Recently, I've been reading some books written for younger audiences. Although they aren't as complicated thematically as some other books I've been reading, they deserve a post on here. I'm a little backstocked as far as books are concerned...
I've been reading stuff like Light in the Forest, different Redwall books, Men of Iron--some old classics of my childhood, some newer additions.
One thing that I've found about children's historical fiction: simplicity. In some ways, this simplicity can hurt a historical novel, but most of the time, it really helps. It seems to really get at the question, "what about history really interests people? What makes a really good story?"
We public historians need to continually ask those kinds of questions, and not be afraid to simplify, pair down, and omit material for the sake of brevity and the ability to be understood. Children's literature can teach us a lot, as we all tend to get lost in our detailed analyses and deep-probing "grown-up" history texts.
Isn't our job as public historians to repackage history for the public?
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