Hopping Fun Creations

Aug 14, 2011 7:47 PM EDT

This sounds great. My younger son is more likely to go for historical fiction than my older son, who prefered fantasy at least in his tween years. How long is it? And will the female protagonist work against my son's enjoyment? (Of course you can't answer that, I'll just have to try it out with him.)

- Amy B

Aug 15, 2011 9:59 AM EDT

Hi, what an excellent post! What you've described is exactly what I try to achieve as an author--getting kids hooked into the stories of ancient lives (I have two middle-grade biographies out: ALEXANDER THE GREAT ROCKS THE WORLD and CLEOPATRA RULES!). Early on, I made the conscious decision to not overwhelm readers with irrelevant dates and names, but to hook them into the stories of these fascinating--and sometimes funny--characters. My belief is that kids are naturally fascinated by history--and especially ancient history--but that we sometimes inadvertently kill that fascination by burying them under layers of details that don't necessarily speak to them.

With my YA novel, CLEOPATRA'S MOON (the story of Cleopatra's only surviving child, her daughter Selene), I was able to focus on the stories of real people and events, and how my characters might have felt about them.

I figure, there's plenty of time when they're in late high school or college for them to learn the stuffy approach to history. But when they're younger, it's more important to capture their hearts and imaginations.

- Vicky Alvear Shecter

Aug 30, 2011 4:08 PM EDT

Thanks for the info on your books, and the wise comments about hooking kids on history Vicky! Being a bit of an ancient history nut, I will definitely get Alex and Cleo on my wish list. Wish I would have had them when I was teaching history.

- Louise

Oct 12, 2012 12:57 PM EDT

Mrs. Hopping i love your blog! these are really great books!

- Isabella