I recently read a novel titled Mary Called Magdalene, written by Margaret George (2002), a well known writer of historical fiction. I read this novel partly because I had been interested for some time in Mary Magdalene and all I knew about this important woman who figured in the life of Jesus Christ was the limited descriptions of her and her role found in scholarly books or in the New Testament. The idea that Mary Magdalene was a far more important person in the life of Christ and in the development of the Christian religion came to my attention with the publication of The DaVinci Code, a book that I read some time ago.
The value of reading historical fiction as well as nonfiction seems to me to be quite obvious. What fiction brings to the reader is the opportunity "to interact with texts from a number of perspectives that are impossible to achieve in nonfiction alone (Vacca & Vacca, 2005, p. 171)." Historical fiction is seen by Vacca and Vacca (2005) as helping a reader to move outside of the everyday world and to consider a subject from a different point of view. Reading about the important figures from history, even when the text is fictional rather than biography or critical analysis, can help to humanize historical figures and events. I certainly learned far more about what Mary Magdalene's life may have been like from reading Margaret George's (2002) book.
I think it is important to strike a balance between the use of textbooks, fiction, nonfiction, and even picture books in a content classroom. Engaging students of all ages and of all skill or mastery levels with texts is the goal of any content literacy program in general and of content area reading in particular. For many learners, texts offer only a very brief overview of an issue, event, person, or theme. Many textbooks are oriented toward facts -- the dry material of history, science, math, and so forth. Adding in fiction, nonfiction in the form of biogr...