Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Genre of Children's Literature

It is not enough simply to teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations—something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.” 

The quote  above by Katherine Paterson caused me to think for a while. Agreeing with her, I summarized what I learned about Genre of Children's Literature. It is adapted from Mrs. Liz Storey's Children's Literature Resource Guide, 2012. 


Genre in Children’s Literature
·          
Picture Books: Books that communicate information or tell a story through pictures. Text is minimal and the pictures are as important, if not more important, than the text.
o   Wordless
o   Alphabet
o   Concept
o   Counting
o   Mother Goose
o   Nursery Rhyme
o   Easy-to-read
o   Picture Storybooks
·        
 Traditional Literature: Books that evolved from the oral tradition of storytelling and were handed down from generations. These tales often contain universal themes.
o   Fairy tales/folktales
o   Fables
o   Myths
o   Legends
·      
   Modern Fantasy: Books characterized by their use of time travel, imaginary beings or some manipulation or altering of one or more of the literary elements (usu. Characters or setting) from what is expected in the real world.
o   Alice in the Wonderland, A Wrinkle in Time, The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, Harry Potter
·         
 Poetry: Books containing a single poem or collections of poetry. Books can be by one author or as an anthology of poems selected by an editor.
·         Realistic Fiction: Books that contain literary elements (characters, setting, plot) that could really happen today. Stories do not have to be true, but they could be.
o   Mysteries
o   Adventure stories
o   Animal stories
o   Survival stories
o   Everyday life and family stories (problem stories)
·          
Historical Fiction: Books based on events in history or on people that lived in the past. Books should be historically authentic, and setting is a key literary element of these books.
o   Across Five Aprils, My Brother Sam is Dead, A Family Apart
·          
Non-Fiction: Books that deal with real people, their lives, events and other factual information. These books inform and explain.
o   Factual stories
o   Biographies/autobiographies
o   Informational: National Geographic, Scholastic News, Time for Kids
·        


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