Historical Fiction unit review

What can minor/side characters show us in our books?

• A different point of view than our main character

• Other ways people conformed/resisted their times

• Nothing, they aren't important, that's why their side characters

• The theme (example: Words of the Wiser)

To "track" our thinking and evidence from the book means to

• Look for footprints

• Think really hard

• Take notes

• Talk with our book club members

What is one thing readers of historical fiction do when they are getting started reading about a new time period?

• Look at the book cover

• Ask their book club if they've ever met anyone with the same name as the main character

• Just get started reading, how confusing can it be?

• Research some background information

What is one way we can look for how a character is changing during the story?

• By skipping ahead and reading the last page first

• By looking for how the character deals with the conflict

• By asking our book club member who has already read this book

• By not looking – it'll just be clear at some point

Examples of character identities are:

• Nationality, religion, race, gender, class

• Nationality, favorite color, race, stubborn, class

• Shy, religion, introvert, gender, outgoing

• Favorite color, outgoing, introvert, stubborn, shy

Examples of character traits are:

• Nationality, religion, rebellious, gender, class

• Nationality, favorite color, race, stubborn, class

• Shy, religion, introvert, gender, outgoing

• Outgoing, introvert, stubborn, shy, rebellious

Characters can't always change the big problems of their times, what can they do instead?

• Conform instead

• Find power within themselves

• Just give up

• Hope someone else does something

What is one way we can make our thinking deeper?

• Answer questions to push our thinking forward, like in book club

• Plant it in the ground

• Don't talk to anyone

• Ask other people questions, but don't think about them for ourselves

Ms. Hudson met one of our historical fiction authors when she was in high school. What book did he write?

• The War that Saved my Life

• The Shakespeare Stealer

• The Book Thief

• The Book of Boy

How can we use our "Take Something Away" Strategy of asking questions like “What if the author hadn’t done this thing?” and “How would it be different?”

• It helps us to think about the historical background

• It helps us to thing about the side characters

• It helps us to have something to talk with our book club members about

• It helps us to think about the author's purpose and the theme