Blast to the Past With Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction Stories that are based on real historical events, or times, or facts. The characters and events in historical fiction are related to a specific period in time.

Characters  Fictional or real  Behave in ways that are realistic to the time period  Speak in the language of that time period  Dress in a way that represents that time period

Setting  Takes place in the past  Often uses real historical places  Items used must be consistent with time period

Plot  Real events may be mixed with fictional events  Plot makes sense  Realistic solution to a problem that would have occurred at that time period

Some Possible Time Periods in Historical Fiction Ancient Times - Of or relating to times long past, especially those before the fall of the Western Roman Empire (A.D. 476). Middle Ages - The most common time frame is approximately C.E ’s – Pilgrims, Beginning of our country, Revolutionary War times 1800’s – Frontier life, Pioneers, Slavery & Civil War Early 1900’s – Industrialization, Immigration, Roaring 20’s, Depression, World War I 1940 – 1970’s – World War II, Korean & Vietnam Wars, Civil Rights Movement

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

In 1687 in Connecticut, Kit Tyler, feeling out of place in the Puritan household of her aunt, befriends an old woman considered a witch by the community and suddenly finds herself standing trial for witchcraft.

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African-American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, ten-year-old Annemarie learns how to be brave and courageous when she helps shelter her Jewish friend from the Nazis.

Philip, an adolescent white boy who is blinded in a torpedo attack at sea during World War II, acquires a new type of vision, courage, and love when he is stranded on a tiny Caribbean island with Timothy, a kind, elderly black man.

Story of an African- American family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s, whose children do not understand the prejudice and discrimination aimed at them.

Falsely accused of theft and murder, an orphaned peasant boy in fourteenth-century England flees his village and meets a larger-than-life juggler who holds a dangerous secret.

Let’s Review – Historical Fiction is… Realistic fiction set in a time far enough away from the present to be considered history. Story is imaginary but within the realm of possibility and constructed around actual historical facts. Brings history to life by putting appealing characters in accurately described historical settings. Tells stories of characters’ everyday lives as well as their triumphs and failures. Makes history more real and more memorable.

BLAST TO THE PAST TODAY THE END