Literary Genres
Recognizing Different
Types of Literature
Source of information:
Cullinan and Galda’s Literature and the Child
What is a genre?
• A category of literature defined by their
shared characteristics. Within each genre,
there are many sub-genres.
What are the genres?
• 1. Picture book
• 2. Traditional literature
– Folk tales
– Fairy tales
– Mother Goose
– Legends, myths, epics and fables
• 3. Modern fantasy
– Science fiction
– Fractured fairy tales
• 4. Poetry
Genres continued
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5. Realistic fiction
6. Historical fiction
7. Biography
8. Non-fiction or informational
#1 Picture Books
• A book in which the picture is as important
as the text.
• Usually 32 pages but can be as many as
48
• Annual award: Caldecott Award
is given to the best illustrator.
• It includes picture books, illustrated
storybooks, wordless storybooks, concept
books, and informational books
Examples of picture books
• Recommended reading:
• http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2
.cfm?ListID=61
Picture Book Authors
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Eric Carle
Barbara Cooney
Donald Crews
Ezra Jack Keats
Stephen Kellogg
Brian Pinkney
Maurice Sendak
Chris van Allsburg
David Wiesner
Are all picture books for young
children?
Karen Hesse & Wendy Watson,
Illustrator
Baseball Saved Us – Ken
Mochizuki, Dom Lee, Illustrator
Jumanji – Chris Van Allsburg
David Wiesner
Zelinsky
#2 Traditional Literature
• This literature is born of oral tradition, and
is passed orally from generation to
generation.
• It often has "retold by" or "adapted by" in
front of the author, on the title page of the
book.
• It often starts with the phrase:
• "Once upon a time..." and often
has a happy ending.
Folktales
• Often explain something that happens in
nature or give/explain a certain truth about
life in a creative way.
• Often stories of animals that act like
humans and live in a world of wonder and
magic.
• Often numbers like three and seven are in
many of the stories.
Why folktales?
• Forerunners of television, radio, books,
newspapers.
• Parents used them to teach lessons to
their children
• Taught customs of villages and about the
people who lived in them
• Taught about people in their communities
Types of Folktales
• Fairy tales
– Best known
– Most popular
– Includes magic
– Setting does not have a definite time or
location
Cinderella
Snow White
Jack and the Beanstalk
Rapunzel SCETV-Streamline
Old favorites
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Rumplestiltskin
Frog Prince
Red Riding Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Beauty and the Beast
Hansel and Gretel
Types of Folktales
• Noodlehead story
– Story about a silly or stupid person who
nevertheless often wins out in the end
– Often nonsensical; meant for fun
Noodlehead Stories
Foolish Men of Gotham
Seven Foolish Fishermen
Foolish Jack
Types of Folktales
• Pourquoi Story
– Story that explains why something happens
– Usually explains something in the natural
world
– Example: how a particular plant or animal
came to be
Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears
– SCETV Streamline
Types of Folktales
• Animal Tales
– Sometimes called “Beast Tales”
– Tales of animals which talk and act like
human beings
– Popular with young children
Little Red Hen – SCETV Streamline
Types of Folktales
• Trickster Tale
– A variety of the beast tale
– Features a character who outsmarts everyone
else in the story
Anansi, the Spider Man
SCETV-Streamline
Types of Folktales
• Realistic tales
– All the elements of the story could happen,
though they may be exaggerated or
humorous
– These tales are relatively few in number
– They have their basis in an actual figure from
history
Johnny Appleseed –SCETV
Streamline
Types of Folktales
• Cumulative Tale
– These stories are “added upon”
– The story is told up to a certain point and then
begun again from near the beginning and told
until a new segment is added.
– Minimum plot, maximum repetition & rhythm
Examples
• The Gingerbread Man
• I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a
Fly
• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
• Old Woman an Her Pig
• Johnny Cake
• Teeny Tiny
Characteristics Elements of Folktales
• Characters – Main and minor
– Characters are usually flat, representing one human
characteristic such as wickedness, goodness or
stupidity
– Contrasting characters: Good child/bad child or good
child/mean stepmother
– Animals are often main characters and can act like
humans
• Setting - When/Where story happens
– Time is quickly set in the introduction, usually with a
phrase such as: “Once upon a time.”
– Place is generalized: A palace, a hut, a forest
Elements continued…
• Plot
– Exciting, swift-moving with lots of conflict and
suspense
– The introduction is very short giving the setting
and introducing the characters in a few words
and then starts right into the action
– Must be logical within its setting even though it
may have magic or magical characters
– Swift and satisfying conclusion
– Cycle of three recurrences (Goldilocks, Three
Little Pigs, etc.)
Elements continued…
• Style
– Often include rhyme and repetition
– Lot of dialogue
– Plenty of imagery
• Theme or what the story is about
– Satisfy our sense of justice and morality because
good is usually rewarded and evil is punished
– Help us laugh at ourselves
Elements continued…
• Motif
– Smallest part of a story which persists in the
oral tradition
– Types of motifs:
• Characters: A wicked stepmother, an evil witch, a
stupid boy, a handsome prince, a woodcutter, a
donkey, a giant
• Places: Forest, ballroom in a palace, a hut in a
forest, a river
• Objects: Glass slipper, a magical tablecloth,
golden ball, a rose
• Actions or events: Journey, palace ball, tricking an
opponent, answering a riddle
Modern Authors
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Paul Goble
Steven Kellogg
Gail Carson Levine
James Marshall,
Martin Rafe,
Jon Scieszka,
Jane Yolen,
Paul Zelinsky
Fairy Tales
• Simple narratives dealing with
supernatural being such as fairies,
magicians, ogres and dragons.
• What sets them apart from other folktales
is the “magic.” (wee people, fairy
godmothers, and other magical characters
make things happen)
Example
• The Talking Egg
Who is Mother Goose?
• The term has been traced to Loret's 1650 La Muse
Historique in which appeared the line, Comme un conte
de la Mere Oye ("Like a Mother Goose story").
• In 1697 Charles Perrault used the phrase in a published
collection of eight fairy tales which included "The
Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella,"
"Bluebeard," and others. Although the book was titled,
(translated from French) Histories and Tales of Long
Ago, with Morals, the frontispiece showed an old woman
spinning and telling stories, with a placard on the page
which bore the words Contes de la Mere l'Oye (Tales of
My Mother the Goose).
Mother Goose
Legends, Myths, Epics and Fables
• A fable is a brief tale that presents a clear and
unambiguous moral. The moral of the story is
explicitly stated. “Slow and steady wins the
race.”
• Morals are taught by allegory. Animals or
inanimate objects take on human traits.
• Origin from Greece and India (Panchatantra –
Stories of the Buddha’s previous lives)
Fables continued
• Mythology – Myths express the belief of
ancient cultures and portray visions of
destiny.
• Tales of love, carnage, revenge, and deep
emotions.
• Transmit ancient values, symbols,
customs, art, law, and language.
Legends/Epics
• Epics or hero tales focus on courageous
deeds of mortals against each other or
against gods and monsters.
• Contest of good versus evil
Examples of Epics
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King Arthur
Robin Hood
Iliad and the Odyssey
Le Morte d’Arthur
Examples
#3 Modern Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Definition: Imaginative narratives that
explore alternate realities.
• Science fiction: Explores scientific
possibilities asking “if this, then what?”
• Difference: Science fiction extrapolates
from scientific principles
• Common themes from folktales: morality,
traditions, exploration of things we do not
fully understand.
Authors – Science Fiction/Fantasy
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Susan Cooper
Lloyd Alexander
Natalie Babbitt
Lois Lowry
Isaac Asimov
Nancy Farmer
Madeleine L’Engle
Anne McCaffrey
C.S. Lewis
Types of Fantasy
• Animal
– Charlotte’s Web
– Wind in the Willow
– Watership Down
– Peter Rabbit
– Winnie the Pooh
– Poppy
– Redwall
Types of fantasy
• Miniature worlds, time slips, unreal worlds,
and magic
– Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
– Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
– The Borrowers
– Behind the Attic Wall
– James and the Giant Peach
– Jumanji
Types of fantasy continued
• Quest stories – search for an inner enemy
rather than an outer enemy.
• Inner strength is needed to meet the
challenges endured.
• Overcoming obstacles vanquishes evil
Types of Science Fiction
• Mind control. Telepathy. ESP.
Communication across time and space
• Life in the future
• Survival
#4 Poetry
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Poems make us smile
Poems create images
Poems express feelings
Poems stir emotions
Poems promote school learning
Variety of forms
• Narrative – Casey at Bat, the Pied Piper,
Hiawatha, Paul Revere’s Ride
• Lyric poetry – statement of mood or feeling
– All the Pretty Little Horses
Hush-a-bye
Don’t you cry
Go to sleep
My little baby
When you wake
You shall have
All the pretty little horses
Variety of poems continued…
• Free verse – unrhymed with irregular patterns
• Cinquain – 5 unrhymed lines in patterns of 2, 4,
6, 8 and 2 syllables
Sniffles and Sneezing
Coughing
Sneezing a lot
Missing school, missing friends
I would feel bad at home a lot
Feel bored
• Haiku – 3 lines and 17 syllables
Pigeons strut the rails
Of the city reservoir
Doing a rain dance.
Jane Yolen
Varieties of poetry continued…
• Concrete – uses the appearance of words
on a page to suggest or illustrate the
poem’s meaning
Varieties of poems continued
• Ballads: a story told in verse and often
sung
• Limerick: 5 lines with a rhyme scheme of
a-a-b-b-a
There was an old man of Peru (a)
who dreamed he was eating his shoe (a)
He woke in the night (b)
in a terrible fright (b)
And found it was perfectly true. (a)
Poets – NCTE Award Winners
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David McCord
Aileen Fisher
Karla Kuskin
Myra Cohn Livington
Eve Merriam
John Ciardi
Lilian Moore
Arnold Adolf
Valerie Worth
Barbara Ebsen
Eloise Greenfield
X.J. Kennedy
#5 Realistic Fiction
• Realistic fiction has a strong feeling of actuality
• Characters and events could have happened
• Deals with all dimensions of the real world:
humorous, sensitive, thoughtful, joyful, and
painful
• Controversy often surrounds this genre when
dealing with drugs, alcoholism, divorce, abortion,
death, homelessness, child abuse, & teenage
relationships
#5 Realistic Fiction
• One of the easiest genres to define
• Could the people, events, and story have
actually occurred?
What makes good realistic fiction?
• Setting: has to be realistic, believable.
• Characters: have to reflect human beings we
know, credible, authenic, and not stereotypic,
and show change and development in the story.
• Plot: Conflict is probable in this world today and
matters to the reader.
• Theme: Important issue of today’s society
• Style: Today’s language forms, slang, and
reflects present cultures.
Authors
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Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Matt Christopher
Judy Blume
Louis Sachar
Richard Peck
Gary Paulsen
Walter Dean Myers
Laurie Halse Anderson
Cynthia Rylant
Sharon Creech
Avi
Kate DiCamillo
Many, many more…
Newbery Medal
• The first English publisher and store owner
of children’s literature in London, 1744.
• Award established in 1922 and has been
given annually by the ALA.
• Award is for the most distinguished
contribution to literature for children
published in the USA during the year.
#6 Historical Fiction
• Historical fiction tells the story of history; it
consists of stories grounded in facts of our past.
• It differs from nonfiction in that it does not only
presents facts or re-creates a time and place,
but also weaves the facts into a fictional story.
• Some books that are now classified as historical
fiction began as contemporary realism. (Little
Women)
• Real events and real people may be woven into
the story. (Across Five Aprils).
Authors
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Scott O’Dell
Christopher Paul Curtis
Mildred D. Taylor
Katherine Paterson
Karen Cushman
Karen Hesse
Paul Fleischman
Ann Rinaldi
Gary Paulsen
Patricia MacLachlan
Walter Dean Meyers
Scot O’Dell Award
• Award to historical fiction writer
• Established in 1982
• Goes to US writer for a meritorious book
published the preceding year
# 7 Biography
• A biography tells the story of a person’s
life and achievements; an autobiography
recreates the story of the author’s own life.
• Some are chronological; some are
episodic and highlight only a certain period
of a person’s life.
• Collective biographies focus on several
individuals with commonalities.
Authors
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Russell Freedman
Jean Fritz
David Adler
Virginia Hamilton
Patricia McKissack
Kathleen Krull
#8 Non-Fiction
• Books of information and fact.
• Fiction and nonfiction may both tell a story
and both may include fact. In nonfiction,
the emphasis is on facts and concepts.
Awards for Nonfiction
• Orbis Pictus Award based on accuracy,
organization, design and style
• Sibert Award – Newer award by the ALA in
2001
• Boston Globe-Horn Book Award