Genre Examples

Books are usually categorized based on subject matter.  There are two broad categories within children’s books, fiction and nonfiction, but within each, there are many  genres.

Some examples in various genres within children’s fiction books are:

Contemporary – Usually considered to be from about the 1950s forward.

Scat (MG) Carl Hiaasen

The Higher Power of Lucky (MG) Susan Patron

We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes (MG) Patrick Jennings

I’d Tell You I Love You But I’d Have to Kill You (MG) Ally Carter

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (YA) Mark Haddon

Prom, (YA) Laurie Halse Anderson

Dairy Queen (YA) Catherine Murdock

Tween usually contemporaries for 12 year old girls.

Beacon Street Girls, Annie Bryant

Angels in Pink, Lurlene McDaniel

Historical – usually considered to be WWII or earlier.

The Book Thief (older YA) Markus Zusak

Al Capone Does My Shirts (MG) Gennifer Choldenko

Fantasy/Science Fiction futuristic or fantastical elements.  For a while wizards were popular, now vampires seem to be in vogue.

The Lightning Thief (MG)  Rick Riordan

Twilight (YA) Stephenie Meyer

Harry Potter (early books are MG, older books move into YA) J.K. Rowling

The Tale of Desperaux (MG) Kate DiCamillo

Uglies (YA) Scott Westerfield

Sports Stories:

Honus and Me, Dan Gutman

Mystery:

The London Eye Mystery (MG) Siobhan Dowd

Horror:

Walk of the Spirits (YA) Richie Tankersley Cusick

Verse:

Shark Girl (YA) Kelly Bingham

Action/Adventure:

Stormbreaker (MG)  Anthony Horowitz

Romance:

Along for the Ride, (YA) Sarah Dessen

Melded Genres: (combination of several genres.)

A Great and Terrible Beauty (historical/romance/fantasy) (YA) Libba Bray.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (MG) by Brian Selznik is almost beyond categorizing.

Graphic Novels: (stories told through pictures and text in a style somewhat like a comic book.)

Bone (MG) Jeff Smith

Time Travel: going back or forward in time.

The Knights of the Kitchen Table (MG) by Jon Scieszka

Hi-Low or High Interest: Subject matter is at a higher level than the reading level.

Virtual War (MG) by GloriaSkurzynski (Fifth grade reading level with an interest level of fifth through ninth grade)

Make Lemonade (YA) by Virginia Euwer Wolff  (Sixth grade reading level with a seventh through twelfth grade interest level)

NONFICTION: There are genres within nonfiction too.  Here are a few:

Sports Biographies: On the Course…with Tiger Woods, by Matt Christopher and Glenn Stout

Biographies: Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman

Historical:  We the People: The Story of Our Constitution by Lynne Cheney and Greg Harlin

And many more, such as Science, Animals, Sports, and Nature.  The subcategories within nonfiction is just about endless.