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

• 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• 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

• 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 GothamSeven Foolish FishermenFoolish 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 ManSCETV-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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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-byeDon’t you cryGo to sleepMy little babyWhen you wakeYou shall haveAll 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 SneezingCoughingSneezing a lotMissing school, missing friendsI would feel bad at home a lotFeel bored

• Haiku – 3 lines and 17 syllablesPigeons strut the railsOf the city reservoirDoing 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-aThere 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• 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 • 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

• 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

• 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