If I Only Read Historical Fiction, I wouldn’t be able to read….

Historical fiction make up some of my family's favorite read alouds.  However, there can be too much of a good thing. My first year homeschooling, I used a curriculum that centered everything around the history studied that year.  It was a great opportunity to integrate ideas between subjects, but it restricted our read alouds to historical fiction. Even the books that my son was to read on his own were period specific.

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While I loved the program, I soon realized that if I only read historical fiction, there would be so many good books that I would miss out on reading.  Since then, our family has found ourselves enjoying so many different kinds of books as well as historical fiction without being tied to them.  It's so tempting to schedule out my read alouds based on the history we're studying, but then here's what I would be saying:

Historical fiction rejects stories from other worlds:

• We'll never make it to Narnia with the Pevensies
• No epic adventures to Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings
• We'll never Journey to the Center of the Earth
• The 100 Cupboards isn't on our itinerary
• Kingdom's Dawn is out of the question
• We'd never jump to conclusions in the Phantom Tollbooth
• Get lost in Alice in Wonderland
• Or read A Wrinkle in Time

Historical fiction denies stories that feature animals as the main character:

• We'll never get to enjoy Winnie the Pooh
• Or giggle with A Bear Called Paddington
• We'll never cheer for The Trumpet of the Swan
• Poppy would be left in the Dimwood Forest
• We'll never read The Mouse and the Motorcycle
• The Cricket in Times Square
• Bambi
• Wind in the Willows
• The Velveteen Rabbit
• Redwall
• The Green Ember
• Charlotte's Web
• Stuart Little
• Black Beauty
• or Just So Stories

Historical fiction passes on stories about modern kids:

• We definitely would miss out on The Mysterious Benedict Society
• And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• The Moffats
• Mary Poppins
• Pinocchio
• From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
• or The Boxcar Children mysteries

Historical fiction limits stories that make us laugh:

• No Mr. Popper's Penguins fun today
• The silliness of the Twenty-One Balloons would need to stay on the shelf
• Forget reading Summer of the Monkeys
• The Great Brain
• Amelia Bedelia
• Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
• or Anne of Green Gables

Historical fiction has no room for stories involving fairies, princesses or mermaids:

• No reading breakthroughs with The Fairy's Mistake
• We can't read Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep
• Or Ella Enchanted
• Faerie Gold
• The Blue Fairy Book
• The Princess and the Goblin
• The Snow Queen
• and The Little Mermaid

Stories written in Allegorical form:

• We'll skip the Little Pilgrim's Progress
• And Hind's Feet on High Places
• Grandpa's Box
• Wise Words: Family Stories that Bring the Proverbs to Life

While this is not an exhaustive list, this represents 50 books that wouldn't make our reading list if we read only historical fiction.  I love these books as they inspire the imagination.  I also love the freedom of choosing what to read next!

What's on your read aloud list?

Betsy

Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.