Genre text falls into two main categories: Fiction Nonfiction

Non-fiction Written to inform, persuade, or explain. Always true

Biography The story of a real person’s life written by another person.

Autobiography The story of a real person’s life written by themselves.

Informational Text that provides facts about a variety of topics. (Sports, history, animals, science, careers, travel, etc.)

Fiction Tells a story Frequently written to entertain Often contains characters, settings, conflicts, and plot. Comes in many forms as you will see on the following slides.

Fables Stories that teach a lesson. They often have animal characters that behave like people. A fable is a type of traditional literature.

Folktales A folktale is an old story that reveals the beliefs and customs of a culture. Examples: African folktales like Anansi the Spider stories. Traditional Chinese stories.

Tall Tale A special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are 'larger than life'. They are bigger or stronger than real people, even when the tall tale is based on a real person.

Legend Tradition or story handed down from earlier times and popularly accepted as true but actually a mix of fact and fiction.

Myth An ancient story often meant to explain the mysteries of life or nature. “How the Camel Got His Hump “ This playful tale is among the best known of Rudyard Kipling's "Just So" stories.

Fantasy A story about characters who may not be realistic and about events that could not really happen.

Realistic Fiction Stories that portray characters and settings that could exist in real life, as well as events that could happen in real life.

Historical Fiction Stories about characters who might have lived in the past and about events that might have really happened in history with some made up details and events.