One of the many great things about YA fiction is that you can sample any genre within the world of YA. So my prompt today is about historical fiction. If you could experience any time period as a teen, which would you choose?
Victorian times have always intrigued me since I fell in love with the Sherlock Holmes stories. I’d love to write stories about the Baker Street Irregulars, the gang of street kids who’d do surveillance and other basic jobs for the Great Detective. But I also would like to research what it must have been like for grandparents to be teens in the teens and twenties. 1910’s and 1920’s, that is,
What era is your top choice Or what YA historical novel do you recommend?
YA historicals are tough to find. A couple I’ve enjoyed have been by Stephanie Morrill though two widely different periods—The Lost Girl of Astor Street (a 1920s Chicago mystery) and Within These Lines (a WWII home front about Japanese internment camps). Amanda Tero has written a Depression-era YA about a horseback librarian which I greatly enjoyed. I write this genre but would love to find more to read. Especially in the Christian market.
Thanks for the recommendations! I tried “The Lost Girl of Astor Street” but found it slow.
Good question. I can’t say there is any specific historical period I’d like to experience. I think that is why I write fantasy rather than historical. I love creating other worlds and would more likely want to experience another world rather than another actual historical time.
I’ve always found writing fantasy intimidating because creating a world from scratch that makes sense seems impossible for me to do.
What a fun question! I’ve always been interested in the pioneer era, so books like Francis Tuckett by Gary Paulsen interest me. Another YA historical novel that moved me is The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz.
When I was a kid and listened to the stories my mom’s parents talk about their childhood, I imagined it was like pioneer days. I think there were similarities between life as a pioneer and life on a farm in West Virginia in the 1910’s and ’20’s.
How fun for you to grow up imagining that!