Bibliography

Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre by Sarah L. Johnson.  (2005) 813 p.

A far as I’m concerned, Sarah Johnson has authored the definitive text on the subject of historical fiction.  A reference librarian and professor at Eastern Illinois University, as well as a longtime reader and collector of historical fiction, the purpose of Johnson’s work is to basically aid librarians and any other sort of professional who regularly works with readers in understanding this fascinating and complex genre.  I would also venture that it is an excellent guide for readers themselves who may be looking for their next historical fiction novel.

Organized into a series of chapters that cover the definition of historical fiction, appeal factors of the genre, and various time periods covered by most historical novels, the author then begins delving into the various subgenres that fall into historical fiction. Subgenres such as romantic historical fiction, historically accurate westerns, historical mysteries, Christian historical fiction, and alternate history novels all get time in Johnson’s comprehensive work.  Finally, there are a large number of resources designed for both librarians and readers concerned with historical fiction.

I found Johnson’s work to be an excellent resource that would benefit librarians, readers of historical fiction, bookstore employees, and anyone who finds themselves in the position of a readers’ advisor.  The work was well organized, well written, and accessible for a wide variety of readers.

The Distant Mirror: Reflections on Young Adult Historical Fiction by Joanne Brown and Nancy St. Clair.  (2006)  210 p.

One of the benefits of historical fiction novels is that they are often used by educators as teaching tools, ways to bring the past alive for a wide variety of student audiences.  In Brown and St. Clair’s work, they analyze the different approaches taken when it comes to addressing young adult historical fiction and explore the issues that arise in writing historical fiction for a young adult audience.  The first half of the work focuses on the various subgenres of young adult historical fiction, and matters of historical accuracy, time boundaries, and literary concerns for the reader.  The second half of the work focuses more on issues of cultural values and how they play into historical fiction, often dealing with subjects as complex as race, religion, war, and nationalism.

English professors both, Brown and St. Clair’s work should resonate with educators, librarians, and even certain young adult readers.  I would even venture that this is an excellent resource for those interested in writing their own works of historical fiction for young adults.  I found the work to be thought provoking and surprisingly insightful.  I was especially interested in how cultural values influence historical fiction and the assistance that the authors lent in analyzing the novels in their work.

Historical Fiction for Children by Leland B. Jacobs, published in The Reading Teacher, Volume 14 Number 3, 1961. p. 191-194.

A relatively brief piece, this article still does an excellent job of describing the pluses and minuses of using historical fiction to teach children about the past.  If I were a readers’  advisor, I would especially recommend this article to teachers looking to use historical fiction in their classrooms.  It also helpfully describes specific titles in the genre that can be used in lesson plans.  This would also be useful for a parent who is interested in finding educational yet enjoyable historical reads for a young child.

Murder in Retrospect: A Selective Guide to Historical Mystery Fiction by Michael Burgess and Jill H. Vassilakos.  (2005)  410 p. 

This work was designed specifically to help readers track down major series novels in the subgenre of historical mysteries and to help fans of the genre read the stories in order.  It will also be of particular interest to those who find themselves in a readers’ advisory capacity and to fans of mysteries looking to expand their collections.  The work itself is organized by author index, series index, title index, major characters index, and finally setting index.

Michael Burgess is Head of Collection Development at California State University, San Bernardino as well as a professional writer and editor.  His fellow author, Jill Vassilakos, is Head of Technical Services and Government Documents Librarian at California State University, San Berardino.  As such, they seem to be interesting authorities on the subgenre of historical mysteries.

I found  Murder in Retrospect to be a useful if somewhat narrow guide.  To those looking to learn more about the genre of historical fiction, I would direct them to Sarah Johnson’s work.  But for those who are interested in a listing of historical mysteries and in finding their next good read, I would recommend this work without reservations.  The details concerning each novel were rather in depth and should give a reader a good idea of whether or not they’d like to pursue a particular mystery series for pleasurable reading. 

A Reference Guide to Historical Fiction for Children and Young Adults by Lynda G. Adamson.  (1987)  401 p.

Although somewhat dated, I feel that Adamson’s work still contains useful information for those looking into the genre of historical fiction.  While her alphabetical guide to various books and authors is a bit out of date, there is still interesting information on historical figures, biographies of historical novel authors, and an introduction to the genre.  That being said, Adamson’s writing is a bit academic and may feel somewhat inaccessible to certain readers.  I believe that this text is specifically designed for those who may be looking to write an analysis of historical fiction for children and young adults and not necessarily for those looking for their next good book.  Lynda Adamson is a Professor of English at Prince George’s College, Maryland, and this may account for the somewhat pedantic tone of the work.