Anglo-Saxon topic fiction books for KS2 children – can they be realistic and age-appropriate?
KS2 Anglo-Saxon topic book Freedom for Bron
Anglo-Saxon topic fiction for KS2 – can it be realistic and age-appropriate?
A guest blog by author N.S. Blackman
It can be a challenge, to write age-appropriate fiction for Year 4 and Year 5 children learning about the Anglo-Saxons. But it’s one that has to faced in order to create a class reader that’s right for the child readers, but realistic to.
Life for Anglo-Saxons could be pretty grim, just read any history of the period and the worst human instincts are often on display – betrayal and violence, cruelty and conflict, oppression and lack of empathy.
Inequality, of course, was taken for granted.
The feudal system that was famously introduced after the Norman conquest is sometimes thought of as oppressive compared to the Anglo-Saxon way of doing things – the English were ‘free’ before the Normans conquered them. But that’s not true, or at least it’s only half the story. Anglo-Saxon warlords and powerful families had their slaves and servants too. For much of the early medieval period the strong and ruthless prospered through force and exploitation, both before1066 and after.
This was the first challenge I faced when writing Freedom for Bron specifically for KS1 and KS2 children: I wanted the narrative to be realistic and historically accurate, but not relentlessly grim.
Bron, a young boy, is enslaved and working for a joyless village blacksmith – but his story is one of hope. It is the arrival of a group of young warriors from a neighbouring kingdom, one of them a girl with whom he strikes up a friendship, that changes his life.
Historical fiction for primary school readers: challenging but uplifting
For this age group there is a need for fiction that is uplifting, thought provoking, challenging – but not depressing. To be fair, sometimes that’s true for older readers too: we sometimes just want stories to be hopeful, inspiring or romantic, because real life can be hard enough.
Of course, stories for young readers should also be poignant and sad – the most memorable are, I think – but for younger age groups fiction should lean towards more positive aspects of life – bravery, affection, resilience, loyalty, hope and, above all perhaps, humour.
Humour is especially useful for taking the sting out of grim reality. Jokes are the magic ingredient of the Horrible Histories after all, and they can work just as well in fiction, with the right characters.
Formidable and funny?
In Freedom for Bron the old warlord Beogard is undoubtedly a formidable fighter, but his toughness is offset by self-mockery and warmth. He is getting old, and struggling to keep up with the younger warriors around him – he has to keep stopping to catch his breath, so he pretends to adjust his war gear, while everyone pretends not to notice. Straight away, I wanted the reader to feel some sympathy towards him, despite his rough outward appearance.
In the first scene Beogard and his young companions come across a dog that has been badly wounded protecting a farm from raiders – Beogard soothes the animal, talking to it gently, before quickly breaking its neck. It’s a moment that young readers often comment on: it’s shocking, but not cruel. The alternative would have been to let the animal suffer.
When Beogard tells a fireside tale, his boastfulness is laced with humour: it’s a good job he’s getting fat, he says, because it means he can float in full armour; he may be descended from mighty kings, but he sulkily confides that his daughter won’t let him drink honey-mead because she thinks he over-indulges.
A guide through the danger
I wanted Beogard to be a reassuring and encouraging guide for the story’s young protagonists, as they set out on their perilous quest; and also a character that KS1 and KS2 readers would enjoy meeting, especially those who are reading about the Anglo-Saxon world for the first time.
And of course when the real moment of danger comes, at the climax of the story, Beogard keeps his oath and doesn’t fail his young companions. He persuades a hard-nosed king not to go to war and against the odds he faces down the most dangerous enemy warrior in single combat.
Perhaps real life for the Anglo-Saxons was never that optimistic – or but perhaps, sometimes, it was.
N.S Blackman’s KS2 Anglo-Saxon story Freedom for Bron is the perfect class reader to cover the early Anglo-Saxon period.
Available with a 20% discount from this website
Activity sheets, covering various aspects of Anglo-Saxon life and linked to the story are available to download for free.