You can’t say “no” to excellence!
Historical Fiction is not my first love in children’s fiction, but when I find terrific examples, I love them every bit as much as fantasy… well written stories that transport come in many forms!
Bronze Age children’s historical fiction
Having recently read a couple of excellent children’s historical fiction books— Newbery Award winners A Single Shard by Linda Sue Parks, and The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman—I must pass on another recent discovery:
Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
Summary:
Mute since the traumatic raider attack that took her foster family, Aissa struggles for survival in a mythical imagining of Bronze-Age Crete. Although she is forced to the lowliest position among the servants of her island’s priestess, Aissa’s mysterious bond with animals and the scars on her wrists are clues to her true identity as the priestess’ firstborn daughter.
I always find the publisher-written summaries interesting: the requirement to write a one or two sentence summary that can hook a reader is a daunting task! It’s fascinating to see what aspects of the story the summarizer has chosen to emphasize.
Major part of the story…
This summary says nothing about a major part of the story: Aissa gets swept up in the island’s annual tribute to its invader-protectors: quantities of raw materials (livestock, grain, etc.) and two children who will be “bull dancers” for the Bull King—(perform acrobatics on a live bull, at the risk of their own lives.) Should the children succeed, the island shall be forever released of its tribute obligation.
It’s a high-risk, high emotional stakes story of a girl whose social status falls, rises, plummets, creeps, hops, and finally catapults to the top. As Aissa goes through the twists and turns of her terribly difficult journey, she becomes an observant, empathetic, and eventually, courageous young woman. She’s an underdog girl hero, coming late into her sense of personal power—much like the girls in Piper Pan’s Merry Band (in my own books The Curse of the Neverland and Becoming Piper Pan.)
Bronze-Age society
Bringing a part of history so long buried to life, seems to me a tremendous accomplishment—one I would find exceptionally challenging. Wendy Orr does a beautiful job, painting a complete and captivating picture of this Bronze-Age society.
Inner narrative
I haven’t mentioned that chunks of this story are written in spare non-rhyming poetry—bringing the inner narrative of a mute girl to vivid life.
Try it, you’ll like it! As a Junior Library Guild Selection, your library is bound to have Dragonfly Song, by Wendy Orr!