Mary Jane Covley Walker

At a recent meeting of the Fredonia Shakespeare Club, Mary Jane Covley Walker presented her paper on “Historical Fiction In Children’s Literature”

“I love historical fiction in children’s literature,” she said. “It makes history come alive to children. It creates a better understanding of a historical period and how it affects the lives of children who lived in that period in history.

“Historical fiction was discovered in the 19th century as a powerful means to represent the past. The historical novel is a specific way to evoke the past. It existed as a genre for adults but emerged as a genre for children in many western European countries half a century later. In several western European countries this happened along with the development of history education becoming compulsory in primary education.

“History education at the time was primarily meant to build on national identity and foster patriotism. If offered an idealized, romanticized, heroic version of the past, past events and people from the past. Historical fiction became one of the most popular genres for children.

” ‘Faction’ is a narrative form in which facts and fiction are mixed to form an appealing story representing a past period or event.

“Countries and groups within a country have their favorite historical period, characters, and events. Often the plot and main character are fiction. Historical fiction shows values within a particular culture, development of a nation or cultural identity.

“Fictional children experience famous historical events and are presented as heroes, courageous, patriotic and historical facts are included. The 20th century was driven by adventure in historical fiction.

“In the past writers of historical fiction for children showed children in the Middle Ages in the times of knights, castles, crusades, witches, plagues and superstition. In depicting the 16th and 17th century historical fiction it dealt with religious wars, discovery voyages, and adventure expeditions. In the 19th century historical fiction dealt with social criticism and it was a century of human circumstances, child labor, slavery, the labor movement and revolution. In the 1960 s and 1970s there was a turning point in historical fiction. It was oriented to criticizing instead of glorifying the past. In the 1980s historical fiction focused on time travel.”