Children’s Historical Fiction – Bringing History to Life

Engage, Inform, Inspire

Reading can do many things – introduce us to new people, places, experiences, ideas and possibilities that we may never have known but for a book. It can also project us forward into the future and back into the past. And although dwelling on the past is not seen to be a good idea, knowing and understanding it does help to know and understand the present and the future. 

However, engaging in the past can sometimes be difficult, as it can be with anything. One way of engaging with history is through fiction, be it TV shows, films or books. This method of exposing the viewer or reader to history through characters that they might be able to relate to and care about, can be a powerful one as the viewer/reader begins to learn things about history without really realising they are learning anything. However, up until the mid-1990s there weren’t too many books out there for children that could be classed as historical fiction, contemporary writers of the mid to late 20th Century tended to write contemporary fiction – although there were exceptions, such as Marita Conlon-McKenna with her Children of the Famine trilogy, the first book of the trilogy, Under the Hawthorn Tree, was published in 1990 – but generally speaking any history books for children were non-fiction texts. Of course there were books set in the past, but they tended to have been written in the past too, such as the likes of Anne of Green GablesThe Adventures of Tom SawyerThe Famous Five etc. 

Fortunately, things have changed in recent times and there is now a plethora of books under the children’s historical fiction umbrella, including some fantastic reads from brilliant Irish authors too. After all, Ireland has such a rich and varied history that there are so many wonderful stories just begging to be told, some well-known, others not known at all. In our TPP Reading Club we’ve had the privilege of featuring some of these historical feasts as our ‘Book of the Month’ this season – Sarah Webb’s The Weather Girls, Natasha Mac a’Bháird’s The Tower Ghost, Alan Nolan’s The Riddle of the Disappearing Dickens and, this month’s ‘Book of the Month’, Judi Curtin’s Sally and the Last Photograph

All these books focus on different periods in Ireland’s history, fictionalising them, but also basing them on a huge dose of realism. These engaging narratives not only entertain, but also educate, the reader on periods in history they will never experience in real life. Each novel has child protagonists at the centre, helping to draw the young reader into past times. Some of the novels also include historical notes at the end, further explaining the context within which the stories are set. 

Ireland’s history is one of fascination with so much to explore – and a child can get no better start than delving into Ireland’s history through a children’s book. 

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