Embedded Research: Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, The Pearl Thief and The Thing with Feathers

In his article “Creating Possibilities: Embedding Research into Creative Writing,” Jason Wirtz coins the term embedded research.  Embedded research is information that is embedded so seamlessly into the story that it enriches the detail and realism in the story without seeming didactic. As we begin another school year, I am reminded of one of my favorite language arts units.  Initially, I would have my students read a book from a suggested list and identify the embedded research in the story.  In literature circles they would discuss how the embedded research enhanced the story. Then they would do their own research and embed it in a story of their own.  This month I would like to recommend three new titles that include embedded research.  Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers is technically a non-fiction book, but it reads like historical fiction in that Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma) imagines the brothers' lives based on letters they exchanged. The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein is a prequel to Code Name Verity and tells the story of artifacts buried in the peat bogs of Scotland.   The Thing with Feathers by McCall Hoyle embeds research about Emily Dickinson's poetry into a novel about a girl with a seizure disorder. 

Based on the 658 letters Vincent wrote to Theo during his lifetime, Vincent and Theo is the story of the love and devotion between two brothers.  Theo Van Gogh is an art dealer who champions his brother Vincent's work, as he himself tries to succeed in the art world.  He supports Vincent financially and counsels him to move away from dark dreary paintings toward a more colorful palette, that art lovers now know and love. Vincent's bipolar behavior would try the patience of most, but Theo sticks by him until Vincent commits suicide at age 37. Theo dies a few months later.  Structured like a walk through an art gallery, each section of the book chronicles a period in Vincent's life, creating a vivid examination of art, mental illness, and brotherly love. Heiligman introduces each "gallery" with a black an white reproduction of a representative work and documents her research involving visits to various sites and a list of her sources. This book is a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner for 2017.

The Pearl Thief focuses on Julie, a main character from Code Name Verity, and her summer adventures in 1938, when she returns to her family's Scottish Estate, which is soon to be sold and turned into a school.  While wandering the estate, she is knocked unconscious and rescued by two "Travelers" or gypsies, who take her to the hospital.  She can't remember what happened, but Dr. Housman, an antiques scholar cataloging the family's estate is now missing, along with a cache of river pearls.  The bigoted townspeople suspect the Travelers, but Julie knows her new Traveler friends Euan and Ellen McEwen, could have nothing to do with it.  As she works to solve the mystery, she and the McEwens discover ancient artifacts buried in peat, body parts presumed to be the scholar's, as well as the missing pearls.  Adding to her confusion are her conflicted feelings for Frank, the chief contractor on the renovations, and Ellen with whom she shares experimental kisses. Whether they have read Code Name Verity or not, readers will enjoy this complex historical narrative about Julie's formative experiences before she becomes a WWII spy.

In The Thing With Feathers Emilie Day has been home-schooled since her dad died and she was diagnosed with epilepsy.  Her best friend is her seizure dog Hitch, who is a wonderful character in the story.  Then her mother enrolls her in public school, and Emilie is forced to interact with the world, initially without Hitch.  In addition to being befriended by Ayla who wants her to join the staff of the school literary magazine, she is paired with star basketball player Chatham York for a project on Emily Dickinson, and he talks her into tutoring him. Now she must decide whether to confide in her new friends about her condition or keep silent.  As she begins to recognize that everyone has issues (Ayla's mother abandoned her and Chatham's sister is autistic), Emilie takes a leap toward friendship and first love.  Each chapter begins with an applicable quote from an Emily Dickinson poem. It is suggested that Emily Dickinson herself was an epileptic, which might help to explain her famously reclusive existence. This coming-of-age story is told in first person present tense, helping the reader engage with Emilie's plight and ultimate triumph.

Code Name Verity - Historical fiction at its finest

Although summer is a great time for escapist reading, it's also an opportunity to catch up on some wonderful historical fiction that complements facts learned in the social studies classroom.  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein tells the tale of Verity, a secret agent captured in enemy territory during WW II, who trades an intricately woven confession to her Nazi captors in hopes of prolonging her life.  In flashbacks she tells the story of her friendship with Maddie, a pilot who is her best friend, whom she believes died in the wrecked fuselage of their downed plane. Life: An Exploding Diagram by Mal Peet chronicles the story of Clem Ackroyd, a boy from the English working class, who begins an ill fated love affair with Frankie Mortimer, the daughter of a wealthy land owner, just as the Cuban Missile Crisis heats up. In The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow, Max Schmeling, a real life champion boxer and German national hero, offers to give Karl, a Jewish teen in Nazi Germany, boxing lessons. Karl, the victim of bullying, sees it as a chance to learn to defend himself. A skilled cartoonist, Karl relates his newfound skills and relationship with Max in his drawings which illustrate the book.

An experienced pilot, Elizabeth Wein creates a realistic potrayal of the relationship between Maddie Brodatt, a British civilian pilot during WW II and her best friend Queenie, a wireless operator and spy  in Code Name Verity. In part one Queenie, code named Verity, has been captured by the Nazis and is trading a hand written confession including what she knows about the British war effort, in order to postpone her inevitable execution. Assuming that Maddie died in the crash of their plane over France, Queenie primarily writes about the development of their friendship. (Spoiler alert) Part two is Maddie's "accident report." Unbeknownst to Queenie, Maddie survives the crash and spends the last part of the book attempting to rescue Queenie from her captors.

Mal Peet, the Carnegie award winning author of Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal, creates a coming-of-age tale during the Cuban Missle Crisis in his new book Life: An Exploding Diagram. The book, which spans three generations, focuses on a childhood affair between two British teens. Because Clem Ackroyd's father works for Frankie Mortimer's dad, they must meet secretly to explore their mutual attraction.  As these star-crossed lovers try to find ways to see each other, world leaders attempt to avoid WWIII.  A catastrophic event which tears the lovers apart, forever colors their futures.

Robert Sharenow is the award winning author of My Mother the Cheerleader, a story about school integration in New Orleans in 1960. He is also an Emmy Award-winning television producer and serves as executive vice president of programming for Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network. In his new book The Berlin Boxing Club, he tackles the topic of Aryan superiority in the WW II story of a young Jewish boy who develops a relationship with his father's friend, the real life boxer Max Schmeling. VOYA's review says, "This beautifully written coming-of-age story puts a human face on both the victims and the tormentors during the holocaust while revealing on a national level the political importance and implications of the historic match between black boxer Joe Louis and German hero Max Schmeling.”

All three books are carefully researched and beautifully written.  If you are like me, and like your history dished up on a fictional plate, you will love the latest historical novels by these award winning authors.