How we can get this generation of students who are forward-focused and instant-gratification driven to care about the past? Recent non-fiction books show attempts to do just that.
Today's youth is celebrity-conscious and visually-stimulated. Four new books in National Geographic's World History Biographies series are photo-rich stories of historical superstars. Titles span interests and eras with Philip Wilkinson's "Michelangelo: The Young Artist Who Dreamed of Perfection"; Philip Steele's "Marie Curie: The Woman Who Changed the Course of Science"; "Saladin: The Muslim Warrior Who Defended His People" and John Phillips' "Leonardo Da Vinci: The Genius Who Defined the Renaissance". Each is filled with wonderfully reproduced art illustrations and period photographs if available. A timeline at the bottom of every page gives a visual reference for all the events in the person's life. Identification increases because the books focus in on the early life of these historical figures. Their motivations and struggles turn history into story and their traits model keys for success. It's easy to see that much has gone into the concept of both series and execution. The plentiful pictures, pleasing graphic arrangements, readable writing will draw younger audience. Parents and teachers will note that a learned consultant has checked facts and insured accuracy for each book. (All titles from National Geographic, $17.95, ages 10 and up
Today's children are self-absorbed, so why not put them in the center of non-fiction? That's exactly what happens in Jacqueline Morley's "How to be an Egyptian Princess" and Thomas Ratliff's "How to be a Revolutionary Soldier". These playful historical examinations start with a page which imitates a period communiqué--papyrus and the time-worn paper post job descriptions, list duties and suggest how one might attain these positions. The use of the second person begins right away and places the child-reader smack-dab in the middle of history.
This series does something else with kid-appeal, it recounts information with sound-bytes arranged in a scrapbook style, each page filled with four to five drawings that give a visual sense of the period and specifics of the "job". For example, you learn how each of the princess' hundreds of linen tunics would take a weaver nine months to make. You view a delicious menu for a pharaoh's feat (including roast quail and honey cakes) and learn the downside of being an Egyptian princess-sand! There's sand in your food and sand down wears your teeth, inflames your eyes and dries your throat.
Still, the Egyptian princess sounded like a better deal than the soldiers' endless days of "practicing marching in a straight line, loading your musket, firing on command, and learning how to salute and wear your uniform properly". Artillery, food tactics and the downsides of disease, wounds, and starvation are also discussed. Both books end with a multiple choice "Your Interview" page to see if the reader has learned enough to earn the job (both National Geographic, $14.95; ages 9 and up).
That inviting second person voice followed by visuals linked to words work well in Bob Raczka's "Here's Looking at Me: How Artists See Themselves" (Lerner, $23.93, ages 8-11). Raczka's lets the personal lead children into the art he clearly loves by asking them how they might paint themselves in a self-portrait. Would they paint themselves in the mirror, all dressed up, or in pajamas? Would "you paint your whole body, or just your head"? Would you be "serious,or smiling"?
Raczka fulfills this exciting beginning with visual and verbal portraits of fourteen artists from 16th century Albrecht Durer to 20th century photographer Cindy Sherman. With few words he offers much to consider. He explains historical contexts, describes the art form, gives specifics about the artist, and explains artistic symbols, all with paintings you refer to on the page opposite the word-portrait. For example, he notes the candles on Francisco de Goya's hat in his self-portrait and describes how this driven artist painted before and after daylight in a time before electricity. Raczka reveals why Marc Chagal painted himself with seven-fingers to give visual voice to an old Jewish expression which says that doing something with seven fingers means doing it very fast and very well. Children used to visual bombardment may begin to consider how much hides in the images they see.
Two lesser known historical figures appear in picture book biographies, a form that appeals to today's visually sensitive children. Caldecott award winner, Emily Arnold McCully writes and illustrates, "Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor" (FSG, $16.00; ages 6-10). Mattie who lived from 1838 to 1914 grew up in a family who didn't have money, but she never felt poor. She inherited her father's toolbox and filled her Maine home with inventions to make her family more comfortable. Mattie took her gift into the world and at twelve created an improved shuttle after a terrible factory accident occured at the textile mill where she worked. Probably her most well-known invention was a paper bag, an invention most of us take for granted. Mattie provides an important window on injustice. In her era, she fought to gain the rights to the patents she deserved, started a business to protect them, and came up with 90 original inventions and 22 patents to disproved the theory that women's brains were inadequate.
Gaylia Taylor writes about another little-known historical figure who invented a well-known item in "George Crum and the Saratoga Chip" (Lee and Low, $16.95, ages 6-10). Like Mattie, George had a hard time growing up in 1830's Saratoga Springs, New York. Though he was feisty and discovered his passion for cooking early in life, it wasn't easy to fight prejudice when he was part Native American and part African American. George had little patience for preferential treatment of clientele. Though it was a fussy diner who led him to fame and wealth. Her complaints led to his invention of the quickly-fried thin potato slices, today's potato chips.
Visual attraction, child-centered writing, and subject appeal are all important to these books, but giving children an intimate and immediate sense of history through knowing its heroes may be the greatest gift of these new books.