Historical Fiction Genre Library Lesson for Middle and High School

This Historical Fiction Library Lesson is for middle school library and high school library. Part 1 introduces the historical fiction genre, with emphasis on characteristics of historical fiction and subgenres. Part 2 is a scrolling slideshow with trivia questions, historical fiction literature quotes, would you rather’s, and more!

Though students may be familiar with the featured stories from movies, this presentation emphasizes historical fiction literature, not movies.

This lesson has 60 total pages and slides, and it includes:

• 54-slide Lesson Presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint + Google Slides
  • All body text is editable; you choose which slides you want to use.
  • 20 slides are whole class lesson slides.
  • 34 slides are “scrolling presentation” slides that are great for extending lessons or scrolling in the library during checkout and downtimes.
• List of 61 recommended books to accompany this lesson (2 pages, PowerPoint and PDF)
  • The list is editable and great to hand out to parents, teachers, and students looking for related books.
• Google Classroom Basics (4 pages, PDF)
• Instructions on how to set up PowerPoint slide timings for scrolling slides (2 pages, PDF)

20 Lesson Slides:

Part 1 is a guided whole-class discussion. The slides walk you through the entire class discussion, from start to finish.

• Review of genre (what is genre)
• Students’ preliminary thoughts on the historical fiction genre
• Characteristics of historical fiction
• Differences between historical fiction and historical nonfiction
• Why we should read historical fiction (emphasis on empathy and not repeating past mistakes)
• Historical fiction mixes well with other genres – e.g., historical mystery or historical adventure
• Subgenres of historical fiction
• Subgenre focus – regency romance – characteristics and examples
• Subgenre focus – steampunk – characteristics and examples
• Subgenre focus – Western – characteristics and examples
• 2 slides for checkout procedures and reminders

34 Scrolling Slides:

Part 2 is the scrolling slides. Set them on a timer to scroll on a screen during library checkout. If you time the slides at 45 seconds each, the historical fiction genre slideshow will be 25 minutes in length. 

• Words of the Week: “anachronism” and “plausible”
• 5 things every historical fiction story needs
• Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction
• Literary terms: setting, internal conflict, external conflict, characters, dialogue, exposition, plot
• How reading historical fiction helps develop empathy and difference between sympathy and empathy
• Historical fiction gives perspectives of people who are largely left out of history (women, immigrants, BIPOC, LGBT+, indigenous peoples, etc.)
• How accurate should historical fiction be – importance of research
• How far back should the time period be for historical fiction?
• Dewey hundreds section for historical nonfiction – 900s
• Narrative nonfiction and how it differs from historical fiction
• 4 would you rather’s and 3 trivia questions + answers
• Historical photos
• Daily and weekly schedule
• Announcements
• Reminders
• This week’s birthdays

Historical Fiction Literature Mentioned:

• “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
• “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells
• “I Must Betray You” by Ruta Sepetys
• “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak
• “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne
• “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett
• “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
• “Island of the Blue Dolphins” by Scott O’Dell
• Multiple YA and middle school titles mentioned with the 3 historical fiction subgenre focuses (regency romance, steampunk, and Westerns)

Recommended Reads Booklists:

• One bookmark is Grades 6-8, and the other is Grades 9-12.
• All titles are recommended for Grades 6-8 and 9-12.
• Titles are fiction, short stories, and graphic novels.
• All titles received positive reviews from professional library journals. Many received starred reviews.

Standards Addressed:

AASL National School Library Standards – See the AASL Standards Framework for Learners to view full text. 

• Inquire – A.2. – C.1. – D.3.
• Include – B.1. – C.2.
• Collaborate – A.2. – B.2.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards –
© Copyright 2010 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.9. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.10. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.10.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.10. – CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.10.

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