Keep Kids Entertained While They Learn
With Childrens Historical Fiction Books

This genre is one of the ones I intend to write in one day, both because I love history and it's a joy to teach children in so entertaining a way.

I should know. I used them extensively in homeschooling my two kids. It was their favorite subject.


Digging Up a Story

If you want to write childrens historical fiction books you should first be passionate about history. (Liking kids is probably a good idea, too.) Even
if you think you know a lot about various eras, you're likely to need to
do research.

Where do you begin your research?

The same place you research any of the fiction genres you want to write in. By reading childrens historical fiction books. Read both older ones and ones that have recently been published. Then read adult historical fiction, and any other fiction about the specific era you want to write about.

Obviously, you should also read non-fiction historical books, as well, to dig up plenty of rich detail you can use, and find the facts you need to make yuor story authentic. But reading fiction in the era and genre will give you a better idea of what's sold in the past and selling now.

Another great resource for story ideas and plot lines is old diaries, journals and letters written by those who lived in the era. For more recent history, that's easy. For the Middle Ages? Not so much. But dig deep, and you might be surprised. The more authentic details you can add, the more interesting the story will be.

Then, make history come alive! Books like this are great for the classroom. (Think of the sales!) I'm not sure if modern public schools are smart enough to use such a curriculum resource (they sure weren't when I was a kid), but their libraries are full of such reading.

If kids love to read them, it only makes sense to supply them. Want to
join me?


Bringing the Past to Vivid Life

So, you want to write childrens historical fiction, but you aren't sure how to approach it. If you've begun reading it, you'll start getting ideas of what
to do.

Basically, you have two choices about writing in this genre. You can merely set the story in history of an era without using specific historic places or people, or you can write including such details. Some people choose to use only settings, while others use historic figures, too.

A great example of kid's historic fiction using both settings and people who lived in history is a series by Mary Pope Osborne called the Magic Tree House. This series is perfect for early readers (anything from first through fourth or fifth grade, depending on their competence level).

Ms. Osborne took my kids places like ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, and the Amazon. They met people like Shakespeare, the Pilgrims and General George Washington, sailed with the Titanic (not to its bitter end, though), drove a chariot. In short, they went on a learning adventure.

I remember how excited they were each time a new title came out. If you can write books like that, you've got a career in it.

Just make sure you write a well-told story, and keep it historically accurate (you won't believe how much kids remember and call you on). Use realistic child characters, and make them independent enough to satisfy modern-day kids while still keeping them appropriate to the time you're writing in.

Your settings must be authentic, your facts interwoven without being obvious, illustrations historically accurate and appropriate and last, your ethnic and minority groups should be portrayed accurately for the
historic era.

If you can do all that and in an entertaining way, you're on your way to success. Good luck on your journey into the past!