ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature
Fall 2009
Realistic
Fiction
Meet the Manogies!
• The little people
– Always have a mountain ash near
your house because the mountain
ash protects you, Doda
[grandfather] says. The food
from the plate was to be shared
with the Manogies, the little
people. They’re the ones who
keep watch over things. They like
people who remember to share.
• Chapter 3, The Little Guys
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What makes a book realistic?
• What is realistic fiction?
– Realistic fiction refers to stories that could indeed
happen to peole and animals; that is, it is within the
realm of possibility that such events could occur or
could have occurred.
– These types of books cover a lot of different, realistic
issues such as divorce, growing up, being poor,
having disabilities or dealing with drug and alcohol
abuse. Survival and adventure stories, mysteries
and romance stories also are considered realistic
fiction.
• A GUIDE TO COOL BOOKS for middle school aged kids
3
How would one define realistic
children’s fiction?
• What sets it apart from fantasy or science
fiction or mystery?
– What makes it so important to its readers?
Perhaps the biggest drawing card for children
with realistic fiction is that they are able to see
themselves or people like themselves in the
stories. It is as if the stories are mirrors into
which they look -- and that is just what realistic
fiction is --reflections of the child’s reality.
• Rochelle, Warren. A Sense of Responsibility in
Realistic Children's Fiction. Emergency Librarian;
May/Jun91, Vol. 18 Issue 5, p8, 6p
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Realistic Fiction
• Brought to you by Miss Allen’s Fifth Graders
– Realistic fiction is simply stated as real kids with real
problems solved in a realistic manner in a real world setting.
If a story is excellent, it has more than one great
characteristic. Therefore, realistic stories can and often do
have humor, a sense of adventure, perhaps even danger.
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Real kids
Real problems
Real settings
Real solutions
Real humor
Real adventure or danger
This is no longer
available on the web
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How can there be “little people” in realistic
fiction? “Little People” usually means
some kind of supernatural beings
• What do we do with The Heart of a Chief
and the Manogies?
– Are there actually supernatural beings in the
book?
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Realistic Fiction
• In good realistic fiction,
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–
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the characters are engaging and believable.
the dialogue is believable.
the plot is fresh and original.
the setting is true to life.
the problems faced by the characters are honestly
portrayed.
– the resolution makes sense.
– the theme grows naturally out of the action and
characters - the writer does not preach at us.
• Children's Literature. Instructor: Chi-Fen Emily Chen
Department of English, National Kaohsiung First University
of Science and Technology, Taiwan
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Elements of realistic fiction 1
• Introduction
– is where the author builds the story’s
background. This is where the reader learns
about the setting, the characters, and the story’s
conflict, and perhaps what took place before the
story begins.
• Setting
– is where and when the story takes place:
location, season, weather, and time period
(Tompkins, 1994). Setting is important to the
plot, the characters, the characters’ problems,
and the theme.
• Teaching realistic fiction, Chap. 1. From Reading and Writing
Literary Genres. © 2000 International Reading Association.
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Elements of realistic fiction 2
• Characterization
– allows the reader to learn about what characters
look like, what they say, what others say about
them, and what they do (Lukens, 1999). Characters
seem real because their actions and dialogue are
believable. As readers, we often can identify with
these characters because they are like our friends
or ourselves.
• Conflict
– in realistic fiction is defined by the type of problem
in the story. Conflict is the tension that exists
between the forces in the character’s life.
• Teaching realistic fiction
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Elements of realistic fiction 3
• Plot
– is what happens in the story. . . . The plot in
realistic fiction must be believable or possible and
easily understood, fast-paced and moving toward
resolving the conflict. Two types of plots found in
realistic fiction are the progressive and the episodic
plots.
• Theme,
– according to Lukens (1999), is “the idea that holds
the story together,…the central meaning of a piece
of writing.” (p. 135)
• Teaching realistic fiction
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Elements of realistic fiction 4
• Point of view
– is the perspective of the storyteller. When a story is
written from the first-person point of view, the main
character usually tells the story and uses the word
“I.”
– When a story is written from the third-person point
of view, the person telling the story is a central
observer who knows all (omniscient) and can
recount details, actions, thoughts, and feelings of the
characters (conscious and unconscious).
• Teaching realistic fiction
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Elements of realistic fiction 5
• Imagery
– refers to the author’s choice of descriptive words
and phrases that help readers form a mental
picture of settings, characters, and events, thus
keeping readers fully involved in the story.
• Figurative language,
– including similes and metaphors, is used in
realistic fiction to enhance imagery. Similes are
comparisons that make use of “like” or “as.” A
metaphor compares two unlike things directly
without using like or as.
• Teaching realistic fiction
12
Elements of realistic fiction 6
• Author’s intent or tone
– relates to how the author wants readers to feel as
we read the book. An author can intend the
story to be humorous, sad, serious, slapstick, or
any combination of these throughout the story,
and will use sentence structure, word choices,
patterns and arrangements to communicate and
set the story’s tone (Lukens, 1999).
• Teaching realistic fiction
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Realistic Fiction:
• Criteria
– Criteria for selecting titles in the realistic fiction
collection began with believability of characters,
settings, and events. Readers must be able to
accept the characters as real people and events
as real places when reading realistic stories;
they must be credible. The reader must be able
to imagine a boy like Jesse and a girl like Leslie
as they race across the field in A Bridge to
Terabithia. They must accept as possible Claudia
and Jamie’s trip to the Metropolitan Museum,
where they took up residence for a week in The
Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
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• By the title alone, we know
that Bridge to Terabithia
will involve some type of
bridge. But in this book the
bridge isn’t just physical.
The bridge that Jesse
Aarons and Leslie Burke
(the main characters) need
to cross isn’t only about
geography.
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• Claudia and Jamie are brother and sister.
They are part of a busy family and
Claudia feels as if she is never noticed or
cared about. She feels as if life is nothing but
tyranny with constant orders from her
mother and father. Claudia decides to run
away to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
When this idea finally penetrates into Jamie’s
head, he thinks that she is crazy. Claudia
finally talks her brother into going with her,
using an unused ticket to New York City that
was thrown away by mistake.
E.L. Konigsburg
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Realistic Fiction Bookmark
A real main character
p.
A real problem
p.
A real setting
p.
A real friend
p.
First attempt to solve problem
p.
Another attempt to solve problem
p.
Is there a villain?
p.
Something humorous?
p.
Something exciting or dangerous?
p.
A problem the character didn't expect
p.
Solution to the problem
p.
Happy ending?
p.
Lesson the main character learns
p.
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