A HUGE thank you to all who entered our giveaway of Bobbi Miller's new book: The Barbary Chronicles: The Lost Prince.
And congratulations to our winner: Pat Y.
She'll soon receive her autographed copy directly from Bobbi.
I'm looking forward to reading the book myself. If you don't have a copy yet of The Barbary Chronicles: The Lost Prince, I hope you'll get one soon from your favorite independent bookseller or at Bookshop.org.
Happy writing!
Carmela
You may have heard the news: I have a new book, The Barbary Chronicles: The Lost Prince!
The game is on!
No one plays the game like Jack London. Only eleven years old, she can pickpocket and flummox any unsuspecting rube who wanders into the muck of the Barbary Coast.
All Jack's skills are tested when one of her own falls ill and she pinches a gold pocketwatch to pay for a doctor. The watch belongs to the richest man in San Francisco, and it plunges Jack into a whole world of trouble. She soon finds herself on the run from rival gangs, corrupt coppers, and the ruthless, self-proclaimed King of the Barbary Coast.
Jack may be little, but she's clever and bold. With the help of a devoted stray dog, a kidnapped prince, and the scummiest ex-best friend ever, she'll do everything she can to save her found family!
Art by Allysa Adams
“Vivid settings lend authenticity to the tale, while memorably rendered supporting characters and themes of loyalty, found family, and resilience give the story emotional depth. It’s a spirited romp that brings a swashbuckling era and location to life. Ages 9–12." – Publishers Weekly
History inspires me, especially American history. I write historical American fantasy, a blend of American history with the tall tale tradition that captures so much of the American identity. In exploring themes of racial and social justice, I recreate historical communities of those who often feel unseen and unheard, those whose isolated lives were complex and multi-layered, not only defined by class, gender and race, but also lived experiences. In Barbary Chronicles, Jack London and her crew live in the shadows of San Francisco’s elite. They build a community that connects their diverse experiences. They eventually realize they are stronger together and ultimately discover that in rising up, united in resistance, they empower each other to write their own story and to create their own destiny. Such stories empower the young, and often reluctant, reader to seek and discover the hero within herself.
"Rich Historical Setting: Bobbi Miller brings the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of post-Gold Rush San Francisco to life with vivid detail and historical accuracy.
Intrigue & Survival: The plot weaves together mysterious secrets, thrilling action sequences, and tight-knit loyalty on the city streets.
Chosen Family: Beyond the thrilling adventure, the book explores powerful, heart-warming themes of friendship, trust, and forming a chosen family. . . . This is pure, high-octane entertainment from start to finish...
“Fantastic” crossover appeal and “a wonderful bedtime read-aloud book that parents and kids can enjoy together!”
– Valerie Mitchell, Mama Likes This
Let's Celebrate with a Giveaway!
To enter our drawing for an autographed copy of Barbary Chronicles: The Lost Prince, send an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line. To qualify, you must provide your first and last name in the body of the email and be a follower of our TeachingAuthors blog, either via Follow.It (see link in our website sidebar) or Facebook at www.facebook.com/teachingauthors
We'd also love if you would post a comment below telling us what you'll do with the book if you win: keep it for yourself or give it to someone special.
NOTE: Because of mailing costs, the giveaway is open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
Be sure to check your inbox on Thursday--if the winner doesn't reply within 48 hours of notification, we will choose an alternate. The winner's name will be announced as soon after verification as possible. Good luck to all!
"...The book held my attention and interest and made me keep wanting to read. I think most middle grade readers will feel the same. They will be rooting for the underdogs..." -- Carrie, Crafty Moms Share
To celebrate girls as heroes, and Poetry Friday, I highlight one of my heroes, Phillis Wheatley. Kidnapped from Gambia, West Africa as a child, enslaved in Boston by the Wheatley family, she was educated in Greek and Latin classics. She was emancipated in 1773 after the publication of her first book and gained international fame. In 1775, at age twenty-two, she sent this poem to George Washington, imploring him to seek freedom for enslaved peoples as he did for the colonies from British rule. An interesting sidenote, she refers to “Columbia’ in this poem. Columbia is the female national personification of the United States at the time.
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| Credit: MPI/Getty Images |
His Excellency General Washington
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails.
Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
While round increase the rising hills of dead.
Ah! Cruel blindness to Columbia’s state!
Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
Thy ev’ry action let the Goddess guide.
A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.
For more information about this revolutionary poet and hero, read A Tribute to Phillis Wheatley.
Who is your hero? Let me know what you think!
-- Bobbi Miller
Want to buy a copy of Barbary Chronicles? Here!
For more details about Barbary Chronicles, including a downloadable reader’s guide and activities, visit Charlesbridge Moves book page here!
Trigger Warning: This post contains terminology that although objectionable today, was considered scientifically and medically correct in the first half of the twentieth century. The books under discussion, set circa 1928, use these terms unsparingly.
Being the last of the group to write about Historical Fiction leaves me in something of a pickle. Everyone has done such a good job covering the various aspects of the genre, there is not much I can add ... except this.
Historical fiction for children tends to dwell on the sunny side of life; young adult, not so much. Older readers can handle the not-so-lovely aspects of our history. One topic that has gotten some recent interest is eugenics.
The Nazis didn't invent eugenics. The eugenics movement first gained popularity in pre-WWI America with the theory that all human traits are inherited--nature vs nurture. The result was institutionalization of anyone who fell outside the parameters of "normal." This included the mentally and physically challenged as well as the mentally ill, women of "poor character" (sexually active outside of marriage), homosexuals, and a list of conditions and diseases that are treatable today.
Eugenics also played a large role in the Immigration Act of 1922, which placed quotas on immigration from southern and eastern Europe (the non-Anglo-Saxon areas) and banned Asian immigration altogether. Lest you think this is all in the dim dark past, consider our current immigration policies. Know that the last "eugenics asylum" closed in the early 2000's. Forced sterilization continued into the early 1980's.
Two YA books that address this subject are The Foundling by Ann Leary and The Degenerates by J. Albert Mann. Both take place in U.S. "schools for feeble-minded women" in the 1920's. Both are based on actual institutions.
The Foundling is told from the viewpoint of 18-year-old Mary, raised in a Catholic orphanage and then boarded, grudgingly, with an aunt. Trained as a secretary, she is excited to find a job with a notable "lady doctor" who runs the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. Mary has never met such a glamorous, highly educated woman as Dr. Vogel, a paragon of virtue, devoting her life to the care of the "feebleminded." The institution is set up as a gated village in the wilds of Pennsylvania. Mealtimes are shared by staff and inmates, allowing Mary to observe the allegedly mentally impaired women, finding them little different from herself. She is shocked to recognize, Lillian, an old acquaintance from the orphanage, a girl she had admired. She knows that Lillian is in no way feebleminded. When she talks to Lillian, she learns that her "crime" was giving birth to a child of a black man, out of wedlock. She begs Mary to help her escape. In the ensuing intrigue and chaos, Mary learns the truth about Dr. Vogel's altruism and what happens to those who oppose her.
Just when you think that the author has perhaps too much imagination in creating such a world, you learn that she was inspired by her own grandmother, who worked in such a "eugenics asylum," also in the wilds of Pennsylvania.
The Foundling begins as a typical "girl sets out to find love and adventure" story. The reader slowly learns the horror of the Village along with Mary.
In contrast, The Degenerates hits you with reality from the first page. Told from four different third person POV's, you first meet London. She's a fourteen-year-old orphaned, Italian immigrant who has bounced from foster home to foster home for ten years. She is smart, streetwise and mouthy. She's also pregnant from her one attempt to form a friendship. When she tells the boy responsible, he tells the police. The next thing London knows, she is arrested and dragged away, for being "a knocked-up, moron, dago slut." The paddy wagon delivers her to the Massachusetts School for the Feebleminded, a "school," she soon learns, from which no one ever "graduates."
As London plans her escape, she meets the other teens who share her fate. Maxine and her younger sister Rose (who has Down Syndrome but who in the parlance of the time is called a "mongoloid") are the only girls in a large family of boys. Rose is too much trouble for their overworked mother, and Maxine might as well go with her. Two less mouths to feed. Maxine never gives up hope that their mother will retrieve them. Their mother needs help with all those boys. Four years later, Maxine is still waiting.
The cot next to the sisters is occupied by Alice, dumped off by a brother who did not want the burden of a child with a clubfoot. Alice and Maxine are in love, another "crime" they are hiding from their abusive "caretakers." Alice is black and rarely speaks. She knows that the slightest infraction will sentence her to the dreaded solitary cells.
If this sounds like a grim story, it is. There was a real Massachusetts School for the Idiotic and Feebleminded, founded in 1848 by esteemed educator Samuel Gridley Howe, the first such institution in the Western Hemisphere. It eventually became the Fernald School, infamous in the 1940's and 50's for medical experiments secretly performed in the boys' section. But in the fictional world of London and her friends, the bond among the four girls, their never-say-die attitude and eternal hope for a "happy ending" keeps you reading.
Although the books are set in 1928, the lack of sexual autonomy is still an issue for females nearly a hundred years later. The reasons for institutionalization for the most part have cures, or are more socially accepted today. However, control over their bodies is still largely in the hands of the state. Some things never change.
Posted by Mary Ann Rodman
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| Barbary Chronicles, Charlesbridge Moves 2026. Art by Allysa Adams |
As Teaching Authors celebrates America’s 250, with Esther
kicking off the series with her list of oldies and goodies, Carmela offers some interesting titles, and Zeena asks the important question, who writes history?
I love American history. That’s why I write about it. In
exploring themes of racial and social justice, I recreate historical
communities of those who often feel unseen and unheard, those whose isolated
lives were complex and multi-layered, not only defined by class, gender and
race , but also lived experiences.
You may have heard that I have a new book coming out in
October. The Barbary Chronicles, published with Charlesbridge Moves!
No one plays the game like Jack London. Only eleven years old, she can pickpocket and flummox any unsuspecting rube who wanders into the muck of the Barbary Coast. Jack may be little, but she's clever and bold. With the help of a devoted stray dog, a kidnapped prince, and the scummiest ex-best friend ever, she'll do everything she can to save her found family.
Historical fiction is the coming together of two opposing
elements: fact and fiction. As we know, it isn’t easy to define historical
fiction. For some, historical fiction is first fiction, and therefore anything
goes, especially during these times when facts can be alternative and history
can be revised. The ongoing argument on how and why historical fiction is
relevant, and by extension why history is important, seems perplexing. As a
writer, one of the most stinging rejections that I get too many times is that,
despite an interesting plot and engaging characters, historical fiction is a “hard
sell.” Not just to publishers but also to readers.
So why is historical fiction important? I am reminded of a
story once shared by historian David
McCullough, echoing Abraham Lincoln’s cautionary, “Fellow citizens, we cannot
escape history.” After a lecture, McCullough had been approached by a college
sophomore who expressed her surprise to learn that the thirteen original
colonies were located on the East Coast. He realized with profound surprise that
young people did not know their own history, stating, “They don’t know what happened, or why, or who
was involved.” I’m also a big fan and
reader of historian Heather Cox Richardson’s excellent writing in her newsletter
Letters from an American, as well as her books (To Make Men Free, 2021; How the
South Won the Civil War, 2020) in which she answers questions about American
history that no one remembers.
But it’s also true, textbooks are dreary, often done by
committee, often heavily edited to make certain important but brutal events
more agreeable.
It has always been my ardent belief that underscores all my
writing is that history is a story about people facing insurmountable odds. History
is about families and love, and failure, and fear and hope. History tells us
what it means to be human, and historical fiction reflects the feeling for a
living past.
Combine reading of the story with a relevant activity, such
as cooking a historical recipe, creating costumes or studying primary source
articles. I find diaries and letters are of particular interest to young
readers.
Create a living timeline, using a long strip of paper (or a
wall!) to map out the chronological order, then have the readers work together
to draw their favorite scenes or use stickers to mark the events.
Draw a comic strip from the perspective of one of the secondary
characters in the book.
Celebrate the music of the era of the novel by learning a few
songs the characters might sing. Sea shanties are particularly fun songs to
learn. Learn how to dance an English country dance, a waltz, or a quadrille!
Do a history scavenger hunt, visiting museums, historical
parks or landmarks. Have the readers locate specific artifacts and answer trivia
about exhibits that might relate to the novel. There’s also online databases,
3D gallery tours and digital newspaper archives that readers can use to solve
historical puzzles!
Make history more personal, have readers find an object
in their house that is older than 50 years, and have them write a story about
it. Visit a local graveyard, finding the oldest gravestone and record the name and
date, and have readers write a newstory about this person.
For more ideas, you can find activities based on The Barbary Chronicles here!
We have the best adventures are on our own landscape! The western frontier, the Mississippi, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, New York, the Midwest and the Southwest, the coming together of many cultures, many languages and many stories—why, we have the BEST stories in our own front yard! Telling a story is like singing a song. A good story has its rhythms and its refrains. Words sway and swing and slide across the page. When we read a good story, it feels like we're dancing.-- Bobbi Miller
Today I continue our series on kidlit books related to United States history by celebrating the release of a friend's new Revolutionary War-era novel. And, in honor of Poetry Friday, I also share a famous poem set during the American Revolution. Can you guess the poem?
As Esther mentioned in her post kicking off this series, we TeachingAuthors are commemorating our nation's 250th birthday by discussing books we love that highlight U.S. history. Unlike Esther, I don't recall reading history-based fiction or nonfiction at a young age. I think I was in high school when I first read such books as Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Interestingly, these novels would not have been considered historical fiction when they were published--they described contemporary events and situations. But for me, reading them one hundred years or so after their publication, I felt like I'd time-traveled to the past. And I loved the experience.
Earlier this week, I learned that we TeachingAuthors aren't the only ones reflecting on books tied to American History. The Authors Guild has compiled a list of Essential Reading for America 250, with many of the books on the list recommended by well known authors. Looking over the titles, which are arranged by historical era, I found I've read only about ten so far. Those include Little Women, nominated by Jane Smiley, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, nominated by Scott Turow, and Charlotte’s Web nominated by Adriana Trigiani. I've added many of the other titles to my To-Be-Read (TBR) list.
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| See the list on the Authors Guild site here. |
Today, I'd like to recommend a new young-adult novel I hope you'll want to add to YOUR TBR list--one inspired by real people and events: Sculptor and Spy: Romance and Rebellion in the Time of the American Revolution, written by my friend Julie Phend. Sculptor and Spy is based on the lives of famed waxwork artist Patience Wright, her daughter Betsy, and patriot Ebenezer Platt, who was a member of the Sons of Liberty.
Full disclosure: I've been in a critique group with Julie for over six years, so I have had the privilege of watching her hone this story into a finely crafted novel rich in historical detail. I had never heard of Patience Wright and knew nothing of the art of wax sculpting before reading this book. I love learning about history through fiction, and Sculptor and Spy is an engaging read that taught me much about the American Revolution. There's plenty of intrigue to keep readers turning the pages, and a touch of romance, too. Here's the summary from Julie's website.
1773. As revolution ignites the American colonies, seventeen-year-old Betsy Wright is swept into a world far larger—and more dangerous—than she ever imagined. After a devastating fire destroys her family’s waxwork studio, she meets Eb Platt, one of New York’s Liberty Boys, and they dream of a future free from the tyrannies of the British Crown.
When Betsy is summoned to London to help her mother create wax figures of the King and Queen, she seizes the chance to spy for the Sons of Liberty, sending secret messages in her letters to Eb. Her search for intelligence leads her from teeming streets and rough docks to the royal court, where she encounters the King’s powerful prime minister, Lord North, who intends to crush the Colonies—and anyone who stands in his way.
Hoping to learn more, Betsy becomes close to Lord North’s assistant, the charming and handsome Samuel Wells, whose attentions may conceal motives of his own. As accusations mount and loyalties blur, Betsy must figure out who can be trusted—before those she loves are accused of the ultimate crime: treason.
I hope you'll check out Sculptor and Spy and encourage your local library to buy a copy, too. The book released just last week, on July 15. Unfortunately, due to an unexpected glitch, only the ebook is currently available on Bookshop.org, but the paperback should also be there soon. Meanwhile, both versions are available on Amazon.
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| Here I am with Julie Phend at an Anderson's Bookshop event last fall. |
I asked Julie if she knew of a related poem I could include in today's post for Poetry Friday. She suggested "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in part, because Paul Revere's ride is mentioned in Sculptor and Spy. Like the book's character, Ebenezer Platt, Revere was a member of the Sons of Liberty.
I remember "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" from my own school days and always admired it. Modern critics tend to focus on the poem's historical inaccuracies. But I learned recently that some say those were intentional. Longfellow wrote "The Midnight Ride" (also known as "Paul Revere's Ride") as the nation stood on the brink of the Civil War. His goal was not necessarily to portray the true events but rather to stir up patriotism. Did you guess this would be the poem I'd share today? Here are the opening stanzas:
Paul Revere's Ride
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,—
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”
Happy writing!
Carmela
In honor of our nation's 250th Birthday,
my fellow TeachingAuthors and I have chosen
to celebrate in our upcoming posts children's
books that celebrate the American Revolution
and our country's history.
I proudly kick-off the series with Red-White-and
Blue Oldies-but-Goodies that remind me of...
me! - so that I can recommend them to you!
(Apologies to Little Caesar and the Romans.)
First, there's Me, as in, Me the Child who
treasured her "Orange True Books."
My bedroom bookshelf held:
Betsy Ross: Girl of Old Philadelphia;
Ben Franklin: Printer's Boy;
Martha Washington: Girl of Old Virginia.
FYI: I'm a Philly Girl, a product of the
Philadelphia Schools until I was 10.
Stories about the childhoods of colonials were
right up my alley, so to speak, as in Elfreth's
Alley which I visited with my Overbrook
Elementary School classmates every year,
before or after visiting Ben Franklin's grave
at 5th and Arch Streets and Betsy Ross'
house at 2nd and Arch.
Bobbs-Merrill began publishing the
Childhood of Famous Americans series
with its fictionalized narrative storylines in
1932, releasing 220 titles until 1958.
You can see the titles here.
The goal of the series? "To make the child of
today the friend and playmate of great
Americans of the past."
In 1950 Random House began offering a
similar, though fact-driven, children's
history series: Landmark Books.
You can see the titles here.
But I remained True Blue to my Orange
True Books.
Next, there's the Me who earned a B.S. in
Elementary Education from the University
of Pennsylvania.
It was in my Children's Literature class that
I first met Newbery and Caldecott medalist
Robert Lawson and his revered (forgive the
pun) titles, including Mr. Revere and I:
Being an Account of Certain Episodes in
the Career of Paul Revere, Esq. as
Revealed by his Horse (Little Brown, 1953)
and Ben and Me (Little Brown, 1939).
Both books are considered timeless. Indeed,
both have been re-released with new
covers several times since the initial
publishing. Ben and Me became a movie.
My professor, Dr. Huus, held the bar high
for children's books.
I introduced Ben and Paul to the delight of
my fifth graders at Bryn Mawr Elementary
School while Student Teaching.
You can read reviews of Robert Lawson's
books here.
Finally, there's Me, the long-time Fifth
Grade Teacher at Chicago's Morgan Park
Academy, then Kenilworth's Joseph Sears
School, who took joy in amplifying the
Scott-Foresman Social Studies text
In the Americas to teach the American
Revolution via Esther Forbes' 1944
Newbery Medal Winner Johnny Tremain.
The novel follows 14-year-old Boston
silversmith apprentice Johnny from the
start of the Revolution onward as he
comes to make sense of the war.
Forbes used official records, diary entries,
letters of actual apprentices so that
Readers - my fifth graders - lived the
experience in Johnny's shoes, mind and
heart.
Not all historical critics agreed on Forbes'
presentation of the war.
My students agreed, though, how Johnny
helped them be there, living our history.
I remain connected to many of my former
students, now grandparents (!), and all
can recite the words that drove the story:
"Pride goeth before a fall."
Were I teaching the Revolution today to
5th graders, they'd be reading Johnny
Tremain.
With apologies again to Caesar and the
Romeros, what fun walking down Memory
Lane to write about the above BOOKS of
my past.
May one of them help you remember a
Red-White-and-Blue Oldie-but-Goodie,
with hopes you'll share the title and/or
memory in our comments.
Happy Birthday, America!
Esther Hershenhorn
P.S.
Thanks to Jan at BookSeedStudios for
hosting today's Poetry Friday.
Happy Friday!
Today, I continue our TeachingAuthors series on something fun, interesting, or unusual we did over the summer. Esther kicked off the series back in August with this post about the joy she experienced facilitating a Manuscript Workshop in Vermont and also while helping several of her authors birth new books. Next, April gave us this sneak peek into her writing retreat with her best friend, Bruce Balan, and she shared a sensory-filled poetry writing prompt. Mary Ann wrote in September of rediscovering Brenda Ueland's classic So You Want to Write and being once again inspired to write with JOY. (Hmm. That seems a recurring theme here.) And most recently, Bobbi discussed starting a new chapter of her life and contemplating What happens next? In today's post, I will share bits of writing-related news and a recently published poem. You'll also find a link to this week's Poetry Friday roundup at the end of the post.
We've had an unseasonably warm fall so far in the Chicago area, and a taste of summer seems to still linger here in the middle of October. I kicked off summer with a visit to downtown Naperville to check out the 18 painted duck sculptures scattered around town. (Watch a video about the ducks here.)
However, I didn't spend as much time outdoors this summer as I would have liked. Instead, I worked on bringing my young adult historical Playing by Heart back into print. I don't recall if I've mentioned here that the book's publisher, Vinspire Publishing, closed their doors unexpectedly in late 2024. I was shocked by the news, but grateful they returned all rights to their authors before completely shutting down.
Years ago, after I got the rights back from Candlewick for my first novel, Rosa, Sola, I self-published the paperback and ebook versions. But lots has changed since then, and it took longer to get Playing by Heart back into print than I expected. I was finally able to release the new edition, which now includes book discussion questions, on September 8. I'm hoping the book discussion questions will be used by book clubs, classroom teachers, and homeschooling groups. And I'm inviting these groups to join my 25 Book Clubs Challenge.
As a thank you for participating, I'm offering a free virtual visit to any group that reads the book. I love sharing the true story of the two amazing sisters who inspired Playing by Heart, so I hope you'll help spread the word to any group that might be interested. While Playing by Heart is considered young adult because the main characters are teens, many adult readers have enjoyed it, including members of two adult book clubs I've already visited. Please help me meet my goal of speaking to at least 25 groups! For more about the challenge, see the Book Clubs page of my website.
I'm also happy to share two other bits of publication news I received over the summer. First, I found out that my story, “Blessing in Disguise,” was accepted for publication in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas: 101 Joyful Holiday Stories edited by Amy Newmark, which released just this week!
You may recall that I had a story in last year's Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas: 101 Stories of Holiday Joy, Love and Gratitude. It's fun to have stories in back-to-back Chicken Soup holiday books. But what makes this even MORE fun is the fact that my friend and critique group partner Julie Phend also has a story in The Spirit of Christmas, and we'll be having a joint book signing at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville on Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM! Details are posted on the Anderson's website here. I hope some of our TeachingAuthors readers will join us!
My second bit of publishing news is that I have a poem in the fall 2025 issue of Little Thoughts Press Magazine. The poem, "Thirsty Amaryllis" is one I first wrote years ago, but it wasn't until recently that I revised it to my satisfaction. I hope you can read it in the photo I took of the magazine page below. Or you can get your own copy of the magazine in print or pdf form here.
Happy writing!
Carmela
The genre of historical fiction is very broad, one that Mary
Burns (1995) labels a “hybrid and a shape-shifter,” combining history with
fiction. Or, as Trevor Cairney (2009)
suggests, historical fiction is where “literature meets history.” Avi, an
award-winning master of the genre, offers that some historical fiction stays
close to the known facts, while others are little more than costume drama.
“Ultimately, what is most important is the story, and the characters.” Facts,
according to Avi, do not make a story. “Believable people do…Truth may be
stranger than fiction, but fiction makes truth less a stranger.”
Remember that historical fiction is the coming together of
two opposing elements: fact and fiction. History tends to be written by those
who survived it. The meaning of history, just as it is for the novel, lays “not
in the chain of events themselves, but on the historian’s [and writer’s]
interpretation of it,” as Jill Paton Walsh once noted.
I’m often asked how I go about researching my own historical fiction. Because I tend to write stories of forgotten heroes, even as I reveal familiar events, in new, unexpected ways my initial research focuses on titles that explore this other side of history, allowing me to experience those perspectives that were not allowed their own stories. History is more than dates. History is people, too. In the best of historical fiction, as with any story, a child becomes a hero who gains power over their situation, a theme that contemporary readers appreciate.
Harriet Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,
written by herself (first published in 1861 by Thayer & Eldridge; L.
Barsky, ed., The Townsend Library, 2004.) is a heart wrenching autobiography.
Jacobs is addressing White Northern women who cannot comprehend the evils of
slavery. Her story reveals in excruciating detail her journey from slave girl
to free woman, how she navigates the horrors of her life in her fight
to preserve her human dignity. Writing her story is Jacobs’ ultimate act of
self-assertion.
The Autobiography of Solomon Northup: Twelve Years a Slave (first published in 1853 by Derby & Miller; S. Eakin, Eakin Films & Publishing, 2013.) is another gut punch of a read. Northup is a free man, a skilled carpenter and violinist. Offered a high-paying job as a musician, he traveled to Washington, D.C. Too late he discovered he had been tricked. Drugged and bound, he was sold as a slave, and sent to New Orleans. In her article, The Cultural Significance of Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave , Mollie Lieblich explains:
Ashes: The Seeds of America Trilogy, by Laurie Halse
Anderson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2016) is a modern classic (in my
opinion), a thumping good read as noted by the New York Times, that illustrates
this process of blending fact and fiction. She weaves these experiences of Jacobs
and Northup into a new life in this story of enslaved Isabel as she continues her
search for her sister, Ruth (began in Anderson’s award-winning, Chains, another of my favorite reads),
and their flight to freedom.
“Historical fiction helps young readers develop a feeling for a living past, illustrating the continuity of life,” says Karen Cushman, another master writer of historical fiction. Reading a blend of history and historical fiction helps me envision how I might bring my own characters to life.
Just a note, Teaching Authors is taking a winter break and
our posts will resume on January 19.
Until then, I wish you a historical happy holiday!
--Bobbi Miller
Consider today’s post the caboose, pulling up the rear of our
summer train of themed blog posts about the one book that each
of us learned from this past year.
(Or in April’s case, the one book that changed her.)
Of course I’ve known from the get-go the book I’d be choosing,
and the twist on our theme it demanded - i.e. the book that struck
me like a bolt of lightning: My Own Lightning (Dutton, May,
2022), Lauren Wolk’s sequel to the Newbery Honor Winner
Wolf Hollow (Dutton, 2016).
I leave the compelling and surprising plotlines of both books to
future Readers.
Suffice it to say, when I left 12-year-old Annabelle McBride in
western Pennsylvania’s Wolf Hollow in 1946, her heart was heavy,
weighed down with matters of truth-telling and justice and
kindness, of personal responsibility “when doing right can go
very wrong.” She was telling her story first person, past tense,
years after the action that showed her she mattered. She grabbed
my heart and refused to let go.
So imagine my delight when she beckoned me again, this time at
the start of summer of that very same year. Except now her spirit
lay low. Might-have-beens and if-onlys distracted her, she shared.
What-ifs consumed her. And just like that, in the blink of an eye,
her world once more “tipped on its axis”! The lightning that struck
her that stormy June day heightened her sensibilities, especially to
emotions, and changed her outright. Or rather, eventually and for
the better, outright and inward. Empathy has a way of setting
straight misunderstandings, teaching us how to forgive, both
others and ourselves. The story’s illumination of such Truths
caused me to “fizzle and crackle” right along with Annabelle,
despite the difference in our ages, as if we were both still full
of lightning.
My own lightning, indeed.
Katherine Paterson superbly described the kind of magic Lauren
Wolk conjures up.
“What happens is a reciprocal gift between writer and reader:
one heart in hiding reaching out to another.”
Each of Lauren Wolk’s “Book Daughters” as she calls them in this
interview with Horn Book’s Roger Sutton, has gifted me
accordingly.
Crow in Beyond the Bright Sea, a story set on the Elizabeth Islands
off the coast of Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1925.
Ellie in Echo Mountain, a story set in
Maine in 1934.
A fifth grader recently queried Ms. Wolk if she might write a story
featuring all three of her young female characters, resurrecting a
story idea she’d put aside.
We Readers can only heartfully hope.
Esther Hershenhorn
Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! (my poem, the PF link, and a link to my upcoming Poetry for Children class are all below)
This round, we, in the towering TeachingAuthors' treehouse, are recommending a book (or two or three) we love.
Zeena starts us off by introducing her fellow NCTE presenters and their books; Bobbi follows, recommending three wonderful books on the nuts and bolts of writing and the business of writing while inspiring us with well-chosen quotes; Mary Ann sings the praises of the most wonderful time of the year--book recommendations,
And now it's my turn.
Man, oh, man. Just as Charlotte wove "some pig" in her web,
1.The first picture book, by Carole Boston Weatherford, Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Masacre , pulled back the curtain on a history I knew nothing about. (Watch a YouTube reading of it here).
(My book club paired that picture book with the beautifully presented, thoroughly researched Black Birds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert for ages 14 and up, which got six starred reviews.)
2. The second picture book, by Lee Wind and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, Red and Green and Blue and White, has gotten four starred reviews and was featured in the New York Times as one of the best books of 2021.
It's a beautifully told story inspired by a true incident. We all know the phrase Show, don't Tell. Well, this picture book sure shows "how a community came together in response to an act of bigotry."
And there you have my book recommendations!
WHAT HE DOES WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING
by April Halprin Wayland
POTUS leans BACK under the OAK.
“Man-oh-man, this is the best.”
And it was: his CANOE,
the smell of BACON wrapped KABOBs
and corn on the COB.
No need to think about BANK rates
or snakes out to get him.
None of that.
Just ripples on the river
and their EBB and flow against the shore.
Nothing more.
How this poem came to be:
I was trying to come up with a poem for a live poetry reading. The topic for each poet was: VISIONS OF HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
That day I read an opinion piece by columnist Robin Abcarian. The first two words in the title of her article were: "President Backbone."
I decided to write an In One Word poem [see how to write an In One Word poem] based on the word backbone.
Total Number of words made out of Backbone = 85.
Of the 85, these words appealed to me the most--hence this was my playground:
beacon beckon kabob bacon canoe ocean cone cake cane once bone bake bane babe bank beak bean back oak nab ace boa can cob con one ebb eon ban cab bob1) on ok no be
=======================================
So...maybe not everything has been horrid.
Thank you, Cathy, of Merely Day by Day for hosting!
Poem (c) 2021 by April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
Posted with love by April Halprin Wayland and the Procrastinate Fairy.
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| Sebel's gravestone in Patterson, NY |
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of a lovely feminine Paul Revere
Who rode an equally famous ride
Through a different part of the countryside,
Where Sybil Ludington's name recalls
A ride as daring as that of Paul's.
--Berton Braley, Sybil Ludington’s Ride. Published in The Sunday Star: This Week's Magazine. Washington D.C. April 14, 1940. Sybil Ludington; The Call to Arms, by V.A. Dacquino. 2000, Purple Mountain Press.
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| Some of my research. |
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