Thanks for all your kind comments about the books, and your questions.
Sylvia, I hated history as a kid, too. But I blamed it on the textbooks we had here in Dallas, which were booooring, and the fact that history was nearly always taught by a coach, who wasn’t very interested in the subject. (Although one year, I had a teacher whose name was—I’m not kidding—Winston Churchill.)
Kids are so lucky today to be studying primary materials and going beyond the textbook!
I would hope that teachers and librarians might offer great nonfiction history books simply as interesting books and the student would see them as great stories, rather than as a school subject. For instance, I think girls who are playing sports would be interested in Let Me Play, without thinking of it as “history.” And I don’t see how anyone could read Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge and not be totally blown away by the power of that story.
In addition, there are lots of kids who develop a particular fascination or interest around 13 or 14—one of my girls was really into FDR and Eleanor; another loved Broadway musicals. I’ve met many boys who are avid readers about World War II or the Civil War. Hopefully, there’s good nonfiction for all of them to read.
Cheryl asked how Sam Walton could keep his private life private. It helped that he lived before the Internet took off and that he lived in Arkansas, where his neighbors were proud of him and protective of his family. I hate to say it, but people were also a little scared of him—he was very powerful. So that deterred people from gossiping, too. A few times when I asked for a photo for the book from someone in the region, the person checked in with the family first.
I’m finding the same is true of Steve Jobs. Apple was very protective of his private life and his health and so were his friends, colleagues and neighbors. Despite all the gossip websites, I think most famous people can keep their personal lives private if they really want to.
Happy reading!
Karen Blumenthal
Thanks for replying! I now love history so much, that when I retire or get too old (which is soon) to be working with teens, I want to work at the Library at the Alamo.
ReplyDeleteAnd every time we go on a road trip, I have to read the Historial Markers along the way.
My favorite period of history is WWII and the 1940's.
I recently went to New Orleans for ALA last summer and made it a point to go to the National WWII Museum and the Civil War Museum.
I love the Nimtz Museum in Fredericksburg, TX. I met a Pearl Harbor survivor, actually he was on the Arizona- and I cried and cried when I met him!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Karen! I've often pondered the same questions as Sylvia. I was also taught history by less than enthusiastic coaches during my high school career. Today, there are so many more great choices for readers, I'm a little envious!
ReplyDeleteI am holding out hope that my students will come to love this type of literature more as I don't force it upon them and encourage them to discover it on their own.
Lori Rarden
Dear Ms. Blumenthal:
ReplyDeleteI loved how you said that history was taught by coaches. That memory made me chuckle a bit. I really enjoyed what you say about the stories behind the history, how critical it is for student learning that "teachers and librarians might offer great nonfiction history books simply as interesting books."
Having that on a widespread level in a classroom would help students learn to get history and even appreciate it. Having grown up with oversized textbooks treating topics blandly and in much the same fashion--big heading, subheading, dates, maps, major personages--history was always something that happened "then" or to "someone else."
The history as stories concepts humanizes history, to be sure, and it also models to students what thorough research and appealing writing look like. The style of writing straddles fiction and nonfiction, and the use of primary sources enlivens the work. If we're looking to create literate citizens who appreciate and understand how we all got to this point in time, using more of these books in schools and classes can only help.
Even coaches could handle teaching history with some exciting materials. (As the middle school boys basketball coach at my school, I'd be willing to give it a shot.)
On another note, I found your "Cynsations" article about photographs interesting and very helpful. Thanks for the tips...my 7th graders are studying The Cay by Theodore Taylor and will definitely refer to your suggestions.
All the best,
Joe Krupp
Dear Ms. Blumenthal,
ReplyDeleteI also hated history when I was younger. The teachers were mean, boring, and there were a lot of memorizations. I remembered people saying that history was important so that you learn from your mistakes. However, it felt very distant and a bit cold for me to understand what really happened. Ok, so there were wars and many people died, there were bombings and these were the good guys and these were the bad, history was always a detached subject. However, these new non-fictions make us care about history. They put real faces and stories on the people who died and gives them a chance to tell their story. I am beginning to really appreciate non-fiction and their ability to bring light to someone’s life or situation. Thank you for writing these books to help enlighten young minds, as well as mine!
On a side note, I had a question about writing for teens vs writing for the WSJ, which do you prefer/enjoy, which is harder? And what lead you to start writing non-fiction for teens? Thanks you so much for writing for the youth and the youth at heart!
Sincerely,
ChanHee Grace Sung
TWU MLS student
I, too, hated history in school. Even into the required classes in college, it felt like every year we were fed the same set of facts and when I had to teach it, I know I didn't do it justice because I'd never liked it. In more recent years, books such as your Bootleg have turned me on to the excitement to be found when we look at the individuals involved in history and not just at the dates and names and events that the textbooks so blandly delineate. I don't think anyone in my K-12 experiences ever used resources to engage student attention (certainly not mine) in the lessons.
ReplyDeleteI hope that with more and more interesting titles for kids and teens out there, that we can get students into history that way and push those dry textbooks aside.
Thank you!
--Virginia Osborne (TWU MLS student)