Genre
A category of
literature. The main
literary genres are
fiction, nonfiction,
poetry, and drama.
Autobiography
• An autobiography is a story
about a person’s life and is
written by the person who
lived it. An autobiography
can be about the person’s
whole life, part of that
person’s life, or a single
event.
Biography
• A biography is a selection
about a real person's life
that is written by another
person.
Case Study
• This type of nonfiction
explains in detail how
investigators find answers
to hard questions or
solutions to hard problems.
Expository Nonfiction
• Expository nonfiction provides
information about real-life
persons, objects, or ideas.
• Expository nonfiction may
include graphic sources, such
as charts and photos, that show
information.
• A chart is a sheet of
information.
• Facts are arranged in an easyto-read form.
Fantasy
• A fantasy is a make-believe story
that could never happen in the
real
world.
• Some characters and plot
situations may be realistic, while
others are exaggerated and
even silly.
• The author uses a realistic
classroom setting but then
introduces fantastic
characters who do impossible
things.
Fiction
• Fiction stories are stories
that the author has made
up.
• Fiction is an untrue story.
Characters and events
may be realistic, even
though they might be
unusual or even unlikely in
some way.
Folk Tale
• The original author is
unknown and that folk
tales often have different
versions. These stories are
passed down through
generations over many
centuries.
Historical Fiction
• Historical fiction is a
combination of
imagination and
fact, with fictional
characters and plot
placed in a factual
historical setting.
Humorous Fiction
• Humorous fiction tells the
story of imaginary people
who seem real. Story
events are true-to-life and
often funny.
• Humorous fiction has
characters and actions
that can make you laugh
and wonder how things will
turn out.
Interview
• In an interview the
interviewer asks
questions. The other
person, the subject,
answers.
• Interviews usually appear in
magazines or newspapers.
Myth
• A myth is a tale
that has been passed
down through generations
and tells about nature
and human behavior.
Narrative Nonfiction
• A narrative is writing that
tells about events.
Narrative nonfiction tells
about events that really
happened.
Play
• Like a novel or a short story,
a play tells a story but it is
written to be acted out for
an audience. Plays have
many unique literary
elements such as acts,
scenes, stage directions,
and speech tags.
Poetry
• Poetry is an arrangement
of words in lines having
rhythm. Sometimes those
lines rhyme, as in this
narrative poem.
Realistic Fiction
• Fiction tells stories of
imaginary people and
events, realistic fiction tells
a story that is possible.
Plausible characters
engage in actions that
seem truthful and the story
has a reasonable
outcome.
Science Fiction
• Science fiction is a kind of
fantasy that uses scientific
information to make a story
seem more believable to
the reader.
Tall Tales
• Tall tales are amusing
stories told with great
exaggeration and biggerthan-life characters.