Genres and Subgenres

Classifying Stories

Genres and SubgenresTexts can be separated into groups

called genres and subgenres.

Bananais a

Foodis a

Fruit

Harry Potter Book

is Fiction

is Fantasy

Text Genre Subgenre

GenresFiction: made-up creative or imaginative writing.

Nonfiction: writing that is true or factual.

Folklore: stories once passed down orally.

*Usually will say “retold by” or “adapted by”

Dramas: a work of storytelling in which the characters are represented by the actors and which is acted out on a stage before an audience.

Poetry: expresses how the poet feels, makes the reader see something ordinary in a new way, and tends to be rhythmic.

Fiction Subgenres

Fiction

Realistic Fiction

ScienceFiction

Historical Fiction

Adventure

Fantasy

Mystery

Realistic Fiction• Imaginative writing that accurately reflects life as it could

be lived today.• Everything is a realistic fiction story could actually

happen to real people living in today’s world.

Science Fiction• speculates on a world that, given what we

know of science, might one day be possible. • It stresses the scientific advancements (flying cars, robots,

etc…) and technological inventions could be scientifically possible.

(Modern) Fantasy• Fantasy creates another world for

characters and readers, asking that the reader believe this other world could exist.

• Usually includes monsters, magic or super powers.

• What distinguishes science fiction from fantasy is that fantasy presents a world that never was and never could be, while the world presented in science fiction may one day exist.

Why do these titles fall into both fantasy and science fiction?

Historical Fiction• realistic stories that are based on real historical

events that have happened in the past. • There are three types of historical fiction. In one type, the

author weaves a fictional story around actual events and

people of the past. • In another type, the story has little or no reference to

recorded historical events or real people, but how the characters live and make their living and the conflicts they must resolve are true to the time period.

• In the third type, the story tells of the past through another genre, such as fantasy.

Adventure• a fast action story that includes suspense

and risk, and some sort of quest, exploration, and/or journey.

Mystery• presents a puzzle or investigation to be solved.

• Mysteries contain a character who acts as the detective, and contain clues to help he reader solve the puzzle. Mysteries have a suspenseful mood and contain foreshadowing.

Realistic Fiction: stories that could be true, but aren’t. (Holes, Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Science Fiction: has aliens, advanced technology, or is set in the future. (Star Trek, Hunger Games)

Historical Fiction: a made up story set around a real event or person from history. (Titanic, Gone With the Wind)

Fantasy: has monsters, magic, or super powers.(Hobbit, Harry Potter, Eragon)

Adventure: a fast action story that includes suspense and risk, and some sort of quest, exploration, and/or journey.(Hatchet, Chronicles of Narnia)

Nonfiction Subgenres

Nonfiction

InformationalWriting

Biography Autobiography

Essay/Speech/Article

Informational Writing

• provides facts or information.

• Such as textbooks, how-to books, magazines, encyclopedias, etc…

Biography• one’s life story written by someone else.

bio=life

graphy=writing

Autobiographyone’s life story written by oneself.Auto = Self Bio = Life Graphy= Writing

Essay/Article/Speech

• a writing or speech meant to inform or influence the reader/listener.

Non-fiction and Historical Fiction• What’s the difference?

Non-fiction biographies and auto-biographies are written about the actual lives of real people while

Historical fiction stories are made up stories that are usually set in an historical time period or around something that actually happened, but the characters don’t really exist. Look for clues such as characters.

Folklore Subgenres

Folklore

Fable

Tall Tale Myth

Fairy Tale

Legend

Fable very brief stories, usually with animal

characters, that point clearly to a moral or lesson.

Moral: lesson of the story (clearly stated).

Tall Tale• Funny story usually set in the Wild West;

main character’s size or skill exaggerated

• American tall tales are a combination of history, myth, and fact.

Legend• a story that might be true, but is

exaggerated. • stories that are similar to myth but are based on more

historical truth and less upon the supernatural. Examples include Trojan War, Robin Hood, and King Arthur.

Myth• stories containing fanciful or supernatural

incidents intended to explain nature of tell about gods and demons of early people.

Fairy Tales

• tales of magic and the supernatural; usually begin “Once upon a time” and end “and they lived happily ever after.”

Fairytales & Fantasies

Both have monsters, magic, or talking animals.

What’s the difference?

• Fairytales are part of the oral tradition.

• Usually it will say “retold by” or “adapted by.”

• Fairytales often start “Once Upon a Time.”

Tips for Identifying

1. Find the main genre first

2. Look for details that reveal subgenre

1The Lion and the MouseRetold by Jerry Pinkney

A Lion was sleeping when a Mouse woke him up. The Lion was about to eat him when the Mouse said, “Free me and I shall never forget it: who knows? I may help you some day." The Lion laughed so much at the idea of the Mouse being able to help him, that he let him go. Some time later the Lion was caught in a hunter’s trap. The little Mouse happened to pass by and, seeing the trapped Lion, he gnawed through the ropes and freed him. Little friends can be a big help.

2

War BridesBy Helen Bryan

1939: as Britain prepares for war with Germany in World War II, the lives of five young women are about to collide in the sleepy Sussex village. Together they will face hardship, passion and danger, forming bonds of friendship that will inspire a desperate plan, And, fifty years later, an act of revenge ...

3The Adventures of Robin Hood

Adapted by Howard Pyle

In this work, Pyle sorts through the many folktales concerning the mythical Robin Hood, who may have been a real person, and made them suitable for children. Robin Hood's dashing acts of wealth redistribution (from the rich to the poor) have captured the imagination and fascination of millions of delighted readers through the ages.

4

The Best Book of Sharks

by Claire Llewellyn

This beautiful book offers insight into the deep-sea lives of one of nature’s deadliest killing machines. Learn where sharks live, what they feed on, how they bear their young.

5Escape From Earth (OASIS) by Ivis Bo Davis

LEAVE EARTH OR DIE– the electromagnetic field around the Earth is fading away. Soon the planet will burn, and everything and everyone on the planet will die. Deep Space Vessel Trisznov is the first human interstellar colony ship, and she is nearly ready to launch in search of a new habitable planet to colonize among the stars...

6

In My Time: A Personal & Political Memoir

by Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney

A written account by the Cheney’s about their life by them.

7

Pecos Bill

by Steven Kellogg and Laura Robb

After falling off his parents wagon as a baby, Pecos Bill is raised by coyotes. He then becomes the toughest cowboy in the Wild West by wrestling giant bulls and outrunning a daemon horse.

8Eclipse

by Stephenie Meyer

The story of Bella Swan and her vampire love, Edward Cullen. The novel explores Bella's choice between her love for Edward and her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black, along with her dilemma of leaving mortality behind in a terrorized atmosphere, a result of mysterious vampire attacks in Seattle.

9Perseus: The Hunt for Medusa's Head Adapted by Paul D. Storrie

Could a monster whose very look turns men to stone be too perilous even for the son of Zeus? King Polydectes wants to get rid of young Perseus. So he tricks the young hero into performing an impossible task: slaying the snake-haired monster Medusa. But as the son of Zeus, king of the gods, Perseus has many powerful allies. Will Perseus' strength and courage allow him to do the impossible?

10

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Zinn tells the untold history of the United States by focusing on the unrepresented minority groups: women, Native Americans, and African Americans. He covers the Bill of Rights to Clinton’s presidency and everything in between.