1. Genres
Know What You Want!

2. Genre Definition Pronounced: zhän’ re (French)
A particular type or category of literary, music, or artistic composition.
Novels and plays are of different genres.

3. Think about music:
R&B
Rock and Roll
Country & Western
Jazz

4. Think about art:
Impressionistic
Modern Art
Pop Art

5. Literary Genre Examples
Fiction
Adventure
Fantasy
Historical
Science Fiction
Mystery
Horror / Supernatural
Folklore
Realistic / Problem
Non-Fiction
Biography
Auto-biography
Subject books: science, art, language, history, etc.

6. Genre: Adventure
Action stories about a main character against another person, nature, or self.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Weasel by Cynthia DeFelice

7. Genre: Fantasy Full of magical happenings.
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

8. Genre: Historical
Made-up stories that take place in a particular time period in the past.
History becomes exciting –the reader experiences real history.
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
-Soldier X by Don Wulffson
-Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

9. Genre: Science Fiction
Real and imaginary scientific discoveries, such as life on other planets, form part of the plot.
Includes futuristic stories of how the world has gone wrong.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

10. Genre: Mystery
Stories involving suspicious strangers, strange occurrences, secret codes, crimes…
Sammy Keyes
Cam Jansen
Wolf Rider by Avi
Joan Lowry Nixon books

11. Genre: Horror / Supernatural
Terrifying things happen involving scary humans or non-human creatures like ghosts, vampires, or monsters.
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine
Christina’s Ghost by Betty Ren Wright

12. Genre: Folklore
Includes stories, myths and fables that people told each other over the years.
Cinderella
Robin Hood
King Arthur
Goldilocks
Paul Bunyan

13. Genre: Realistic/Problem
True to life stories about rites of passage from childhood to adulthood.
Stories about real problems and situations.
Alice Alone by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher
Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos

14. Genre: Biography/ Autobiography
Non-fiction / Information
Biography: written about another person
A Picture Book of Anne Frank by David Adler
Autobiography: written by the author about his own life.
Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

15. Genre: Poetry
Uses word pictures to build sensory impressions and create images.
Plays with the sound of words and the rhythms of phrases.
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

16. Plot? Setting? Characters?
Thinking more about genres:
What elements make the book a certain genre?
Plot? Setting?
Characters?