21st Century Texts

Genre Study:

21^st Century genres are pieces of literature that employ sequential visual storytelling through symbol, image, and/or multi-media formats to convey meaning. Successful comprehension of 21^st century literature depends on decoding message modalities beyond text alone. 21^st century literature can be broken down into different subgenres known as graphic novels, digi-fiction, doodle fiction, manga fiction, and illustrated novels. Graphic novels are narratives in a comic book format that are either fiction or non-fiction. Graphic novels can be original stories or remakes of stories that were originally written as a traditional novel and there are even classic novels that have been rewritten as graphic novels. Manga is a Japanese word that means comic. Manga fiction is usually used in English-speaking countries as a generic term for all comic books and graphic novels originally published in Japan. Manga fiction is a specific artistic and storytelling style of literature. Manga usually follows the traditional reading style of Japan: from right to left. Digi-fiction is a subgenre that combines three media: book, movie/video, and an Internet website. The reader must be engaged in all three media in order to understand the full story. Illustrated novels are usually 50 percent illustrations and 50 percent text. The story from an illustrated novel cannot be fully comprehended without interpreting the images. Doodle fiction has hand-scribed font and images are incorporated in place of traditional typed font. The drawings enhance the story and they often add humorous elements that keep readers engaged.

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Selected Titles:

Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of hugo cabret: A novel in words and pictures. New York: Scholastic Press.

This book has a Lexile level of 820L and the appropriate reading level for this text is grades 3-7. The author of this text tells the story with a combination of illustrations and words, 284 of the pages are illustrations and the story cannot be fully comprehended without taking a complete consideration of the illustrations. Students can connect to the text because two of the main characters are children about 12 years of age. This is a great book for struggling readers and reluctant readers because it is a thick book with 526 pages yet many of the pages are illustrations and some pages have text but not that many words on the page. Struggling readers will have a sense of accomplishment when they are reading this book and they can gain confidence in their reading ability. Students will learn how to connect the story that is told in words to the parts of the story that are told in pictures.

Pilkey, D. (1997). The adventures of captain underpants: An epic novel. New York: Blue Sky Press.

This text is a great resource for boy readers and reluctant readers because it is a graphic novel that is written in a comic book design with cartoons and friendly text features. The hand-scribed images and cartoons allow readers to be engaged with the text and experience humor and interaction with the text.  This book as a Lexile level of 720L and the appropriate grade level is 2nd-5th and appropriate for ages 7-10. The author of this book allows readers to get the chance to interact with graphics, engaging activities, and funny inserts that keep readers engaged with the text. Kids will love to read about the goofy and hilarious stories in this series of Captain Underpants graphic novels and they are great texts for independent reading. Boys will love to read these books because they are about two boys who create their own comic book hero named Captain Underpants and they get themselves into trouble and in funny situations.

Adventure

Genre Study:

Adventure novels are stories that are dominated by action and commonly involve danger, risk, excitement, and suspense. The action in adventure texts is fast-paced and keeps the reader engaged with the plot of the story. Generally, the events in an adventure story are more remarkable and extraordinary than the actions that occur in everyday life, yet some stories can have a plot that is more realistic than others. The theme throughout most adventure stories typically revolves around the hero of the story and how the actions in the plot change the hero in some way. The setting of most adventure novels is located in exotic or unfamiliar territories. The central focus and premise of adventure novels is for the reader to engage with the action that occurs to the characters and the authors spend less time on character development to focus on the action development and details. The conflicts of the literary novels are usually defined as one of the following: man versus nature, man versus man, man versus society, and man versus self. Adventure fiction novels generally focus the conflicts of the plot on exciting and thrilling scenes such as man versus nature as seen in Gary Paulsen’s novels about Brian Robeson, and man versus man or man versus society as in novels that involve war or fighting.

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Selected Titles:

Paulsen, G. (1987). Hatchet. New York: Bradbury Press.

            This text is an appropriate reading level for students in grades 5 through 8 and is has a Lexile level of 1020L. The plot of the text keeps readers interested and engaged because of the exciting, dangerous, risky, and adventurous action in the book. This book is good for students to connect with because the main character, Brian, is a thirteen-year-old boy with divorced parents and he finds himself stranded in the woods and has to try to survive. Readers can empathize and visualize themselves in Brian’s situation as he struggles through his conflict with the Canadian woods and a plane crash. The plot of the book will keep students thinking about the situations that Brian has to deal with because they are realistic situations that students might be able to imagine themselves in. Students who read Hatchet will want to continue to read the other stories about Brian’s adventures like The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, Brian’s Hunt because Gary Paulsen ends Hatchet with Brian still in the woods but a rescuer has just arrived so they will want to know what happens next to Brian.

Gardiner, J. R., & Sewall, M. (1980). Stone Fox. New York: Crowell.

This text is appropriate for students in grades 3-5 and it has a Lexile level of 550L. Stone Fox is great for students to stay engaged because they will be intrigued to find out what is going to happen next and to find out if the boy can survive and prevail throughout the action and danger of the plot. Students will be able to read through this text smoothly and quickly because of its textual structure and the plot flows very smoothly. Students can relate to this text because the main character is a 10-year old boy who is trying to take responsibility for his grandfather’s debt. Students will enjoy reading about a boy their age that is brave and adventurous. This book can be used to discuss topics in social studies about Native American history and history in the Rocky Mountains.

Historical Fiction

Genre Study:

Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the action and the setting of the text is sometime in the past. The setting is drawn from history and often contains real historical people and settings. Although the plot and characters of the text are fictional, they are realistic characters that could actually exist in the real world. The importance of historical fiction texts is that they often portray the manners and social conditions of the people and setting of the historical contexts that are presented in the story. The authors pay particular attention to the details of the period of history in which the text is presented. Some literary experts expect that historical fiction texts be written at least fifty years after the events that are described in the text. The plots of historical fiction novels usually have major historical events taking place mostly off-stage while the fictional characters take part in realistic yet fictional events on-stage. When selecting texts in the historical fiction genre it is important to consider that they texts include several plot components that incorporate real historical information so that students can make connections from the literacy instruction to their social studies instruction and other content area instruction. Historical fiction texts are a great way to get students to read literature that can be incorporated through multiple content areas in the classroom.

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Selected Titles:

Williams-Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York: Amistad.

            This text is a quality historical fiction text for students in grades 4-7 and the ages of 8-12. When students read this book they will understand how people lived in Oakland during the 1960s and how the Black Panther social group impacted the society of the United States in the late 1960s. As students read this book, they will learn about real historical figures like Huey Newton, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cassius Clay, Bobby Hutton, and Malcom X as well as historical events and facts about the Black Panthers, the Vietnam war, civil rights, and the protests of the 1960s. This text is good for students between the ages of 8 and 12 because the main characters of the text are school-aged children between the ages of about 5 and 13 who participate in activities that most children can relate to. Students will have a chance to empathize with other children who have divorced or single parents because the characters live with their father and grandmother in Brooklyn, New York but they go to visit their mother in Oakland, California. I would recommend this book to any elementary teacher, students in the grades 4, 5, 6, or 7 and anybody who wants to read a good story that involves historical scenes from the Black Panther movement of the 1960s. Before or during reading this text, students will need to gain some background knowledge or background information about what was happening in the world and the United States during the 1960s to avoid misconceptions or confusions.

MacLachlan, P. (1985). Sarah, plain and tall. New York: Harper & Row.

This text is appropriate for grade levels of 1^st grade to 5^th grade and it has a Lexile level of 560L. This book will help readers understand what life was like in the late 19th century living on a farm somewhere on the prairie. The book is told from the perspective of a young girl whose mother died after giving birth to her younger brother and whose father is a farmer. Readers will connect with the text because it is told from the perspective of a child so they will be able to picture living during that time and in that setting. Students will need some background knowledge about the late 1800s and what the Midwestern United States looked like during that time to be able to better understand some concepts of the text. I would recommend this text to anyone who has already read some books about the prairie life such as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie and other young readers who are just beginning to read chapter books because it is a shorter chapter book that is good for beginning readers.

Tales, Legends, & Fables

Genre Study:

Tales, legends, and fables are characteristically similar genres with some minor differences between the three of them. Tales are distinguished as either fairy tales or folktales. Fairy tales usually contain some magic, an evil character, and they end happily ever after. Folktales are usually stories that have been told for a long time by some group of people. Legends are slightly different from tales because they combine a real event or a real person’s unusual life story with the exaggeration and some heroic actions. Fables are different in the sense that they usually have talking animals, only about two or three characters, and they are short stories that teach a lesson or moral. When selecting tales, legends, or fables for classroom instruction it is important to consider having a variety of versions of a story, having stories from different cultures, and having stories that encourage further reading or writing. Tales, legends, and fables are all great genres to use for storytelling activities, readers’ theatre activities, writing activities, and creative thinking strategies. Quality tales, legends, and fables are ones that have multiple versions and sometimes versions written from different cultural perspectives. Also, students will benefit from texts that encourage them to reread the text, find another story that is similar, or promote writing or talking about the text.

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Selected Titles:

Scieszka, J., & Smith, L. (1989). The true story of the three little pigs. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking Kestrel.

            This story is a fractured fairytale that takes an original story and changes up the point of view and narrator to make a story that students love to hear and laugh about because they already know about the original story. The text is leveled at 3^rd grade and the language that is used is everyday conversational language. This text would preferably be used in the classroom as a read aloud text and students can use reading strategies such as compare and contrast or retelling for post-reading activities. A major theme addressed in this book is how sometimes stories are told much different based on the perspective of the person telling the story. Students can learn to understand that often times a situation looks much different from the viewpoint of another person. In order for students to get the full understanding and support when reading this text, they will need to be familiar with the original version of the three little pigs so they can make connections.

Stevens, J., Tomasso, R., Wallerstein, W., & Boyer, G. (1995). Tops & bottoms. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company.

            This text is a great children’s folktale story in which there are only a few characters that teach a lesson about hard word and success. The story is told from the third person, and readers in the 3^rd grade generally understand the main ideas and concepts of the text. This book is a great source for a read aloud and reading comprehension activities because it is an engaging story that a reader can incorporate different voices for characters and they can even make their own versions of the story in different contexts about hard work and success. The overarching theme of the book is that no matter what types of possessions or financial status someone has they can always find a way to work hard and not be lazy so they can be satisfied. Students will find it easy to understand the theme of the book because it is presented in a friendly, clear, and concise manner. I would recommend using this book in the classroom as a read aloud and then providing supplementary activities so students fully understand the meaning of the book.