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Contemporary

Realistic Fiction

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How to recognize a well written book:

•If a book is truly well written, the words are arranged in a pattern that stirs the reader –

Engaged reading.

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The words do more than move the plot along: LITERARY ELEMENTS:

• identify the setting – city? Otherworld? • isolate the theme – family problems?

•create the tone – funny, sarcastic?

•identify the point of view – 1st person?

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•develop the mood – scary? Silly?

•establish the pace – adventurous?

•make the story believable

•Report the information accurately.

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What do well written books need?Precise vocabulary:

•By age 4, children have acquired most of the elements of a fully developed language, including sentence structure, word order, •subject-verb agreement and •verb tenses.

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•There are more than 800,000 words in the English language (including more than 300,000 terms) . English has the richest language of the more than 5,000 languages on earth.

• Mark Twain described the difference between the right word and the almost right word as like being the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

• The right words don’t have to be fancy or complex.

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•Figurative language: Simile, metaphor, personification and imagery are examples of figurative language.

•Dialogue: speech reveals character: when a person speaks in literature, the truth emerges about personality, motives desires, prejudices and feelings.

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Music in Language: the sounds of words increase the appeal and strength of a story.

Understatement: When facts are clearly presented in writing, readerscan draw their own conclusions without being precisely told what to think.

Unexpected insights: Good stories contain small surprises.

In short, the author has to treat the audience with respect.

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CONTEMPORARY REALISTIC FICTIONContemporary Realistic Fiction tells a story that never happened but could have happened.

It is the most popular of the genres of children’s literature.

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DIDACTISM

One warning ! Be careful of DIDACTISM – books with designs or intended to teach.

• Non fiction is supposed to instruct, but fiction should never be “preachy”.

• A problem arises when a book has a thinly

disguised story, but is written to push a point of view.

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Bibliotherapy:

Is any kind of emotional healing that comes from reading books.

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There are three kinds of BIBLIOTHERAPY:

1. Broad therapeutic feelings of recreation and gratification experiences by an individual reader – books as comfort.

2. The sense of connectedness felt by the members of a group who share a book together – sharing books with a classroom or family together.

3. The particular information and insight books can provide in dealing with specific personal problems – the reader indentifies with the character in the story.

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Evaluating Contemporary Fiction

• Everything in contemporary fiction could have happened. This allows the readers to have these experiences, through their imagination and in the safety and security of their own lives.

• Characters should think and act like real people.

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• The plot should develop naturally. As in modern fantasy, the protagonist should change or develop during the story.

• The content of the story should be presented honestly.

• Themes should help readers better understand life.

• The tone of the book should be hopeful.

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Values of Contemporary Fiction

• Story helps children understand human problems and relationships.

• Stories can reassure children that they are not the 1st person in the world who has had this problem.

• Books are a way for a child to experience a world or culture different than their own.

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Value of Contemporary Fiction

• Stories serve as a preparation for life. They can illuminate experiences that kids have not had yet.

• The stories provide models, both good and bad, for coping with the problems of being a human being.

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Categories of Contemporary Fiction

• Picture Books: Beautifully illustrated with carefully chosen words

• Series Books: contain the same characters across many different books.

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• Novels in verse: Can contemporary fiction be in verse? Sure, it is considered poetry AND contemporary fiction

• Adventure and survival stories:Exciting , fast paced plots which encourages the kids to read on.

• Mysteries: marked by suspense. Action centers on finding an answer to the questions.

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• Animal stories: about the relationship between animals and humans.

• Sports stories: Action revolves around a particular sport and the thrills that go along with it.

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• Humorous stories: Children need and want humorous stories and much as they need books full of drama.

• Romance Stories: centers

on falling in love. Self discovery element is involved.

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• Coming of Age Stories: books help children with rites of passage. These books are a rehearsal for life. Many of these books help children deal with their increasing independence.

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Who are some of the best realistic fiction authors?

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Judy Blume

• Judy Blume was born on Feb 12, 1938. Her novels for children and teens have exceeded sales

of 80 million & been translated into 31 languages.• Though light in tone, many of Judy Blume’s books deal

with difficult issues for children, including questioning the existence of God, friendship, religion, divorce, body image, and sexuality. However, Blume states that she does not set out to tackle these issues when writing. She begins with a character and a situation.

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Gary Paulsen• Born May 17, 1939, Although he was never a dedicated student, Paulsen developed a passion for reading

at an early age. After a librarian gave him a book to read — along with his own library card — he was hooked. He began spending hours alone in the basement of his apartment building, reading one book after another.

• When he ran away from home at the age of 14 and traveled with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adventure. He has worked on a farm, as an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, truck driver & a sailor; and has completed two rounds of the 1,180-mile Alaskan dog sled race, the Iditarod.

• Paulsen's realization that he would become a writer came suddenly when he was working as a satellite technician for an aerospace firm in California. One night he walked off the job, never to return. He spent the next year in Hollywood as a magazine proofreader, working on his own writing every night. Then he left California and drove to northern Minnesota where he rented a cabin on a lake; by the end of the winter, he had completed his first novel.

• It is Paulsen's overwhelming belief in young people that drives him to write. His intense desire to tap deeply into the human spirit and to encourage readers to observe and care about the world around them has brought him both enormous popularity with young people and critical acclaim from the children's book community. Paulsen is a master storyteller who has written more than 175 books and some 200 articles and short stories for children and adults. He is one of the most important writers of young adult literature today and three of his novels — Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room — were Newbery Honor Books. His books frequently appear on the best books lists of the American Library Association.

• Paulsen and his wife, Ruth Wright Paulsen, an artist who has illustrated several of his books, divide their time between a home in New Mexico and a boat in the Pacific.

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Jacqueline Woodson

• I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. I loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.

• Lots and lots of books later, I am still surprised when I walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book’s binder. Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing’s coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said “This is really good.” The way, I — the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments — sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me.

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Gordon Korman

• Gordon Korman was born October 23, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec. He wrote his first book, This Can't be Happening at Macdonald Hall when he was 12 years old for a coach who suddenly found himself teaching 7th grade English .

• He has published more than 55 books, including several award winning young adult titles.

• Gordon lives in New York City with his wife and their 3 children. He is currently working on a 6 volume series called “On the Run” adventure series, in addition to other young adult and children’s titles.

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Reading Assignment:

• Pick one of these great books – and they are all winners….

• Read and enjoy – these books promote engaged reading.

• Write down the author, title, type of realistic book it is, whether it’s won any awards and a paragraph or two summarizing the story. Rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.

• Be prepared to share your thoughts with the class about your book.

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Other Assignments:

• Final draft of Writing Assignment # 3 is due next week. I’ll email any thoughts about 2nd draft by Sunday night.

• Read chapters 3 and 11 in text.

• Make sure that you get your public library card.