Historical Fiction for Young Readers (Grades 4-8) An Introduction

Subjects:

• Library & Information Science » Children's & Young Adult School Services
• Library & Information Science » Children's & Young Adult School Services -- Reference Tools
• Literature » Children's & Young Adult Literature

Reviews:

• "Gillespie has been putting together collections of reviewed and recommended books for many years and teacher-librarians are probably using them as selection tools either in print like this book or as a part of an automated selection system."
  —Teacher Librarian 2/1/2009
• Gillespie- author of several readers' – advisory books for young readers, among then Classic Teenplots: A Booktalk Guide to Use with Readers Ages 12-18 Libraries Unlimited, (2006) –selects 80 of the best from 15 years. Each entry includes bibliographic information, an introduction, a thorough historical background, a list of characters, a detailed plot synopsis, suggestions for booktalking, and a short discussion of themes and subjects. The historical background and detailed summaries will be especially useful for teachers looking to select texts for classroom use. Librarians should be pleased with the multiple suggestions of passages for booktalking for each title, and the subject, title, and author indexes will help locate books for homework assignments… recommended for all school and public library collections.
  —Booklist 3/1/2009
• "This book can easily be used by librarians to work with history teachers and is strongly recommended for librarians who purchase historical fiction."
  —ARBA 3/1/2009
• "Gillespie (former Dean and instructor, library science, Long Island U.) provides a guidebook to historical fiction for grades 4-8 with the intention of engaging and instructing the age group. Gillespie provides both a brief history of historical fiction for young readers and his criteria for evaluating the books, and gives title listings by first geographic areas and then time period, as appropriate. Information for each title includes publication information, historical background, principal characters and plot synopsis, and passages for discussion. Both a title and subject index are provided."
  —Reference & Research Book News May 2009
• "Gillespie begins with chapters that suggest the criteria by which fiction, and historical fiction specifically, should be evaluated. He gives a detailed and enlightening look at the development of the genre that serves as a useful guide for building a collection of must-haves or classics. ...Overall, this is a solid resource for librarians new to the field, or for those looking to update their collections."
  —School Library Journal 6/1/2009

Table of Contents:

• Preface
  1. Introduction and Criteria for Evaluating Historical Ficton
  2. A Brief History of Historical Fiction for Young Readers in English
  3. Bringing Young Readers and Books Together
  4. Europe
  5. Asia and Oceania
  6. Africa
  7. Latin America and Canada
  8. United States
  Author Index
  Title Index
  Subject Index

PDF Catalogs:
LU Public Library Spring 2008.pdf	LU School Library Spring 2008.pdf