Summary: Speculative fiction consists of myths, magic, modern versions of fairy tales, urban legends and paranormal powers. The chapter relates five characteristics which help in teaching through Speculative Fiction. First, there is the mythological perspective of apocalypse. The world news is always sharing events of Global warming, natural disasters,and other calamities that continue to grow. Teachers can use this genre to evaluated certain world issues. Second, allows myth and folklore to guide readers into a perspective they may seek. People in general seek for purpose and guidance in the direction of their personal lives, speculative fiction can direct students into a destiny by power of language. However, it needs to be respected in order to understand social law. Third, speculative fiction can represent the brink of losing what is dear, life, or a kingdom. Students live in a peer pressured world and need to know that their brink in life can be conquered and understood. Fourth, this genre teaches us how to live. They allow us to see stories move through characters and plots as a child becomes a young adult. The final strategy is entering another plane of existence. The chapter explains that writers of this type of speculative fiction care deeply about the worlds they create, and thus they can demonstrate ecological literacy and stewardship over a planet.
Theme: Historical Fantasy: Illuminating our collective and individual past
Speculative fiction target the unknowing future, however in historical fantasy authors place their setting in the past in order to bring a sharper focus on an element then ordinary historical fiction.
Literary Work: Haunted, by Barbara Haworth-Attard
Set after World War one in a rural backwoods town, it is haunted by the effects of war: hunger, grief and deprivation. A girl who posses the "sight" must work through unnatural occurrences as the town looks towards her as the responsible party.
Strategies: Beside the historical aspect of this work which could be used in a Social studies context. This work could be used as a case study of myth or legend, and also to see how a character deemed outcast grows as an individual.