Historical Fiction Picture Book Publishing Expectations

Historical Fiction Picture Book Publishing Expectations

We just finished a month-long unit on historical writing in class. Our pieces focused on life in 1620 and 1621, either on the Mayflower, in Plymouth or in a neighboring Wampanoag village. We pulled on our knowledge from our readings and from our social studies work to make our pieces the strongest they could be.

During this unit, we focused on:

·      Creating three or four clear scenes that each tie in to the main problems in the piece

·      Building the meaning in our piece by layering small actions, internal thoughts, dialogue and setting details

·      Bringing out the historical story (what was actually happening in 1620) and the personal story (what was happening specifically to our character)

·      Creating characters that are flawed and realistic and revising our piece to ensure our characters are more than one way

·      “Turning the lights on” in our piece so that the setting is clear to our reader

Significant time was allotted to this project in class, and your child already should have:

·      Created a rough draft of their historical fiction piece

·      Revised their historical fiction piece based on the above lessons

·      Edited their historical fiction piece alone and with a partner

·      Written a draft of a nonfiction introduction

·      Created at least three illustrations for their the book

Your child will have until Friday, February 10 to work on publishing their historical fiction picture book at home. The finished piece should include:

c  A cover with a title and the author’s name

c  A nonfiction section at the beginning that includes information about at least two different parts of life at this time (ex. The Wetu and Life in a Wampanoag Village)

c  A typed or handwritten story that has at least 3 scenes (It is alright if the story is typed by an adult.)

c  Illustrations—at least one for each scene, but more illustrations if wanted