I’ve never been really big on historical fiction unless there’s a fantasy element. If I learned anything from this book display, the readers of young adult fiction in Alexandria are basically in agreement with me. Book displays aren’t just a good way to up circulation, but a good way to assess from a general standpoint, what types and genres of books and other materials in which patrons or customers have an interest.
Unlike the Retellings display, the books for this display did not exactly fly off the shelves. This is a library I’m only at for four hours once a week, so it’s difficult to say from that glimpse what types of books teens are checking out with fervor. There are circulation statistics available, of course, but those stats don’t come with a gauge of the level of excitement with which the book was checked out. I think, to degree, that matters. But let’s say I did know historical fiction circulated poorly in the YA fiction. If one of our goals is to increase circulation for under-circulating materials, then I might’ve made this display anyway, just to see if highlighting it made a difference.
I marketed this display with the idea of holiday giving — give yourself the gift of time travel. And some of the books did have a time travel element, but most were simply historical fiction. The images below give a sample of the titles I used in the display. You’ll also find a complete list of what else I might have pulled at the bottom of the post.
Do you have a favorite historical fiction?
| Come August, Come Freedom | Amateau, Gigi |
| This Vast Land | Ambrose, Stephen |
| The Diviners | Bray, Libba |
| Caminar | Brown, Skila |
| Born of Illusion | Brown, Teri |
| Goddess of Yesterday | Cooney, Caroline B. |
| Audacity | Crowder, Melanie |
| The Year We Were Famous | Dagg, Carole Etsby |
| The Road of Bones | Fine, Anne |
| Spirit’s Chosen | Friesner, Esther |
| Untimed | Gavin, Andy |
| Silver in the Blood | George, Jessica Day |
| Luxe | Godbersen, Anna |
| The Wild | Golden, Christopher |
| Blythewood | Goodman, Carol |
| Changeling | Gregory, Philippa |
| Wicked Girls | Hemphill, Stephanie |
| The Falconer’s Knot | Hoffman, Mary |
| Dancer, Daughter, Traitor, Spy | Kiem, Elizabeth |
| Mortal Heart | LaFevers, Robin |
| Manor of Secrets | Longshore, Katherine |
| Pateince, Princess Catherine | Meyer, Carolyn |
| Miss Spitfire | Miller, Sarah Elizabeth |
| All We Have Left | Mills, Wendy |
| The Beautiful and the Cursed | Morgan, Page |
| Venom | Paul, Fiona |
| Dodger | Pratchett, Terry |
| Sandell, Lisa Ann | |
| The Hired Girl | Schlitz, Laura Amy |
| The Enchantress | Scott, Michael |
| The Ghosts of Heaven | Sedgwick, Marcus |
| The Cup and the Crown | Stanley, Diane |
| The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl | Statham, Leigh |
| Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry | Taylor, Mildred D. |
| Father of Lies | Turner, Ann Warren |
| My Name Is Not Friday | Walter, Jon |
| Countdown | Wiles, Deborah |
| Palace of Spies | Zettel, Sarah |
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