The Dear America book series is a children's book series that focuses on young female characters from different eras in time in American history. They focus on these girls through a series of diary entries, and help explain how life was like in the time periods represented.
Each book is written by a different author, and focuses on a different time period, including periods like the Civil War, the pilgrimage, and the Vietnam War. The authors use historical events and information, even if the characters themselves are fictional.
Characters – How did they come up with them?
Different authors – when speaking about their experiences in writing their Dear America books – had different inspirations:
- Karen Hesse, author of A Light in the Storm, was inspired by the stories of the Lightkeeper, Ida Lewis. (Scholastic, 2012b)
- Lois Lowry, author of Like the Willow Tree, took inspiration from asking questions at a local Shaker community in Maine about life in the late 18th Century (Scholastic, 2012c)
- Patricia C. McKissack, author of A Picture of Freedom, was inspired by the story of her own great-great-grandmother, a slave who learned to read and write despite the law.
Information – Where did they get it?
The authors of these different books looked for historical information from a variety of settings and sources:
- Patricia C. McKissack visited six different plantations in Virginia while researching for another one of her books (Scholastic, 2012d)
- Barry Denenberg, author of When Will this Cruel War Be Over?, researched by looking at diary entries and letters from the civil war period itself (Scholastic, 2012a)
- Lois Lowry visited Quaker communities while doing research, and asked notable historians in these communities questions (Scholastic, 2012c)
Sources:
Scholastic. (2012a). Barry denenberg. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/meettheauthors.htm
Scholastic. (2012b). Karen hesse. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/meettheauthors.htm
Scholastic. (2012c). Lois lowry. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/meettheauthors.htm
Scholastic. (2012d). Patricia c. mcKissack. Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/meettheauthors.htm
First off, very cool topic you've got here. It's interesting to hear about the inspirations behind creating characters from early time periods. In a future post could you possibly elaborate on which time period the stories are about? I try to create characters, and their backgrounds, to build stories around for future animation projects. So I would love to hear more about the inspirations behind these characters.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to find the inspiration of many fictional stories to be based on actual moments in history. A person who wants to learn of the type of culture within the specified time period would be able to see it through the author's own interpretation. Everyone has a viewpoint of what goes on in history and the effect it can have on a person can very well contribute to more viewpoints when exchanging information that can lead to many people getting informed about the topic. You are performing great work here and I wish you luck on the rest of your posts.
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