Realistic Fiction
- Also known as contemporary realistic fiction or modern realistic fiction
- Set in contemporary or modern times
- Story is believable and consistent with the real world.
Criteria For Evaluating Realistic Fiction Children
- Is everything consistent with the real world in which contemporary kids live?
- Does the theme emerge naturally from the story?
- How does the topic or subject matter of the book relate to modern reader?
Reflection: Realistic fiction is probably my favorite subgenre because I like reading about things that I can relate to. This makes me reflect on an earlier chapter where we discussed the reasons we share literature with children. I find realistic fiction to be the easiest type of text to model from when doing reader’s workshop.
Nonfiction
Criteria for Evaluating Nonfiction for Children
- What are the qualifications of the author?
- You can look in the back of the book for information about the author.
- Acknowledgements
- Are the facts accurate?
- You can take more than one book from the same subject and compare the facts.
- Have students make charts comparing information from different books.
- What is the purpose and scope of the book?
- Do you need a book with a broad or narrow scope?
- How does the organization of the book assist readers in locating information?
- Table of Contents
- Index
- Call out boxes
- Glossary
- Footnotes
- What role do visuals play?
Samples of Questions To Ask Students About Nonfiction (Carter and Abrahamson)
- Tell how this book would be different if it had been written 50 years earlier or 50 years later.
- Describe your favorite illustrations.
- Explain what you think the author did to research and write this book.
- What kind of teacher do you think the author would make?
Reflection: My district is pushing really hard for teachers to change the language from nonfiction to informational text. Though many students still relate to the nonfiction term, all of the components of the genre remain the same. Many students tend to stray away from nonfiction, but I think teaching the organization of the book is essential. If they are looking for a specific piece of information, they don’t have to get bogged down with all of the information in the book.
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Science fiction is a subgenre of fantasy. All science fiction is fantasy, but not all fantasy is science fiction.
Criteria for Evaluating Science Fiction and Fantasy for Children
- Characters should still behave in a consistent manner.
- There will still be rules in the fantasy world.
- Authors help readers believe in the fantasy world.
- Themes still explore universal truths.
Different Categories of Science Fiction:
- Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic
- Steampunk
- Biopunk
- Dystopia
- Robots/Androids/Cyborgs/ and Artificial Intelligence
- Space/Aliens/Extra-Terrestrial
- Time Travel/Parallel Universes
- Virtual Reality/Gaming
Reflection: Originally one of my least favorite sub genres, I’ve grown to like science fiction more after reading books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Legend. With so many different categories, I plan to challenge myself to read different types of science fiction and pay attention to the criteria as well.
Graphic Novels
Graphic novels are not a genre. They are a format. They could be history, fantasy, nonfiction, etc.
- Graphic novels differ from picture books and comic books (complexity)
- GNs may be enjoyed by everyone
- GNs are not just for unmotivated readers
- GNs have a variety of elements
- Panels, gutters, dialog balloons, thought balloons, captions, sound effects
- GNs can benefit students with special needs
Reflection: Like many teachers, I once looked down upon graphic novels and gave way to the stereotypical opinion that they were “easy books.” After reading graphic novels for my child literature class, young adult literature class, and a few titles that were on our Name That Book reading list, I see now that I was completely wrong. I can recall a day when I was still in the classroom and caught one of my students drawing instead of reading. I challenged him to create a graphic novel and the thought and complexity that went into his short novel along with the detail to illustration was amazing.
References
Graphic Novels and CCSS What We Can Learn. (2016, April 06). Retrieved April 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InsxG7KjHdg
Science Fiction: There's Something for Everyone. (2016, September 07). Retrieved April 13, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBe20DHsPEU
