Then I said something that I didn't think was that profound, but my co-worker did. "It depends on what your professor wants though. If she wants you to memorize dates, then Mom's not the best tutor. When she taught, she wanted us to know ideas rather than dates. When the Civil War started was less important than knowing why it was fought."

My co-worker said her professor didn't seem to care about dates. "You're right," she said. "If I think of it like a story, it's more interesting and easier to remember."

That's what is so valuable about historical fiction. I know so much more about the world and my place in it because of the books I read.

It is often said that history is written by the victors, and that is generally true. It's also written by the powerful. So those people who are considered unimportant and insignificant are often ignored. Fortunately, much is being done in historical research to correct this. Children's historical fiction has been doing this for years.

Every year students learn about Christopher Columbus, but what about the other side of that story? Use Morning Girl by Michael Dorris (Hyperion, 1992) in your classrooms for a look at the Native experience before Columbus arrived on that fateful day in 1492. Morning Girl is a beautiful way to show students that history is more than dry dates in a textbook and can serve as a way to get students thinking about the stories that aren't in those textbooks.

Madeleine L'Engle wrote, "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children." Historical fiction for children, especially middle-grade readers, doesn't shy away from difficult subject matter. 

Joseph Bruchac's book Hidden Roots tells the story of the Vermont Eugenics Program in the 1930s which attempted to sterilize the state's Native population. It's horrifying to think about a state trying to eradicate an entire group of people. But it happened. Bruchac's novel deals with the repercussions of that, helping readers see how history can ripple out even decades later and impact people who weren't even born at the time of the major event.

If more students regard history as a story—and not boring dates—then people like my co-worker wouldn't be as frustrated with their classes.

These are only two examples of historical fiction for middle grade readers. Visit your school or public library to find even more.

Sara K Joiner is the author of the upcoming novel After the Ashes published by Holiday House. She is also the children's coordinator for Brazoria County Library System.