For homework this week, I'd like you to comment about the following:
1. Tell us what historical fiction book you're reading.
2. Tell us the time period/location during which your story takes place. (With Starfish, the story takes place on and near a Blackfoot Reservation in Montana in the early 1900's.)
3. List FIVE "pieces of history" that were woven into your historical fiction book. They must be in complete sentences and they MUST be in your own words.
4. Explain if specifically looking for/gathering these "pieces of history" helped you understand the time period better. How did it help? Why did or didn't it help you?
I expect this response to be about 2 paragraphs. Please revise for crystal-clear-clarity and make sure it makes sense before you post it. Editing is important! Do it!!! I'm excited to hear about your books!
31 comments:
1. Number the Stars.
2. It takes place from 1933-1945 in Denmark.
3. the girls mom was hitting the rug with a stick while it hung on a clothes line to dust it off. The German soldiers are on every corner everywhere and shutting down all businesses owned by jews. The girls were piking dried flowers from the meadow.They kept the dead body of their grandma in a casket in the living room. They had wooden caskets.
4. it helped a little bit because it made me think about the book a little bit more than I already was. But it is harder for me to stay focused on the book because I had to stop continuously and write stuff down.
*Between Shades of Gray
*The story takes place in Lithuania and Siberia (Russia) in 1941, right before world war two.
*In Between Shades of Gray the main character, Lina is inspired by artist Edvard Munch. Who as you might know created The Scream in 1910. It didn’t really help me the time period though since I don’t know much about Munch.
*Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were mentioned a couple of times.This helped me understand the time period better because I knew quite a bit about World War Two and what was going on at about that time.
*Prison camps. The terrifying “camp” where innocent people are starved, beaten, tormented, etc. Often around that time period there were a lot of them.
*In the book most of the dialogue of the adults was about helping people escape from Hitler and Stalin which also helped me realize what was going on in the story.
*Most everything in the story helped me figure out what was going on, the food, the clothing, what they were saying, etc.
I am reading "A Single Shard" by: Linda Sue Park. My book takes place in a small village on the west coast of Korea, mid-late 12th century. The first piece of history woven into my book is that the main character: Tree-ear bathed in the river, he has done this numerous times since I wrote that down. Another thing is the jiggeh which is an open frame backpack made of branches. The old man in the beginning of the story was using it to carry rice, so I assume that was a common use for it. Next They used ground up herbs to help heal the wound on Tree-ear's hand and protect against infection, kind of like neosporen. Also there was a rule that masters must give their workers no matter what their status a mid day meal which just means: lunch. Throughout the story Tree-ear has been collecting clay for the master potter Min. He wheels a cart down to the clay pits and uses a spade to carve out big rectangles of clay.
While I was collecting these pieces of history I was subconsciously understanding my book better than I would have had i not done this. I understood that was a time when they did everything by hand and for themselves for the most part. So it made me more aware of the time period and the area and the circumstances. I think it helped because otherwise I wouldn't realize how different it was and why I'd just think, wow that's a weird thing to do.
I'm reading "When Christmas Comes Again" by Beth Seidel Levine. It is set in 1917 in New York City and Paris. (As of now.)
Here are 5 bits of history in the book:
1. Girls were not allowed to fight in World War 1.
2. Simone's mother owned a hat shop.
3. Simone was forced to wear a corset to a party.
4. You could volunteer to the YMCA to give packages to the soldiers.
5. There was a Women's Peace Party.
Looking for and gathering this history helped me understand the time period more because, just from those 5 pieces, I know that women were not treated as well as they are today. They had hat shops back then, and parents could force their child into wearing a corset, which seems to me like they were very restricting and uncomfortable.
The historical fiction book I am reading is “Al Capone Shines My Shoes.” The time period is during the Great Depression in 1935 on Alcatraz Island, which is of the coast of San Francisco, California.
I will tell you about some “pieces of history” that are in my book. Al Capone was in Alcatraz Prison at the time of the book. A soda can costs 5 cents and you can tell the value of money has changed from time to time. Doctors had some skin creams, but they did not have much or no medicine like we have today. Watchtower guards would fire guns to signal for a boat departure. Finally, treatments for disabilities have because before nobody knew the cause of them.
The “pieces of history” I got from the book helped me a little bit about the time period, but not much. It did not help me much because most of the talk was history about Alcatraz Island.
The historical fiction story I am reading is Doll Hospital Tatiana Comes to America. The story takes place in Russia in 1907 in a doll shop where there are dolls. So far I found that there is some history. The history is the milk and bread deliveries came each morning in horse-drawn wagon. They also mentioned that Czar Nicholas the second rules Russia and sent cossack soldiers to kill Jewish because they didn't like Jewish people.
It helped me understand better the time period because now nobody brings your stuff to you. You go get it. And nobody kills jewish people because everybody believes in different things.
I am reading Milkweed by: Jerry Spinelli. Milkweed takes place in the streets of Warsaw it is in the holocaust. There are a lot of things woven into the story. For example, one thing that is woven in is that there are Nazis everywhere and that there are many bombings going on. It is woven in when the main character (Misha) is living in the basement of a barbershop with other kids. They bomb the barber shop and Misha and all of his friends have to go and live somewhere else. Another thing that is woven into the story is that it was really hard to find food if you were poor. That is shown when Misha takes food from the rich and gives it to the orphans at the orphanage. The fact that the Nazis hated Jews was really woven into the story. When Misha has to move to the ghetto, there are many dead people on the streets and on the sidewalk. All that they would do is wrap them in newspaper. Another thing that is included is that there were a lot of people that were doing fine financially, but when the Nazis came they had to go live in the ghetto. When I first started reading the book I didn’t know much about the holocaust, but when I was looking for info about the holocaust I learned a lot more about it. It helped me because, when I looked for hints when I didn’t get a part of the book, the research helped me to understand the book better.
I just finished the book Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Childenko. The book takes place in 1935 on Alcatraz Island, California. In the book the main character Moose has to deal with living on a island that has some of the deadliest criminals of all time.
A piece of history that’s in my story is when Moose’s dad is reading the newspaper and it says “Work resumes on Golden Gate Bridge.” Another piece of history is when Moose’s mom says “I have to arrange an ice delivery.” An additional piece of history is when Moose says “We live with fellows like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly.” Another piece of history is when Moose says “There’s no phonograph” A last piece of history is when Moose says “There’s a radio cabinet.”
I think that looking for pieces of history helped me understand the time period more. I think this because when I look for pieces of history I keep track. Later when I look at what I have I put the pieces of history together and get a better idea of the setting/time period.
I just finished Mickey and Me by Dan Gutman. It is 1944, World War two is going on, and Joe Stoshack is in Milwaukee Wisconsin.
One thing that was woven into the story that was historical is that they had wooden scoreboards instead of the electric score boards we have today. In the story Joe was describing the wooden scoreboard. Another thing was that back then trains had old steam engines. In the book Joe was describing the steam engine along with the fancy carts and the conductor. One that really surprised me was that back then they used to use fire to dry off the fields. Today we use tarps so the fields don’t get wet in the first place. The author describes this when Joe comes out of the dugout and he gets scared cause he sees the fire. One really obvious one was that they had black and white pictures back then. The author shows this when Joe is getting a picture of the team so he can remember them. My last one is that the umpire was dressed in a suit. Today umpires wear an all black uniform with all black pants. Joe was describing the umpires clothing in the book.
I think that looking for these clues helped me understand the time period better. For example if in the book you find a black and white photo in a book you know its early to mid 1900’s. What helps me is that I compare the pieces of history to what we have today. So back then they had black and white photos and today we have colored photos.
I have not started my historical fiction book yet. It takes place in the civil war. The book is called "with every drop of blood". It is about a boys father who is wounded from fighting in the war. He now has to care for the family. But when he is offered a job he gets kidnapped by a Yankee because they thought he was a slave. And that is all I know now.
I am reading the historical fiction book “Number the Stars” by Lois Lowry. The story is taking place during the holocaust in Denmark. The year is 1943. Here are five things that are weaved into this historical book.
One thing of history that the author weaves into the story is king Christian X. He is the king of Denmark at the time, and he is introduced while getting off-topic during a bedtime story. The second one is the dangers during the holocaust. During the story, Annemarie’s best friend Ellen has to stay with her for a while because there was a rumor that German soldiers were going to come and take all the Jewish people. Imagine that! The third historic thing that was weaved into the story was the limit of supplies. Lowry explained how what they mostly ate was potatoes and bread, and barely ate butter and oatmeal and other foods because it was so hard to get. Annemarie’s little sister even had to get shoes made out of fish! The fourth is what they played with. During the story, the Annemarie and Ellen are playing with paper dolls on the floor, and Annemarie’s little sister asked to play with them, and that shows that the toy was played with a variety of ages. Lastly, the fifth thing that Lowry weaved into the story was how violent the soldiers can be. During mourning of “great aunt Birte,” the soldiers came into the house and while Mama was talking to them, one of them slapped her! Those are five historical things that are weaved into “Number the Stars.”
I am reading Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson. Fever takes place in Philadelphia in 1793. In this book, historical events and facts were sprinkled throughout the story, telling us about the yellow fever, jobs of 1793, ways of transportation, setting (her house and the marketplace), and chores of 1793.
Chores in 1793 were different than nowadays. For example, the main character, Mattie, has to go to the marketplace alone (although marketplaces back then were outdoor, and had stands, not shops) to get eggs and other foods. When Mattie goes to the marketplace, she sees Nathaniel Benson, who has a job as a paintbrush cleaner. He is not paid well, but he still does it because he basically has no choice. People back then had no choice.
Towards the beginning of the book, Mattie explains how she looks out her window and observes the carriages wheel by and horses trot along on the road. These were their only ways of transportation other than walking. Zooming back into her house, she describes her house and the large kitchen they had instead of a sitting room. She said they could not afford to have both because they needed a large kitchen to seat their customers. Since her house was a type of café, she didn’t have a normal life. Her room was small, and the oven was always blazing when she came downstairs because they couldn’t afford to waster any time. Imagine how busy her life must have been, especially with the yellow fever (a type of illness) creeping back.
The book I’m reading is called Hiroshima. It takes place in the city of Hiroshima in the morning right before the atomic bomb hit the city in a desperate attempt to stop World War II. The beginning of the story describes what kids would do on a daily basis in 1945. Another piece of history shown in the book was what the Japanese would do when they saw an American bomber. They would hide in underground bomb shelters. To make the bombers go away they would wreck some of the houses to make it look like the area was already destroyed, I thought that was cool.
Many people were killed and injured when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The main character’s face was badly injured. Her father and sister died. The book switches from a historical fiction to a non-fiction book after he bomb drops. The book talks about the Hiroshima maidens who were helped by the USA. The maidens were 15 injured women who were helped with many surgeries. The book helped me to understand Hiroshima because it put me into the shoes of a character in the situation and it made me realize that it was a terrible thing.
I think searching for these pieces of history throughout our books really did help. When I read historical fiction books, I usually just skim the historical facts as if they were no big deal, but now when we are told to specificaly gather historical information, I read them more thoroughly and I end up understanding the book a lot better. It's really working out for me, and I hope to keep searching for them!
The historical fiction book that I’m reading is Born in the Year of Courage. The book takes place on a deserted island, in Hawaii, and in the U.S. in 1841. Here are the 5 historical facts that were woven into my book.
. The oil of the whales was used for lamps and candles
. If the daimyo was in a bad mood and the commoners bowed to quickly he could ask his samurai to chop their heads off
. Shogun Hideyoshi divided the people of Japan into 5 classes, samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant, and etta.
. Hideyoshi decided to take over China, and Korea in 1592
. Japanese scholar’s maps were with Japan at the top, and Europe and America at the bottom
Looking for these pieces helped me understand the time period better. Normally in a historical fiction book I read over the historic facts without thinking about them. By making me look specifically looking for historic stuff my mind was more set to that and I learned stuff
I am reading War Horse, by Michael Morpurgo. This takes place in World War I. In the book there are pieces of history woven in like they would use horses in war to carry wounded people and heavy weapons. They would also use horses to pull plows in the farm. They had a market ring were you would bid to get the horse now you cant do that. And that was not it they did it weekly. They also had some horse drawn wagons. If you were to go down the street now in a horse drawn wagon. You be thought a foal of. Back then it would seem normal. But even back then they had cars. In this book they also went into battle once with nothing but swords this surprised me because now we would use guns.
I think this did help. Because this had me pay more attention to the book. It also helped me learn about that time period. I hope we get the chance to do this again.
The book that I am reading is called, The Adventures of Robin Hood. This book takes place in England. The main place is Sherwood Forest. It is 1192 and the king, Richard Coeur De Lion, is in a prison somewhere in Austria. His brother, Prince John, has taken over England. Robert of Locksley was a rich and fine man until Prince John came. Now Robert of Locksley is the outlaw known as Robin Hood. Robin Hood takes from the poor and gives to the rich.
The historical things woven into my book are these;
Number one, Robin Hood’s band of outlaws uses bugles to communicate and not cell phones.
Number two, they use chariots and horses to travel instead of cars.
Number three, they had to kill what they ate for dinner.
Number four, they had kings and a sheriff.
Number five, they use bows and swords instead of guns.
Number six, they had a lot of nature.
I am reading Letters From Rifka. By, Karen Hesse. This book takes place in 1919. The book is taken place in Russia, Poland and America. Rifkas dad got whipped. Usually now a days people don’t get whipped. This helps me because I know people now don’t get whipped so it would have to be back then. Then I realized my parents didn’t get whipped so it would have to be more back. My second one was that the doctors where checking them for illnesses, when they were going on a train. They wouldn’t let them go on the train if they had an illness. Even if I was going to Washington they wouldn’t check me. They tried to sneak passed the guards. Usually people don’t sneak pass guards unless there bad, but the people in my book aren’t bad. The workers call people Jews. Sometimes people say Jews, but the guards don’t call them that now. Also they call them that in a mean way. In my book they took a sack to put all their stuff in. On the train they took it. I never seen someone take a sack on the train.
The book I’m reading is called “Milkweed” by Jerry Spinelli (although I was a bit surprised by this fact since he doesn’t usually write historical fiction). The time period is around the 1940’s during the Holocaust in Warsaw, Poland. The five snippets of the past I found in the book were mostly about Nazis and Jews. One of the snippets was about a boy being found by other Jews and teased of since he was a gypsy and at the time, Nazis hated gypsies even more than Jews. Another was when Misha (the boy) was told by others that if he didn’t stop stealing he would be caught be the ‘Jackboots’. Once people were digging trenches and piling sand bags to try to stop the tanks from coming. The next slice of history was a parade of ‘Jackboots’ with tanks following in behind. And finally there was a chunk of the past since nowadays we don’t have soldiers snipping away at Jews’ beards.
It helped me understand the time period laid out before me because it forced me to really pay attention to the background knowledge. Also, as I thoroughly read the information it gave me a way to understand the relationship between gypsies and Jews to Nazis. Why? Well with me on the lookout for woven details I picked up on important, story-changing, details too.
The book I am reading is A BOY AT WAR “a novel of Pearl Harbor”. The book so far is taking place in Hawaii. The time period is from 1939- 1945. 1 Adam said I will be back at 1800 so people don’t use regular time like we do.2 when you play football in Hawaii you use a coconut instead of a real football. 3 Pearl Harbor is the biggest American navy base in the pacific.4 Pearl Harbor is 2,000 miles away from the united states of America.5 ford island was were battle ship row is.
From the book this info helped me learn more about Pearl Harbor, but was also not that good info. Did you know that yesterday was the 70th year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Like the info about how kids in Hawaii used a coconut as a football instead of a real football did not teach me a lot but was cool to know. But it did have a really important fact that I didn’t know about how Pearl Harbor is the biggest American navy base in the U.S.
The historical fiction book I'm reading is called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It takes place in 1954 in Hiroshima, Japan.
Here are five pieces of history/culture that are woven into the book:
1. The bombing that happened in Hiroshima, and the fact that it gave off radiation that caused leukemia.
2. The fact that people did not have great treatment or medicine for the disease leukemia.
3. The fact that silk costed a lot more back then than it does now.
4. The fact that some people pray to different gods or spirits, or other things, like in the book people prayed to their dead ancestor's spirits.
5. The fact that some places have memorial days for different things, like in the book people go to a remembrance "carnival" to remember those who died or did good things during the event.
Looking for these pieces of history/culture helped me understand the time period better. It helped because knowing the pieces of history, you could find out better what was going on in the book. You could also find out more about the time period.
P.S. Ms. Mcmanus, I could not find five pieces of history in the book, so I had to add some culture things in this blog.
The book I was reading was Letters From Rifka.
This books takes place Russia 1919-1920.
In my book Rifka had “Ringworm”, it is a type of disease and I know that it is historical because now in day people don’t get ringworm. Another thing in my book that’s historical is that when she was trying to get on the train she had to be checked for illness. I know that this is historical because the doctors now don’t just check people before they get on a train for illness. In the book Rifka parents go to America without her because they need money for food, I know that this is historical because your mom and dad don’t just leave you with nuns because they need money. And now in days people will have money for those things. If we went onto a train to Poland we wouldn’t call it the Poland border. We would just say where going to Poland. In the book they say that she took a sip from her samovar, and now we would say we took a sip from a cup.
The historical book I’m reading is the little house on the Prairie. It takes place in the 19th century. I just started reading it so I’m not that far into it. Since I just started a couple of days ago I only noticed a little bit of stuff that is woven into the story like they had rabbit skin hoods to wear and they used wagon for transportation. I think that this book helps me because I can learn the differences from now and the 19th century.
The book I’m reading is called Montmorency it takes place in London in around late 1800 early 1900. In the first page they say that a candle lit the room so that makes it setting. On page six they say that London just got their sewer system and a guard tells that to Montmorency so that makes it dialogue. Then on page nine the guard tells Montmorency that they got toilets so that makes that dialogue also on page 62 the narrator said that Montmorency looked at his trousers. The Scotland Yard police force was mentioned on page 72 they almost caught Montmorency so it is action.
This was helpful to me because it helps me understand London in that time period. This also helps me understand the character a lot better. Just thinking about history helps me understand the book much better. And if I didn’t try to find these I might think this is just a realistic fiction book. In the beginning because once Montmorency gets his apartment it is kind of clear.
I just finished reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. The book takes place in a small house located in Japan in 1954.
1. The U.S. air force dropped an atomic bomb on Japan to try and end the war.
2. Thousands of people died from the radiation of the bomb. More people died from the radiation then the actual bomb.
3. There is a peace park to memorialize the people that died in the atomic bomb. There is also a statue of Sadako in the peace park.
4. They did not have very advanced medical techniques. That is why so many people died from the radiation.
5. There is a Japanese tradition that if you make one thousand paper cranes you will be cured.
Sorry if some of these are not “Pieces of History”. My book was short and did not have a lot of info.
The book I'm reading right now is called The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen. My book takes place in Northern Minnesota, and doesn't state the exact time, but by description I'd think it's around late 1800's. There are many pieces that show it is history. And here are some. 1. On page 12, there is a sentence saying "In one corner is a wood with a mica window." This piece is setting, because it's describing the place around him. It's history because not many people have wood stoves in there living room as there only source of heat. 2. On page 13, I read "Mother and father sleep on an old iron bed with a feather mattress" This is again, setting. It is history because mattress' aren't stuffed with feathers anymore. 3. On page 14, it said, "There is no heat upstairs." This is AGAIN setting. It is history because now everybody (mostly) has heat all over the house. 4. ON page 14, it says "You only get uncovered in blankets if you have to go to the pee pot." This is AGAIN setting. This is history because now a days, we have toilets! 5. On page 27, it says "He whistled for Black Ranger, his horse, to come. And Black Ranger came. This is action because movement is happening. This is history because we don't just whistle and a horse comes to our side. There are many more bits and pieces of the story that shows it is is history but, here's a few I got so far!
I am reading the book War Horse. It starts off in English country side at the time of World War 1. This time period was in the early 1900's.
One piece of historical is that the charecters in my book use a horse and buggy. The charecters use a horse and buggy to travel or for work. This tells me the time period is probably before cars. Another hint to the time period is that in most wars horses were used in battle. Not that they had a choice!This is called horses in the calvary.I also learned from this book that farmers back then used cattle or a horse, to help them plow but now we're so technical that we have machines that do it for us. Back then they also had markets on a street to buy food and goods, alot like the farmer's markets we have today. There also was only dirt roads but today we've improved by having pavment.
This book is helping me learn how cruel humans were back then to horses during wars. Just think of someone slapping you hard if you were tired . If the horses were wounded they had to lay there and wait for humans to be treated first. Horses suffered alot. I learned that WW1 was between 1914-1918. It was fought in Europe with countries like Germany, France and England fighing. This was one of the largest wars in history with 70 million military personal fighting.
I am reading Hiroshima. My story takes place mainly in 1945 but it also takes place in lots of other time periods after that. It takes place in Japan. One piece of history is kids would tear down houses during school. We would drop bombs on Japan which now we are allied with. A third piece is having air raid helmets and an emergency back pack handy. Teenagers were recording phone calls at army headquarters. One last piece of history is that there were air raid shelters everywhere.
Looking for these pieces of history helped me understand the time period better. They helped me understand how scared the U.S. was of Japan and vice versa. It helped because I learned that there were air raid shelters everywhere and emergency backpacks were worn and it really made me understand.
i just started reading my book so i don`t know a lot but this is all i know.my book i`m reading right now is CAMPFIRE MALLORY BY LAURIE FRIEDMAN.This book is takin place 2000`s in Minneapolis NY.
1.Sitting by the hot crackling fire roasting marshmallows.
2.As i fell asleep to the owls howling on the breaking branch.
3.I can smell the creek from a mile away.
4.The fire sizzled and popped throw out the night.
5.You could see the horizon just over the high trees.
My book, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, is a very good historical fiction book about a girl that pushes the social norms. The story takes place in the summer of 1899. One piece of history is how Calpurnia’s family bought a fan to keep them cool. They needed it because it is very hot where they live. Another piece of history is how all of the men cut their hair really close to their heads and shaved their beards to keep cool. The door to Calpurnia Tate’s laboratory has a burlap flap that serves as a door. Calpurnia’s family owns a longbed wagon. Calpurnia has to wear a bonnet on her head to block the strong sun.
The book I read over the break was Eleven by Lauren Miracle and the genre is realistic Fiction. If I have to give a ration to this book. I would give this book a four because it had a lot of Trifecta but the only thing was there where only four chapters that really made me want to read on. so maybe I would of have liked to have a little more enthusiasm.
A brief summary of this book would be that a girl named Winnie is eleven years old is the middle child, she has a younger brother named TY and has an older sister named Sandra and Winnie fights with her older sister a lot she also has a best friend named Amanda and in august she goes with Amanda and her parents and got o her beach house and they go tubing and there is a swarm of jellyfish and they have to get out and Winnie is stuck in the ocean on a tube and is having a little more difficulty getting out the water then Amanda. so that a little summary of what happens and what I think the ration of this book is.
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