Realistic Fiction Genre Study
Not true—it’s fiction—
BUT it COULD really happen in real
life to a real person in a real place!
Elements & Characteristics
• Real characters with real
problems solved in a realistic
manner in a real world setting
• Most often based in the present or
recent past.
• The events raise questions or
problems that a reader might
face in real life
Elements & Characteristics
• Set in modern times
• Events are not true, but they could be
• Characters represent people you might
know
• Real world, real place (or could be a
place), realistic setting
• Everyday language
• About people, their problems, and their
challenges.
• Themes dealing with basic truths of
human nature
Elements & Characteristics
• Events are based on a conflict or
problem that could happen in real life.
• Events raise moral questions that
readers might face in real life.
• Readers learn a lesson or a value.
Challenge readers to learn this lesson
by making their own conclusions after
they consider the events and facts
from their own perspectives using their
own moral and ethical judgments.
Characters
• Seem like real people
• Behave as people or animals do in real life
• Live in a place that could be real
• Participate in a series of events that could
probably happen
• Are presented with a problem or dilemma
and discover a realistic solution
• Face problems and possibilities that are
within the range of what is possible in real life
• Are believable as real people
• Their language and actions are appropriate
for the setting of the story and reflective of
who they are.
Examples
•
Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing (Judy Blume)
•
Because of Winn Dixie (Kate DiCamillo)
•
Hannah Montana, Suite Life of Zack & Cody,
That’s So Raven
•
Holes (Louis Saacar)
•
Frindle and The Janitor’s Boy (Andrew Clements)
•
Make Way for Ducklings (Robert McClosky)
•
The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner)
Class Mentor Text
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0fQpliJJQI