History in Australian’s Children’s Literature

During my time as a reader and a reviewer, I have been noticing trends and characteristics of children’s literature, particularly in Australian children’s literature, which is where I have shifted my focus recently in my reading, and through my involvement with the Children’s Book Council of Australia and the National Centre of Australian Children’s Literature in amongst all my reviewing on my blog and doing my best to support Australian authors and boost their voices. Recent discussions with authors about the general discourse of Australian children’s literature have revealed a desire for more to be done – more think pieces, more discussion and more attention in mainstream media – and less of the denigration or belittling that these authors feel happens.

And this is where I am hoping to make a difference on my blog. Amidst all my reviews, I want to write about genres or trends, my thoughts on the things that look as though they have made or are going to make an impact on the world of children’s literature in Australia, and what this has shown me, my thoughts and anything else I feel works in the post. This is a little experiment to see what else I can do alongside my reviews, so to start with, I have chosen historical fiction and history in Australian children’s literature.

Historical fiction is a very broad genre, and in my reading experience, explores a wide array of historical periods and figures, though there are some eras that seem to be explored more – at least in adult fiction. When it comes to children’s literature, as a reader and reviewer, I have noticed a diversity of stories, and in particular, a powerful examination of history through the lens of women and girls over the many years I have been reading in the genre.

History comes to life in literature, and I see it as a way to learn more about history, and put yourself in a time period better than a text book does. Sure, as a history student in both ancient and modern history, and as someone who has also read a lot of non-fiction books about history where you can learn the facts and figures and the names of the key people involved, I have learned a lot about history this way. But as a reader, I have found that I have learnt more about history in fiction. It has enhanced and supplemented what I learnt in school, and added experiences, perspectives, people and events to my knowledge and various historical timelines that were not included in history lessons or text books, or that were not explored in depth or at all.

And that is where historical fiction comes in. History is a terrific subject – and places like Better Reading advocate for historical fiction, and have created a list of great historical novels for children, as a good place to start exploring the genre. Australia has a fantastic tradition of historical fiction, with many authors exploring this genre in a variety of ways.

Jackie French’s vast array of historical fiction often focuses on women and their roles throughout history: what they did, how they helped to change the world, and their wide variety of experiences that differed based on when they lived, how they lived, and how they identified, and in turn, how society has treated them. She also tackles the untold stories, the experiences we don’t always hear about, ensuring the richness of history and Australian history is exposed.

Some of her stand-out novels are:

Secret Sparrow

The Girls Who Changed the World: Ming and Flo Fight for the Future

The Girls Who Changed the World: Ming and Marie Spy for Freedom

The Girls Who Changed the World: Ming and Hilde Lead a Revolution

Night Ride Into Danger

And many more, as she has quite the back catalogue spanning all ages. There are other authors who have written compelling historical books as well, such as Emily Gale, who has written one with Nova Weetman, called Elsewhere Girls, published with Text Publishing – a second novel from this collaboration called Outlaw Girls, an historical novel centred around two girls 140 years apart! These are two more books that pull the curtain back on figures in history that little is known about and reveal the challenges and obstacles they had to contend with during their time as well as issues that have never gone away. That is another reason historical fiction is so useful for younger readers – it shows them that whilst times have changed, some of the issues people fought against haven’t completely gone away, they may just manifest themselves in different ways and less obvious ways.

Historical fiction can also be used to explain a country’s history, as outlined in an article from Readings.  Historical fiction can put a character from a group who has never had or rarely had their voice heard, and give them a chance to tell their story and show what history was like for them. Whilst most historical fiction will focus on people in a certain time period like a war or major historical event like the sinking of the Titanic, others take a closer look at the little moments that had an impact on the characters in relation to the wider world, like in Silver Linings by Katrina Nannestad. It’s the story of a family who welcomes a new mother, and then a brother, and the tragedy that follows, told through the eyes of the youngest daughter, Nettie. It’s books like this that remind us history is about the big things and the small things, the good and the bad, the things we want to remember and the things we would rather forget and everything in between. These books and many others show Australian history in all its facets, ensuring that we can come to understand it and see that every part of history is important and has had an impact – and will continue to do so. I feel that this is why historical fiction is important to read for all ages. It’s a broad genre, but that means so many stories can be told within it. And that is a good thing to get diverse stories and voices out there in the realm of historical fiction.