Running head INDIVIDUAL GENRE PRESENTATION 1 Individual Genre Presentation Name Children s Literature RDG 350 INDIVIDUAL GENRE PRESENTATION 2 Individual Genre Presentation Children s Literature is classified into six main genres These genres are Poetry Traditional or Folk Literature Nonfiction Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction Biography and Autobiography and Realistic and Historical Fiction This paper will focus on the characteristics of Realistic Fiction as well as identify some well known authors from this genre A synopsis will be given for the book Blubber by Judy Blume and a discussion will follow about how this book exemplifies the characteristics of realistic fiction Realistic fiction includes stories that are convincingly true to life and that help children examine their own lives empathize with other people and see the complexity of human interaction Mitchell Waterbury Casement 2003 p 260 Realistic fiction is a genre that deals with truth tempered by both the author s view of life and what the public will accept Children reading books from this genre will learn about human behavior and how people interact with each other Mitchell et al 2003 A well written book will allow readers to laugh with the characters in the book as well as learn to laugh at themselves Readers can meet people who are experiencing the same feelings and emotions that they are and can use the character s experiences as a guide in handling challenges in their own lives such as death divorce moving and bullying Within the genre of realistic fiction are many different types of fiction as well as many well known authors who spin the tales Authors such as Gary Paulsen Will Hobbs and Eric Campbell have written adventure stories that keep the readers on the edge of their seats while allowing them to live vicariously through the character Donald Sobel James Skofield and Bruce Hale have written mysteries that engage the readers while they try to solve the mystery before the main character in the book does Beverly Cleary Virginia Hamilton and Ruth White INDIVIDUAL GENRE PRESENTATION 3 have penned stories that deal with family issues such as divorce These stories allow young readers to identify with characters who are going through similar life experiences Jerry Spinelli Paul Curits and Judy Blume have written stories about growing up and the struggles children go through with friends self image self esteem and ethical issues In Judy Blume s book Blubber the main character Jill narrates this story of bullying peer pressure and learning the value of true friends When Jill s classmate Linda who is considered pudgy reads a report on whales and blubber in front of the class things get ugly The class leader Wendy passes a note around the classroom telling everyone to start calling Linda blubber The children including Jill began to bully Linda and terrorize her at school by forcing her to say and do things that she does not want to do When Jill finally has enough and stands up to Wendy the tables are turned on her Linda becomes friends with Wendy and Jill becomes the victim of the bullying This story exemplifies realistic fiction as the events described in the story can and do happen in schools every day Bullying is real and the drama and emotional breakdowns that go along with it are real In this story Jill goes from being a popular fifth grade student to the victim of bullying She learns a life lesson on how it feels to be on the other side of bullying and become the most unpopular child in the class She also learns who her true friends are and that just because someone is popular does not mean they are nice Realistic fiction strives to make the reader feel as if they are reading something that actually happened There are many different types of fiction within the genre of realistic fiction Realistic fiction although untrue deals with real life The characters in the books deal with real life situations and experience problems that can actually happen Readers of this genre will be able to empathize with the characters in the book and put themselves into the characters shoes and try to handle the situation as the character would INDIVIDUAL GENRE PRESENTATION 4 References Mitchell D Waterbury P Casement R 2003 Realistic and historical fiction In Allyn Bacon Eds Children s Literature An Invitation to the World pp 260 290 Retrieved from