"Reading is dreaming with open eyes."
My mom and grandma used to read books to my brothers and I growing up. We always had books in the house, whether from the library or our own, and my mom would frequently take us to the local library. There, we would browse shelf upon shelf of book, looking for the perfect book to borrow and read at home. During the summer, we participated in the summer reading events. It was one of my favorite places to go! My mom helped to instill my love for books and reading, and even to this day, I love picking up a good book to read.
Here are a couple different genres and examples of books in each genre that are great reads!
~Popular Children's Books~
My mom used to read children's books out loud to my brothers and myself when we were too young to read the book ourselves. These books are a wonderful way to introduces English to young ones or even for those just beginning to learn the language. The language used within the book is in an easy-to-follow format, and it is generally accompanied by bright and colorful pictures.
This video is the book Guess How Much I Love You read aloud!
~General Fiction~
General fiction is a very broad and all-encompassing category. Really, any piece of fiction is considered general fiction, but it is used to to classify books which don't fit into one of the categories within fiction, such as mystery, fantasy, science fiction, or historical, or when a book has more than two categories it can fall into.
Each of these series has at least 24 books. The Babysitters Club series has close to 200 books including all the special and mystery books!
The Heartland series has been made into a Canadian television show, and there is a Babysitters Club movie out to watch too!
~Historical Fiction~
Historical fiction is a genre of stories that didn't happen in real life, but are based on real events in history. This genre is a great way for children to explore the past while getting a story full of big adventure!
~Realistic Fiction~
Realistic fiction is a define as a genre where the stories and events are made up but sound like they could possibly happen in real life. The stories tend to take place in settings that are familiar to a child, such as at school or at home, which helps to make them more relatable.
Quite a few realistic fiction books have been turned into movies. Maybe you have even seen them!
Are there other books that you can think of that might be considered realistic fiction?
~Fantasy Fiction~
Fantasy fiction is a genre full of magic and supernatural elements. The stories are made up and include events that could not happen in real life, like talking animals. This is definitely one of my favorite genres!
I'm sure you may recognize the first book! Not only was the Harry Potter series made into a movies, but so was the books The Golden Compass and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and the Animorphs series was made into a Canadian television show back in 1998.
~Mystery~
Mystery is a genre of stories focusing on solving a crime or revealing a huge secret by the end of the novel. These types of books are great for future inspiring detectives!
These series pictured above have multiple books published. The Lady Grace Mysteries has the least amount of books in the series with only twelve. The Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys each have 150 or more books in their respective series.
~Horror~
Horror is a genre of fiction which is used to create feelings of fear, dread, and terror in the audience.
R.L. Stine is a very popular author and has written hundreds of horror fiction novels including the children horror series, Goosebumps. His Goosebumps series was also made into a Canadian/American television show running from 1995 until 1998. There are 235 books in the Goosebumps series.
Another author who writes horror books for children is actually from my home state, Michigan! He writes under the name Johnathan Rand. He has multiple series out including the Michigan Chillers, which take place in cities all over the state of Michigan, and the American Chillers, where strange and horrifying occurrences happen across the country. He has stated that he is intending to write a book featuring each of the fifty states of the United States of America. To date, he has written forty-three books in the American Chillers series and nineteen books in the Michigan Chillers series.
~Traditional Literature~
Traditional literature is a genre in which stories are passed down from one generation to the next. Tall tales and fairy tales are examples of traditional literature. Here is a short list. How many are you familiar with? Are there any that you know which are missing? Are there any that you do not know?
The Little Golden Books collection
The Real Mother Goose
The Ugly Duckling
The Giving Tree
The Oz collection- begins with the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Lion and the Mouse
Charlotte's Web
The Secret Garden
The Little Red Hen
The Three Little Pigs
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Little Red Riding Hood
Cinderella
Hansel and Gretel
Rapunzel
Pinocchio
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Rumpelstiltskin
Jack and the Beanstalk
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
The Princess and the Pea
Peter Pan- Peter and Wendy
Where the Wild Things Are
Many of these stories can be found online as audio books and many were made into movies!
Check out the audio book and trailer for Where the Wild Things Are!
Check out this website to find authors who are doing online read alouds and activities!
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