GENRE

1. GENRE A genre is a type or category of literature. There are four main literary genres: Fiction Nonfiction Poetry Drama

2. FICTION A narrated story that uses made-up characters or events. Usually read for entertainment. Writing may appear in two forms: • Novel – longer story with a more complicated • story • Short story – less complicated story line and • can usually be read in one or two sittings

3. REALISTICFICTION • Imaginative writing set in the real, modern world. • Characters act • like real people • who use ordinary • human abilities • to deal with • problems and • conflicts of • modern life.

4. HISTORICAL FICTION • Imaginative writing that is set in the past with the main character usually imaginary. • Story may include references to actual people, places, and important events in history. • Story may also include fictional elements: dialogue (conversation) and descriptions.

5. SCIENCE FICTION • Imaginative writing that is based on real or imagined scientific developments. • Often has a story set in the future but may have problems that characters face which are similar to real problems that people face today. • Contains a great deal of technology and science.

6. MYSTERY • The main character is trying to solve a mystery or a puzzle – often criminal activity and suspense • Character tries to find clues and follow leads to solve the conflict • Often referred to as “Who done it?” stories

7. FANTASY • Imaginative writing that contains fantastic or unreal elements • Setting could be in a totally imaginary world or in a realistic place where very unusual or impossible things happen • Often includes magic or characters with superhuman power • Animals may have human qualities (personification)

8. MYTHS • A traditional story that has been passed down from generation to generation about the origin or workings of the world • Stories reflect ancient cultural beliefs: Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Nordic, African, Asian, or Native Peoples • Some stories may explain how certain things in nature came into being. Other stories explain elements of nature or social customs. • Characters are often superhuman beings: gods, goddesses, demigods, or mythical creatures which are part man – part animal

9. TALL TALES • A humorously exaggerated story about impossible events, often relating to superhuman abilities of the main character who may or may not be a real person in history • Often a story related to a particular cultural region • Story has usually been passed down by oral tradition

10. LEGENDS • A story that is handed down from the past about a specific person – usually with heroic accomplishments • Characters and events may or may not be real • Story often mixes fact and fiction (imagination)

11. FABLES • A brief story that teaches a lesson (moral) about human nature • The moral may be directly written in a brief statement at the end of the story • Characters are often animals that act or speak like humans (personification) • Often related to specific culture groups: African, Asian • Aesop was a famous writer of Greek fables

12. NONFICTION Writing that contains true, factual material usually about one topic. May include books, textbooks, reference books, brochures and pamphlets. Usually read for the purpose of obtaining information.

13. BIOGRAPHY/ AUTOBIOGRAPHY • A writing that details facts about a person’s life. This writing was written by another person. • Autobiographies are written by the person him or herself.

14. ESSAY Short work of nonfiction that deals with a single subject or topic. Personal essays focus on one’s personal feelings.

15. POETRY • Writing in which ideas, images, and feelings are expressed in few words. • Form may contain lines grouped into stanzas. • Images appeal to readers’ senses, especially the sense of sound, by using alliteration (repeating beginning consonant sound), rhyme, and rhythm or meter. • There are many different genres of poems: free verse, haiku, limerick, and ballad. • The “narrator” of a poem is called the speaker. This could be the poet or one of the characters in the poem itself.

16. PERIODICALS A form of writing that is printed and published at a set period of time: daily, weekly, monthly. Can be entertaining and/or informative. EXAMPLES: Magazines and Newspapers

17. REFERENCE BOOKS A collection of informational writings. These articles are useful for research. EXAMPLES: dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, almanacs, etc.

18. ****TEST**** DIRECTIONS: Put your full name on a piece of notebook paper. Read the description of the books/stories that are given. Decide on the literary genre. You may use your notes. Identify the genre and give an explanation of why you chose that particular genre.BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR REASON. Book #1. Genre _____________________ Reasons I chose this genre: __________________________________ __________________________________ Book #2. Genre ____________________ Reasons I chose this genre: ________________________________ _________________________________

19. Book #1 “In 1944, as World War II rages across Europe, fifteen-year-old Jack Raab dreams of being a hero. Leaving behind New York City, his family, and his boyhood, Jack lies his way into the U.S. Air Corps. From their base in England, he and his crew fly twenty-four perilous bombing missions over occupied Europe. The war is almost over and Hitler near defeat when they fly their last mission-a mission destined for disaster. Shot down far behind enemy lines, Jack is taken prisoner and sent to a German POW camp, where his experiences are more terrifying than anything he’s ever imagined.” The Last Mission by Harry Mazer

20. Book #2 “In 1791, plans for the new capital city, Washington, D.C. were in the works, but someone was needed to help with the surveying. Thomas Jefferson recommended Benjamin Banneker for the job. Banneker was a free black man who lived at a time when black Americans had few, if any, rights. Yet he was an accomplished farmer, mathematician, astronomer, and surveyor. What Are You Figuring Now? Is the story of a man who was never afraid to try something new, no matter how difficult.” What Are You Figuring Now? A Story about Benjaming Banneker by Jeri Ferris

21. Book #3 “They told him his uncle Ian died in a car accident. But fourteen-year-old Alex Rider knows that’s a lie, and the bullet holes in his uncle’s windshield confirm his suspicious. But nothing prepares him for the news that the uncle he always thought he knew was really a spy for MI6 – Britain’s top-secret intelligence agency. Recruited to find his uncle’s killers and complete Ian’s final mission, Alex suddenly finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, with no way out.” Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

22. Book #4 “More than anything, Ida Bidson want to become a teacher. To do that, she must finish eighth grade, then go on to high school. But her dream falters when the one-room school in her remote Colorado town shuts down. Her only hope is to keep the school open without anyone finding out. Yet even a secret school needs a teacher. Ida is only fourteen, so she can’t do the job…Or can she?” The Secret School by Avi

23. Book #5 “On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated bus, sparking the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. A year later, when the boycott finally ended segregation on buses was ruled unconstitutional, the civil rights movement was a national cause, and Rosa Parks was out of a job. Yet there is much more to Rosa Park’s story than just one act of defiance. In straightforward, moving language, she tells of her vital role in the struggle for equality for all Americans. Her dedication is inspiring; her story is unforgettable.” Rosa Park My Story by Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins

24. Book #6 “Hummingbirds are some of nature’s most amazing creature. The smallest birds in the world, they have the fewest feathers, the fastest wing beats, and the biggest appetites. Explore the fast-paced world of sword billed, giant, ruby-throated, and magnificent hummingbirds.” Hummingbirds by Mark J. Rauzon

25. Book #7 “I was frozen for ten years. Yes, crazy, I know, but very true. My name is Floe Ryan, and I was vitrified at sixteen because of a rare disease. Now I’ve been thawed back to my normal self, but absolutely everything else has changed. My little sister’s older than me, my teachers are now holograms (but still annoying), and instead of learning to drive a car, I’m driving a hovercar. And just when I start warming up to this new scene, everything falls apart…” Beyond Cool by Bev Katz Rosenbaum

26. STORY - #8 “Isis, the mightiest, most mysterious goddess in Egypt, was a devoted wife and mother. She used her powers to bring Osiris, her dead husband, home from the kingdom of the dead. Osiris had been cut into pieces by his wicked brother. Isis put him back together and breathed new life into him by fanning him gently with her wings.”

27. STORY - #8 “Hamelin, a town in Germany, was plagued by rats. One day, a mysterious Piper appeared. He offered to get rid of the rats in return for a large sum of money. The townsfolk agreed, the Piper played a tune, and the rats followed him. Once the rats were gone, the townsfolk did not want to pay what they owed. So, the Piper played again and this time he took away the town’s children.” This story may have been based on the Children’s Crusade of 1212, when thousands of children ran away from home to fight in the Holy Land and never returned.

28. STORY - #9 Davy Crocket Davy Crocket was born in 1786 in Tennessee.  He grew up and found the biggest panther this side of the Mississippi.  He fought that panther and when the fight was over he took it home and they became the best of companions. Davy Crocket was a famous hunter and the tales have it that he could shoot a pea off a mountain top.  Davy Crocket ran for Congress in 1827, he became famous for satirizing the difficult lives of these frontier men and women.  Davy Crocket died in the Alamo in 1836.  Many Folks say that "Davy Crocket seemed to be half varmint". They say when he was eight years old he weighed two hundred pounds.

29. STORY - #10 The Ant and the Dove An ant went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank. Shortly afterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid his lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing. One good turn deserves another