Chapter 11
Chapter Summary:
Realistic fiction is a subgenre within fiction, and is set in a modern time setting. This subgenre can also sometimes be called contemporary or modern realistic fiction. These stories are going to have believable story lines with events happening that are consistent with the real world. As well as the characters, settings, and events, are all ones that could be real. When reading in this subgenre or selecting books from within it, it can be helpful to use some criteria to evaluate books.
Criteria for Evaluating Realistic Fiction:
1. Is everything shared following the rules and norms of the real world?
2. Does the theme emerge in a natural way in the story?
3. How does the content shared in the book connect to its modern audience?
Realistic fiction is a subgenre within fiction, and is set in a modern time setting. This subgenre can also sometimes be called contemporary or modern realistic fiction. These stories are going to have believable story lines with events happening that are consistent with the real world. As well as the characters, settings, and events, are all ones that could be real. When reading in this subgenre or selecting books from within it, it can be helpful to use some criteria to evaluate books.
Criteria for Evaluating Realistic Fiction:
1. Is everything shared following the rules and norms of the real world?
2. Does the theme emerge in a natural way in the story?
3. How does the content shared in the book connect to its modern audience?
Chapter Reflections:
I
would think that this subgenre would be very popular with young adult
readers. The criteria shared for evaluating this subgenre will be
helpful to use and to share with teachers as we are both selecting books
to recommend to our young adult patrons. I would like to use this
criteria in several library activities with my middle school students to
help them to look at these books from a more critical perspective and
not just as a reading for pleasure mindset.
Chapter 12
Nonfiction
Chapter Summary:
Chapter 12 was focused on Nonfiction and evaluating it. Nonfiction is an umbrella term that encompasses the whole genre with all of its subgenres. Some of these subgenres include biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, informationals, narrative non-fiction, and expository nonfiction. When reading and using nonfiction books it is important that teachers and students are able to evaluate if the book or resource in question is accurate and can be used for gathering information.
Here are some ways to evaluate nonfiction:
- Check the back of the book.
- Check out author's website.
- Read author's notes page.
- Check out the resources used to the write book.
- Is this a trusted, known author?
- Fact check the facts shared with other books and resources on the same topic. Just because facts may differ, may not mean that the facts are incorrect.
- What is the purpose of the piece?
- What is the scope of information covered?
- Check out the table of contents.
- Look at the resources.
- Check out the index.
- Look at the visuals.
- What role do these visuals play in sharing the information?
The nonfiction video shared that librarians and teachers could see the list put out by the Children's Book Council of Notable Social Studies books list and the National Science Teachers Association list of Outstanding Science Trade Books, the links for these two lists are provided below. As well as sharing a list of go-to authors. Here are some recommended authors:
National Science Teachers Association list of Outstanding Science Trade Books:
http://static.nsta.org/pdfs/2017OSTB.pdf
Children's Book Council of Notable Social Studies Books List:
http://www.cbcbooks.org/notable-social-studies/
Recommended Authors List:
- Kathleen Krull
- James Cross Giblin
- Steve Jenkins
- Don Brown
- Loree Griffin Burns
- Seymour Simon
- Sy Montgomery
Chapter Reflections:
I
enjoyed this portion of the textbook and the resources that were
shared. I really enjoyed the activity suggestion given on having
students to evaluate nonfiction resources. I would like to implement
this activity with my 3rd-5th grade students. The activity suggested
using a topic of high interest to the students then having them collect
facts about the shared topic, looking for how the books agree and
disagree. Then taking this information and sharing the results from
their collective searches to evaluate the sources used. This is a
wonderful example of an activity to help the students to look at the
material that they are reading in a more critical way.
The subgenre of science fiction and fantasy have many divisions within them. Some of these divisions include: apocalyptic, post apocalyptic, steampunk, cyberpunk, biopunk, dystopia, extra-sensory perception, outer space, robots, and time travel. There also books that are a mixture of these, containing elements of several of these within them. Stories that don't follow the laws of reality fall into the subgenre of fantasy. It is important to remember that while fantasy can be with science fiction, it is not always considered science fiction.
There are several ways to evaluate science fiction and fantasy. Here are a list of things to consider when evaluating these subgenres.
1. Characters must behave in consistent and believable ways.
2. There must be rules in the fantasy world.
3. The author must help the reader to overcome their disbelief.
4. The theme should cover some universal truths.
Chapter Reflections:
I really had no idea that there were so many categories within these subgenres. This video segment was very helpful in sharing books that I have never heard of, as well as helping to show why these books fit into their subgenre category. I can see how knowing more about this subgenre and seeing examples of these books will help me in sharing these with my young adult patrons. I would also like to do some book tastings with my students so that they can take a look at some examples of books within these subgenres.
Chapter 13
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Chapter Summary:
The subgenre of science fiction and fantasy have many divisions within them. Some of these divisions include: apocalyptic, post apocalyptic, steampunk, cyberpunk, biopunk, dystopia, extra-sensory perception, outer space, robots, and time travel. There also books that are a mixture of these, containing elements of several of these within them. Stories that don't follow the laws of reality fall into the subgenre of fantasy. It is important to remember that while fantasy can be with science fiction, it is not always considered science fiction.
There are several ways to evaluate science fiction and fantasy. Here are a list of things to consider when evaluating these subgenres.
1. Characters must behave in consistent and believable ways.
2. There must be rules in the fantasy world.
3. The author must help the reader to overcome their disbelief.
4. The theme should cover some universal truths.
Chapter Reflections:
I really had no idea that there were so many categories within these subgenres. This video segment was very helpful in sharing books that I have never heard of, as well as helping to show why these books fit into their subgenre category. I can see how knowing more about this subgenre and seeing examples of these books will help me in sharing these with my young adult patrons. I would also like to do some book tastings with my students so that they can take a look at some examples of books within these subgenres.
Chapter 14
Graphic Novel
Chapter Summary:
Graphic Novels are an example of a writing format. They can cover the genres of fiction
or nonfiction, and their subgenres as well. Graphic novels cover a range of readers; from
children to adults. This wide range of readers can also range from being developing readers
to advanced readers. Graphic novels are not comic books, they are written in a much more
complex nature. There are also many benefits of using graphic novels with students.
Graphic novels are helpful for students with special needs such as dyslexia, ELL, and other reading difficulties.
or nonfiction, and their subgenres as well. Graphic novels cover a range of readers; from
children to adults. This wide range of readers can also range from being developing readers
to advanced readers. Graphic novels are not comic books, they are written in a much more
complex nature. There are also many benefits of using graphic novels with students.
Graphic novels are helpful for students with special needs such as dyslexia, ELL, and other reading difficulties.
Elements in Graphic Novels:
Panels- the square or rectangle panels that contain a scene
Gutters- the space between panels
Dialog Balloons- the communication between the characters
Thought Balloons- character's thoughts
Captions- contain scene or character information
Sound Effects- sound clues
Graphic Novels Book Lists:
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2018-great-graphic-novels-teens
http://booklists.yalsa.net/
http://www.ala.org/yalsa/2018-great-graphic-novels-teens
http://booklists.yalsa.net/
Chapter Reflections:
I really enjoy reading this format of books. I can see how this format would help students with dyslexia and other language learners. These students can benefit from the context clues given in the illustrations. They will also not feel as overwhelmed by the volume of the written text. The different fonts and wide range of fonts sometimes used within the piece, can also help students with dyslexia to decipher the texts more easily. I appreciate how this writing format covers a wide-range of genres and subgenres, and that there are examples of this format written for all ages. In my future role as a librarian, I would like to include a wide range of books that use this writing format. I will also be encouraging teachers and students to explore this format in their personal writing and writer's workshop writing time.
Chapter 15
Chapter Summary:
Richard
Peck was a young adult author. He won several awards in his writing
career. These awards include the Indies Choice Honor Award, the
National Humanities Medal, the Newbery Gold Medalist, and the Newbery
Silver Medalist. In a 1978, article published in the American Library
Association Newsletter, he presented 10 questions to ask when reading
novels. Please see the list below.
Richard Peck's 10 Questions to Ask:
1. What would the story be like if the main character were the opposite sex?
2. Why is the story set where it is? This a device used by the author.
3. If you were to film the book, would you use black and white or color?
4. If you could not use all the characters, who would you eliminate? Tell why?
5. How is the main character different and like you?
6. Would this story make a good TV series? Tell Why or why not.
7. What is something that happened in the story that has also happened to you?
8. Reread the first paragraph in chapter 1. What is it in this paragraph that made you want to keep reading? If there was nothing, why did you keep reading?
9. If you got to design a new cover for the book, what would it look like?
10. What does the title of the book tell you about the book? Does it tell the truth?
Richard Peck's 10 Questions to Ask:
1. What would the story be like if the main character were the opposite sex?
2. Why is the story set where it is? This a device used by the author.
3. If you were to film the book, would you use black and white or color?
4. If you could not use all the characters, who would you eliminate? Tell why?
5. How is the main character different and like you?
6. Would this story make a good TV series? Tell Why or why not.
7. What is something that happened in the story that has also happened to you?
8. Reread the first paragraph in chapter 1. What is it in this paragraph that made you want to keep reading? If there was nothing, why did you keep reading?
9. If you got to design a new cover for the book, what would it look like?
10. What does the title of the book tell you about the book? Does it tell the truth?
Chapter Reflections:
I
would like to read this article. I tried searching for it through the
Sam library and also through some other web searches. I had a live chat
with a Sam Houston librarian who suggested that I request to see if the
article can be found through an interlibrary loan. While the questions
may be self-explanatory, I would still like to see if he shared any
other insight with these proposed questions. The list is a good list to
share with teachers and to ask during book talks and discussions.
While these questions were originally written in 1978, they are still
very timely to use them with students today.
Additional Resources:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/richardpeckauthor/about/?ref=page_internal
https://www.facebook.com/pg/richardpeckauthor/about/?ref=page_internal
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/authors/richard-peck/
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