Historical Fiction Literacy Analysis

Janea Irby
Historical Fiction books involves facts and imagination. There is often
speculation about how life was lived in the past as well as insight into
history and human struggles over the centuries. The characters are
believable, realistic people whose dialogue reflect the different historical
period being represented. These books allow readers to enter into
difficulties, conflicts, despair, and joys of those who lived before us.
There are three types of Historical Fiction.
Type I: Authors write a fictional story woven around actual events
and people from the past, creating an integral setting.
Number The Stars, Lois Lowry, 1989
Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan, 2000
Type II: Authors write a fictional story with a backdrop setting, in
which the historical events and people are not extensively
featured or discussed.
A Long Way From Chicago, Richard Peck,1998
Turtle in Paradise, Jennifer Holm, 2010
Type III: Authors recreate their own personal lives and experiences
from a time in history from their memories, family documents, and
research.
When I Was Young in The Mountains, Cynthia Rylant, 1982
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, Gloria Houston, 1988
Students can learn from historical fiction because of the accurate
portrayal of the historical periods, characters, and facts. These books can
be implemented in history lessons and can also improve students
attitudes toward the subject. Vocabulary lessons can be taught from these
historical fictions due to the fact that these books may use unfamiliar
words that are very specific to different time periods. Comprehension focus
and connections can be taught using historical fiction books as well as
content-area connections in science, geography, language arts and more.
Historical Fiction Literacy Analysis : Henrys Freedom Box, Ellen
Levine, 2010
Description/Theme:This book is a true dramatic story of a
slave named Henry Brown who mails himself to freedom. Henry
grows up not knowing his age or birthdate because nobody keeps
records of slaves birthdays. He dreams of freedom but is

disappointed when he is torn from his family to work for his masters
son. When he grows up he marries another slave and has children
only to be devastated as his family to be sold at the slave market.
He gets fed up with the life as a slave and uses the help of others to
mail himself to the North. After an excruciating journey, where he
almost didnt make it out alive, Henry finally arrives to his freedom.
He finally has a birthday.
I would say the theme of this story is slavery and the desire to
be free. This theme is explicit as we see the hardships of being a
slave and the extreme measure that Henry took to attempt to be
free. This story had a happy ending but most runaway stories did
not. Students in todays society would not relate to this story in the
sense that they are not in physical slavery but students who know
Americas true history could relate this story to their ancestors or
other stories, songs, myths that they have heard or read about
slavery. I can relate to the theme of wanting to be free especially in
a society that has so much injustice toward minorities.
Setting: The setting of the story is in the slave era, this is very
essential because it is also the theme of the story which is very
important. At the end story Henry receives a birthdate of March 30,
1849 to give the reader a timeframe for the events. The setting,
descriptions of language and dialogue, and the behaviors of the
different characters are very accurate to the time period depicted in
this story. The setting helps set the mood of sadness as the author
mentions Henry not knowing his age or birthdate and Henrys
mother reminding him how slave families are torn apart.
Plot:The plot in this book is linear and has a distinctive
beginning, middle, and end. The story starts off with Henry as a child
and the reader is able to briefly see him grow up as a young adult,
get married, have children and beyond. There is some
foreshadowing used in the story. For example, Henrys family being
torn away from him can be predicted from his wife, Nancys,
concerns; just like he was taken away from his family as a young
boy. The conflict is between the character and the society of slavery.
Characters: The main character is Henry Brown and the other
characters in the book are flat and briefly mentioned but they all
have relationships with Henry. Henry is very well-developed as the
reader is able to see him as a child, young adult, and a mature adult.
Henry undergoes change of masters, environment, emotions, and
also the biggest change of being a slave to being free. Henrys

strengths are his work ethic and his dedication. There arent any
weaknesses displayed in the story for Henry.
Style/Tone: The author and illustrator both do a great job of
setting the tone with the use of language, imagery, vocabulary,
symbolism, and emotion through text and pictures. By using all of
these tools, the authors style positively effects the mood and tone of
the story. The tone is very obvious and consistent throughout the
story and the authors attitude of her view on how horrible slavery is,
is revealed through the characters and events.
Literacy Growth: This book could be used to teach students
about the history of America and the hardships of slavery. It could be
used to stretch the students imagination just as Henry stretched his
imagination to figure out how to get to freedom. The pictures in the
books and the very descriptive scenarios are great examples of
things students could use to create mental images of past times.
This book could lead to students wanting to learn more about the
slave era and reading other books for more information. This book
could develop a love for reading in young readers because the
author used great vocabulary, descriptive scenarios, and a very
detailed linear plot.
Illustrations:
This book was illustrated by Kadir Nelson, a critically acclaimed artist and
illustrator. The illustrations complement the text very well by telling not
only Henrys story but the story of all slaves. The use of dark colors and
gloomy settings create the mood of sadness in the story. There is also the
use of symbolism in the illustrations as the characters talk slave families
being torn apart, there is a picture of leaves being torn from trees by the
wind. As this is happening readers can see the sad look on Henry and his
mothers face. Nelsons illustrations are subtle yet powerful.
Book Rating. Rate the book on a scale of 0 to 5: Rate the book according
to your discussion of it above.
I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because of its theme of slavery and
hope. Students should be aware of every aspect of Americas history
including the bad eras. They should also be able to see the hope that some
slaves had to be free and the drastic measures they went through to
ensure their freedom. This picture book had very detailed illustrations that
helped convey the mood of the story. I also love the fact that this is based
on a true story so students can research more information to get more
background of the history behind it.
Reference Page

In order as they appear in the analysis:

Lowry, Lois. (1989). Number The Stars. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
Ryan, Pam Munoz. (2000). Esperanza Rising. New York, NY: Scholastic
Corporation.
Peck, Richard. (1998). A Long Way From Chicago. Westminister, London:
Puffin Books.
Holm, Jennifer. (2010). Turtle in Paradise. New York, NY: Random House
Childrens Books.
Rylant, Cynthia. (1982). When I Was Young in The Mountains. Westminister,
London: Puffin
Books.
Houston, Gloria. (1988). The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree.
Westminister, London: Puffin Books.
Levine, Ellen. (2010). Henrys Freedom Box. New York, NY: Scholastic
Corporation.