Upload
cbrownell
View
27.399
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
ELE 620 Cambridge College
Citation preview
Realistic Fiction in Children’s Literature
ELE 620
Cambridge College
Elements of Realistic Fiction
Realistic fiction is simply stated as real kids with real problems solved in a realistic manner in a real world setting. If a story is excellent, it has more than one great characteristic. Therefore, realistic stories can and often do have humor, a sense of adventure, perhaps even danger. Real kids Real problems Real settings Real solutions Real humor Real adventure or danger
Characteristics of the Best Realistic Fiction Characters are engaging and believable. Dialogue is believable Plot is fresh and original Setting is true to life Problems faced by the characters are honestly portrayed Resolution makes sense Theme grows naturally out of the action and characters Writer does not preach at us
Elements of Realistic Fiction
Introductionis where the author builds the story’s background. This is where the reader learns about the setting, the characters, and the story’s conflict, and perhaps what took place before the story begins.
Settingis where and when the story takes place: location, season, weather, and time period. Setting is important to the plot, the characters, the characters’ problems, and the theme.
Characterization and Conflict
Characterizationallows the reader to learn about what characters look like, what they say, what others say about them, and what they do (Lukens, 1999). Characters seem real because their actions and dialogue are believable. As readers, we often can identify with these characters because they are like our friends or ourselves.
Conflictin realistic fiction is defined by the type of problem in the story. Conflict is the tension that exists between the forces in the character’s life.
Plot and Theme
Plotis what happens in the story. The plot in realistic fiction must be believable or possible and easily understood, fast-paced and moving toward resolving the conflict.
Theme is the idea that holds the story together,…the
central meaning of a piece of writing
Point of View
Point of viewis the perspective of the storyteller. When a story is written from the first-person point of
view, the main character usually tells the story and uses the word “I”
When a story is written from the third-person point of view, the person telling the story is a central observer who knows all (omniscient) and can recount details, actions, thoughts, and feelings of the characters
Imagery
Imageryrefers to the author’s choice of descriptive words and phrases that help readers form a mental picture of settings, characters, and events, thus keeping readers fully involved in the story. Figurative language,
including similes and metaphors, is used in realistic fiction to enhance imagery. Similes are comparisons that make use of “like” or “as.” A metaphor compares two unlike things directly without using like or as.
Tone
Author’s intent or tonerelates to how the author wants readers to feel as we read the book. An author can intend the story to be humorous, sad, serious, slapstick, or any combination of these throughout the story, and will use sentence structure, word choices, patterns and arrangements to communicate and set the story’s tone
Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary SUBJECTS:
Divorce Parent and child Schools Letters
Frindle by Andrew Clements
SUBJECTS: Teacher-student
relationships New words Schools
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
SUBJECTS: Death Grandparents Family life Friendship
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
SUBJECTS: African Americans Family life Prejudice Brothers and sisters
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
SUBJECTS: Metropolitan Museum
of Art Runaways Brothers and sisters
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
SUBJECTS: Death Family life Prejudice
Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan
SUBJECTS: Great-grandmothers Brothers and sisters Family problems Mexican Americans Mexico
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
SUBJECTS: Family life Orphans Artists Foster home care Old age
Criteria for selection
Criteria for selecting titles in the realistic fiction collection begins with believability of characters, settings, and events
Readers must be able to accept the characters as real people and events as real places when reading realistic stories; they must be credible