Nonfiction is nonfiction and fiction is fiction. But sometimes picture books use a fictional framework to present nonfiction content. Sometimes that’s called historical fiction, but sometimes it’s something else entirely. The thing without a name.
In The Artist and Me, Shane Peacock imagines a child who is a neighbor to Vincent Van Gogh and, along with other townsfolk, teases and bullies the artist. Eventually, he is moved by the beauty of Van Gogh’s art and as an adult, comes to regret his actions. The story is fictional but inspired by the reality of the reaction to Van Gogh’s work.
It’s a pity that Peacock couldn’t dive into letters and diaries of Van Gogh’s tormentors to document how poorly they treated him. But it is a rare situation where someone records such acts of daily, offhand unkindness. And yet we know from Van Gogh’s letters about this poor treatment. This is one of those stories that perhaps can only be told through fiction.
Hudson Talbott’s book about the evolution of wolves into dogs, From Wolf to Woof!, also faces the problem of the lack of specifics. Scientists know that dogs are related to wolves and they can conjecture about how they came to be dogs, but it’s merely conjecture. Talbott takes this uncertainty and overlays it with an origin myth. He creates an outcast boy who develops a mutually beneficial relationship with an outcast wolf to lay out one plausible scenario of how wolves might have been domesticated.
In both of these books, the authors use back matter to talk about where their stories depart from nonfiction. I don’t think children will be ill-served or tricked by either book (especially if the adults in their lives share the back matter with them). I liked both of them.
The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock, illustrated by Sophie Casson. Owlkids: 2016
From Wolf to Woof! The Story of Dogs by Hudson Talbott. Nancy Paulsen Books: 2016
I participate in the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at Kid Lit Frenzy.
There are a number of great picture books that straddle that line between fiction and nonfiction, that sort of “based on a true story” realm. The Red Bicycle by Jude Isabella is another title like that, which I saw shelved either in fiction or nonfiction in different libraries – it was inspired by true stories, but was a fictionalized account. I think as long as the author provides background information and clearly sets out which parts of the story are fact and which are interpretation (as tricky as that can sometimes be), these stories can be very informative, as well as helping kids better or more easily relate to historical events. For example, a child might not find Vincent Van Gogh very relatable or interesting, but they might be able to connect with the child narrator, and be drawn into the story that way. Thanks for sharing these!
I like your point that part of what may be driving those choices is who a child can connect to. Great observation.
I recently reviewed both, Annette, and feel much the same way, although From Wolf to Woof was identified as non-fiction in my library, I suppose because it was termed a myth. I enjoyed your reviews about each, really loved The Poet and Me.
I’m always fascinated by the back matter. It is an interesting choice to see what authors add, or to see what they sometimes leave out.
Increasingly, people are calling these kinds of books “informational fiction.” Informational fiction includes historical fiction and science-themed books like The Magic School Bus as well as biographies were the author takes some liberties to improve the storytelling. These include invented dialog, imagined scenes, rearranged chronology, unrealistic point of view (like a tree), etc.
Melissa Stewart