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A "Series" Quandry

© Meg Greene Malvasi

Other companies that have created historical fiction series using this format include Aladdin Paperbacks, which publishes American Diaries, a series featuring young girls living in North America and the United States between the 17th through the 19th centuries. Then there are the enduring and still popular Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The autobiographical stories of the author's growing up on the American frontier continue to attract and hold the interest and imagination of young girls everywhere.

Although the emphasis has been on creating good history for young girls, Scholastic has not forgotten about the boys. In 1998, this publisher introduced the "My Name Is America" series for boys ages 8-14. Written by some of the most successful children's writers, the series uses journals instead of diaries to illustrate the adventures of its young heroes. The use of additional information such as drawings, letters, and documents of the period help add to the authenticity of each book. Current titles include "journals" of a young Revolutionary War patriot, a Union soldier during the Civil War, and a young private in the Second World War. Each book also includes a concluding chapter that provides a historical overview of the period and a small fold-out map, which many other series lack.

What about the kids who like their history served straight? There's good news here, too, as publishers continue to introduce nonfiction series for the middle-school reader that combine good history, engaging graphics, and entertaining humor. Candlewick Press has published history in "newspaper" form. "The Greek News" and "The Roman News" are done in newspaper format and filled with all kinds of historical information about the life and times of each era. "Headlines" outline the important events of the period and also offer interesting sidelights into everyday life. Future titles will include "The Egyptian News" and "The Aztec News". One of the more up-and-coming series is the W5 series done by Henry Holt Publishing. Focusing on the 5W's-who, what, when, where, and why-W5 looks at key historical figures and their times. Current titles include Ramses H and Egypt, Alexander and His Times, Caesar and Rome, and Michelangelo and His Times.

Two other series that take a lively approach to history are Living History from Gulliver Books, which looks at various historical periods and events and are noted for their eye-popping graphics, and See Through History by Viking, which uses acetate overlays to recreate finely detailed interior and exterior views of key locations and features of its subject. Living History titles include Fourteenth-Century Towns, Classical Rome, Knights In Armor, and The First World War. See Through History titles include The Incas and Ancient China.