Historical Literature

We recently read the book Night by Elie Wiesel. I personally have always loved historical literature whether it is fact or fiction. In sixth grade, it was in our curriculum to read Number the Stars by Louis Lowry. I thought it was a very intense but super interesting book. It was very hard for me to put it down. I think it is interesting to see a view of something that we did not experience. It is just like a fiction, it takes us away to something we would never experience ourselves but instead walks us through and shows the experience that that character went through. Diving into a historical literature book is like diving into an alternate universe. Of course, in history class, we read the historical account of what happened and what people went through, but it is from a broad, far away lense. With the novels, however, we can see a certain character's journey through the events that took place in a time that we only know the history of.

I believe in the importance of historical literature within a classroom because of the different point of view it gives students. They interpret the human experience for us. So instead of just getting a timeline of events, we can see what the people actually went through, their feelings and emotions, and their thought process through the entire thing. I understand the importance of learning history and the timeline of events that happened within each event that took place in history, but at the same time, students aren't going to care or respond in the same way that a novel from a specific view will provoke. By having historical literature on events such as WWII and Pearl Harbor will help students gain a better understanding of what happened and what the people actually went through and thought about. This not only gives our students a more extensive knowledge of the events that took place, but it also gives them an insight into what those people thought and felt and what went through their minds. I believe this is becoming even more important as these events get farther and farther into the past. We are losing people who went through these events and who were there, so we will no longer have people to account for what happened. All we have left is what was recorded and written down.

Source: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1987/09/09/07200064.h07.html