​
WISCONSIN ASSOCIATION FOR TALENTED & GIFTED

Wisconsin Association For Talented & Gifted

  • Get Involved
    • Membership
    • News
    • Partnerships
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Meet The Board
    • Gifted Listserv
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Advanced and Accelerated Learning in WI
    • WATG Blogs >
      • News from the Board
      • Noticias de las Mesa Directiva
      • Gifted in Perspective
      • Dotados en Perspectiva
      • Ask the Doctor
      • Gifted @ Home
      • Student Voices
      • Guest Blogs
      • Tools to Use Today
      • From the Bookshelf
      • GT Meanderings
      • Advocacy Blog
      • Justice for All
    • Podcasts
    • Parenting
    • History + Pioneer Profiles
    • Awards & Scholarships
    • Past Newsletters
  • Equity
  • Advocacy
    • Advocacy Resources
    • Advocacy Blog
  • Annual Conference
    • 2023 Annual Conference
    • 2023 Keynote Speakers
    • Exhibitors/Sponsors
    • Parent Conference
    • Teen Conference
    • Logo Contest
    • Past Conferences
  • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Membership
    • News
    • Partnerships
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Meet The Board
    • Gifted Listserv
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Advanced and Accelerated Learning in WI
    • WATG Blogs >
      • News from the Board
      • Noticias de las Mesa Directiva
      • Gifted in Perspective
      • Dotados en Perspectiva
      • Ask the Doctor
      • Gifted @ Home
      • Student Voices
      • Guest Blogs
      • Tools to Use Today
      • From the Bookshelf
      • GT Meanderings
      • Advocacy Blog
      • Justice for All
    • Podcasts
    • Parenting
    • History + Pioneer Profiles
    • Awards & Scholarships
    • Past Newsletters
  • Equity
  • Advocacy
    • Advocacy Resources
    • Advocacy Blog
  • Annual Conference
    • 2023 Annual Conference
    • 2023 Keynote Speakers
    • Exhibitors/Sponsors
    • Parent Conference
    • Teen Conference
    • Logo Contest
    • Past Conferences
  • Contact Us

The Benefits of Historical Fiction - Book Review

5/1/2018

0 Comments

 
By Kirsten Reitan, WATG Board Member
​We know gifted kids love to read.  Well, lots of them do, anyway.  They will have several books going at the same time and usually one on their lap at school.  By my non-scientific poll, most of the GT kids I work with prefer fantasy over everything else.  The fantastical worlds they can visit in their heads feed their desire to create and escape and fuels imagination.  But escape is a really big part of that fixation on fantasy literature.  Think what they could do with a wand and a spell that worked!
            Gifted kids need a way to escape the realities of the world, as the one we are passing along is fraught with problems and seems to be careening toward the cliff.  Who wouldn’t want to escape?  Yet we need to help them cope and make sense of the issues they see without causing more anxiety.  Historical fiction can help students see current events through the perspective of historical comparisons.  This genre can help us talk about difficult topics in ways that are age appropriate.  Reading works that provide multiple perspectives on an event shows kids there are many different ways to understand an event.
            Elisa Carbonne’s Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 is much more than the story of the James Town Colony.  Told from the orphan Samuel Collier’s perspective, this book is well researched and paints what must be an accurate picture of what life was like in the settlement in 1607.  As Samuel grows and learns about life, we see him abandon his philosophy of “trust no one” to understanding how cooperation and reliance on others is the only way towards self-preservation. 
            The author’s treatment of the Powhatan tribe is also respectful, and Carbonne does a wonderful job of incorporating important aspects of their culture to contrast the laws and ways of the colonists.  Concepts of leadership, diplomacy, and loyalty are woven throughout the story.  Samuel’s struggles with growing up and becoming a responsible citizen provides a rich vehicle for students to navigate ideas of fairness and responsibility.
            I highly recommend this book, and encourage looking to other historical fiction works to help explain current events that are causing distress for our gifted students.
            
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2022
    February 2021
    November 2020
    June 2019
    April 2019
    October 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
WATG Privacy Statement

Get Involved

Advocacy
News
The Board

Resources

​Blogs
Awards & Scholarships
Pioneer Profiles
G/T Groups

Equity

Conference

Contact Us
Keynote Speakers
Logo Contest
Teen Conference
Past Conferences