Hilary Susan Crew - Experiencing Americas Story through Fiction: Historical Novels for Grades 7-21

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Hilary S. Crew is a former associate professor at Kean University, where she taught childrens and young adult literature and was coordinator of the Educational Media Specialist Program. She has written numerous articles and three books in the field of childrens and young adult literature, including Is It Really Mother Dearest? Daughter-Mother Narratives in Young Adult Fiction (2000); Women Engaged in War: A Guide to Resources for Children and Young Adults (2007); and Donna Jo Napoli: Writing with Passion (2010). She also reviews books for VOYA magazine. She earned both an MLS and a doctorate in communication, information, and library studies from Rutgers University.

2014 by the American Library Association

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ISBNs: 978-0-8389-1225-6 (paper); 978-0-8389-1991-0 (PDF); 978-0-8389-1992-7 (ePub); 978-0-8389-1993-4 (Kindle). For more information on digital formats, visit the ALA Store at alastore.ala.org and select eEditions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Crew, Hilary S., 1942

Experiencing Americas story through fiction : historical novels for grades 712 / Hilary Crew.

pages cm

Includes .

ISBN 978-0-8389-1225-6

1. Historical fiction, AmericanBibliography. 2. Young adult fiction, AmericanBibliography. 3. Childrens stories, AmericanBibliography. 4. Historical fiction, AmericanStories, plots, etc. 5. Young adult fiction, AmericanStories, plots, etc. 6. Childrens stories, AmericanStories, plots, etc. 7. United StatesHistoryFictionBibliography. 8. United StatesIn literatureBibliography. 9. TeenagersBooks and readingUnited States. I. Title.

Z1231.H57C74 2014

[PS374.H5]

813'.081099283dc23

2014008471

Cover design by Kimberly Thornton. Cover illustration: village on the bank of North Yuba river, California, created by Blanchard and Cosson-Smeeton, first published in LIllustration, Journal Universel, Paris, 1868. Antonio Abrignani / Shutterstock, Inc.

Contents

The objective of this annotated bibliography is to provide a guide for school librarians, history teachers, and public librarians working with youth to historical novels about the United States from the colonial period to the era of the Iraq War, published between 2000 and 2013, that are appropriate for seventh to twelfth graders. The book also includes adult fiction titles for senior high school students. A concern about the lack of historical knowledge of American students is reflected in the 2010 Nations Report Card on US History. The novels included in this guide do, however, address important issues and topics addressed by the National Standards for History and in national testing. Examples include federal and state policies toward Native Americans, civil rights, child labor, immigration, and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Many states recent adoption of the Common Core State Standards has further spurred the use of texts other than standard history textbooks for the teaching of history and social studies.

There has been a move toward a more inclusive understanding of American history as more historical novels are published from the perspectives of voices representing different cultures, races, and ethnicities. Noticeable, too, is the wide range of topics covered by historical novels, ranging from discoveries in astronomy and medicine to the history of baseball. Recent novels contribute to different perspectives on the past, such as the effect of the Cold War on an Iupiaq family in Debby Edwardsons Blessings Bead and the Vietnam War seen through the lens of a female photographer in Tatjana Solis The Lotus Eaters. An increasing number of novels are written in diverse narrative forms. Myra Zarnowski points out, for example, that Jen Bryants multiple-voiced verse novel on the Scopes trial, raises social issues from different perspectives. The 1920s come to life in memorabilia, vintage postcards, and advertisements in Caroline Prestons The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt (Ecco, 2011), and the Great Depression is experienced in arresting graphics in James Vance and Dan Burrs Kings in Disguise (W. W. Norton, 2006).

Writers explore the relationship between history as story and historical fiction. Allan Wolf writes that he has allowed fantasy to play within the confines of fact. When it comes to historical fiction, history is the birdcage; fiction is the bird.

Selection of Novels

The books annotated here are for seventh grade and up. To include a wide range of reading levels, books are featured that are suggested for grades 5 through 7 and for grades 5 through 8. Adult fiction titles for senior high school students are also included. Most books included here have publication dates between the years 2000 and 2013. Exceptions include four award-winning books published in the 1990s that were not included in America as Story: Historical Fiction for Middle and Secondary Schools (American Library Association, 1997). Novels were selected for their literary merit and for their strength as historical novels. Many of the novels selected for this book are recipients of one or more awards or have been listed on various notable lists. Others were selected from among starred reviews in various journals.

Awards for books for seventh to twelfth grade include major American Library Association awards for youth literature: Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpr, and Printz awards. Other awards include the American Indian Youth Literature Award, the National Book Award for Young Peoples Literature, the Amricas Book Award for Childrens and Young Adult Literature, the Sydney Taylor Book Award, and the Western Writers of Americas Spur Award. Awards recognizing a books value as a historical novel include the Scott ODell Award for Historical Fiction, Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People, the Jane Addams Childrens Book Award, and Booklists Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth. Lists include ALA Notable Childrens Books and YALSAs Best Books and Best Fiction lists (or Young Adult Lists).

Awards for adult novels include the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Western Writers of Americas Spur Award. Major awards for excellence in American historical fiction include the American Book Awards, the David J. Langum Sr. Prize, the Michael Shaara Prize for Excellence in Civil War Fiction, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize. Also noted is a novels inclusion on Booklists Top 10 Historical Novels. Awards for adult novels for teens include the Alex Award, Outstanding Books for the College Bound, and School Library Journals Best Adult Books for High School Students (which in 2010 was replaced by the web-based SLJ Best Adult Books 4 Teens).

Reviewing journals included Booklist, Bulletin of the Center for Childrens Books, Horn Book Magazine, Library Journal, Multicultural Review, School Library Journal, VOYA, History Teacher, Journal of American History, Social Studies, and Social Education.

Abbreviations Used in Annotations for Prizes and Lists

American Library Association Notable Childrens Book = ALA Notable