Historical Fiction

Alicia Williamson

Historical Fiction

Historical Fiction is fiction that is set in the past. According to our book, Literature and the Child, “historical fiction tells the stories of history; as a distinct genre, it consists of imaginative narratives deliberately grounded in the facts of our past.” “Historical fiction is realistic. The events did or could have occurred.” I found this to be true of both I am Amelia Earhart by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos and The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

In, I am Amelia Earhart, the story is set in the 1920’s during Amelia Earhart’s lifetime. The story is told in the first person. Amelia tells the story of her adventures learning to fly. Amelia Earhart’s passion was unusual at the time. She took many risks in order to develop her ability to fly. She loved her first plane. She called it Canary, as it was bright yellow. Amelia broke several records in her lifetime. She was the first woman to fly by herself across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart came up with a famous quote before she disappeared on her last flight. “ Never interrupt someone doing what you said  couldn’t be done.” Amelia Earhart

The War that Saved My Life is told in the first person by Ada. Ada has a troubled life. At the beginning of the book,  Ada and her younger brother, Jamie live with their mother whom they call Mam. Mam is cruel, especially to Ada. The kids are abused and neglected. Ada was never let out of the house because she has a club foot. It could have been taken care of at birth, but Mam left it. This caused Ada to crawl everywhere. World War II is raging and getting closer to London. Ada takes the initiative to teach herself to walk on a twisted foot. The county calls for all of the children to evacuate. Mam plans to send Jamie but keep Ada. Ada escapes with Jamie. They go on a long train ride to the Kent countryside where hopefully they will be safe. Foster families go to the train station and each pick a child or two to take care of for the time being. Ada and Jamie who are filthy and full of lice are not picked. The Iron Faced Lady is in charge of arranging homes for all of the children. When Ada and Jamie are not picked, she begets them to her neighbor, Susan. Susan lives alone and has a horse named Butter. At first, Susan is not too keen on taking in the children, but she soon has a change of heart and agrees to take care of them. Susan feeds them, bathes them and delouses them. She gives them clean clothes to sleep in and washes their clothes. Susan bonds to the kids more quickly than she thought. Jamie wants to bond with Susan but is scared. Ada is terrified. The kids have never known a regular diet, clean clothes and someone who cares for them.

Ada teaches herself to ride Butter the pony with one foot. One day as she is working with Butter, she hears a noise. It is the girl from next door, Maggie. Her horse has gotten away from her. Ada and Butter give chase and soon catch Maggie’s horse. The girls become friends from that day on. This is Ada’s first friend.

Lady Thornton also known as the Iron Faced Lady recruits Susan and Ada to join the WVA and help the soldiers. Both join and help many soldiers. They fed them and sewed for them and took care of them in the neighborhood pub. Ada comes across a soldier in need of medical attention. When she goes to get water, she comes back and realizes the soldier had passed away. Not only does Ada become nurturing, she also becomes the town hero by identifying a German spy. Just as Ada is settling in, Mam comes back and tears her children away from Susan over a food card. Mam realized it would cost her money if the kids continued to stay in Kent with Susan.

Upon arrival in London, Mam returns to her abusive ways, she breaks Ada’s crutches and Ada realizes she and Jamie must leave. Ada finds the birth certificates and confronts Mam, and Mam tells her to leave. As Ada and Jamie are leaving, bombs began dropping so Ada and Jamie run into an underground shelter. After the bombs stopped, Ada and Jamie returned to the street where they find Susan looking for them. The three of them return to Kent where they see Susan’s house has been destroyed by a bomb. All of the villagers were digging, and desperately looking for Susan, Ada, and Jamie. When they realized they were alive, all the villagers celebrated with joy. Ada and Jamie are finally home. Susan told Ada, “you saved my life.”