Genres

GenresKnow What You Want!

Genre Definition• Pronounced: zhän’ re (French)

• A particular type or category of literary, music, or artistic composition.

• Novels and plays are of different genres.

Think about music:

Think about art:

Literary Genre Examples

AdventureFantasyHistoricalScience Fiction

MysteryHorror / SupernaturalFolkloreRealistic / Problem

Fiction

Non-FictionBiography

Auto-biography

Subject books: science, art, language, history, etc.

Genre: Adventure

• Action stories about a main character against another person, nature, or self.– Hatchet by Gary Paulsen– Weasel by Cynthia DeFelice

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

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

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

Genre: Mystery

• Stories involving suspicious strangers, strange occurrences, secret codes, crimes…

• Sammy Keyes• Cam Jansen• Wolf Rider by Avi• Joan Lowry Nixon books

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

Genre: Folklore

• Includes stories, myths and fables that people told each other over the years.– Cinderella– Robin Hood– King Arthur– Goldilocks– Paul Bunyan

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

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

Genre: Poetry 810 - 811• 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

What elements

make the book a certain genre?