The A to Z Glossary of the Kid Lit World

It can be difficult to describe what you’re interested in when you don’t have the vocabulary to do so! This is a great resource that breaks down a lot of the lingo in the kid lit world to make it easier to identify the right books for you and provide you the tools with how to ask for help with book suggestions.

Age

• Board Book – created for babies and toddlers with cardboard pages that withstand wonder and exploration
• Picture Book – a book, usually geared toward children, in which the illustrations are as important (or more important than) the text and conventionally is 32 pages long
• Wordless Picture Book – a book usually geared toward children that is illustrated and contains no words
• Easy Reader – geared toward beginning readers with limited vocabulary, larger text font and images that illustrate the story to provide context to the reader
• Chapter Book – geared toward readers that are moving beyond easy readers and are ready for longer texts and fewer illustrations. Chapter books are usually geared toward 7-10 year olds, with short chapters, large type font, and more white space. Chapter books are often less than 100 pages making them the next stepping stone for readers.
• Middle Grade – geared toward 8-12 year old readers, with a more typical type font, less white space, and a few, if any illustrations. The books themselves are usually longer – think 200-300 pages and the chapters are usually longer than chapters found chapter books. Protagonists are usually 11 or 12 years old which allows for more mature content for a more mature reader.
• Young Adult – geared toward 13-18 year olds with a protagonist who often learn where they fit into the world, not only within their family and friends, but within a larger context and spend time reflecting on what that means. Young adult novels can include profanity, graphic violence, romance, but doesn’t have to.

Format

• Anthology – a selection of short stories written by different authors often about a similar topic
• Graphic novel – a novel-length narrative written in the format of comic strips – including panels, captions, speech balloons, and the story relies heavily on the graphic/illustration element
• Novel in verse – can be found in middle grade and young adult novels. A novel in verse is a novel-length narrative written in a poetic form rather than in prose (paragraphs).

Genres

• Adaptation – an adult nonfiction book changed to be appropriate for a younger audience
• Adventure – action is the key element, overshadowing setting, character and theme
• Autobiography – book about a person’s life written by that person
• Biography – book written about a person’s life by another person
• Fantasy – includes imaginary worlds, fantastic creatures, or ordinary people and animals who can do extraordinary things
• Folklore – include fairy tales, folktales, myths and tall tales from a specific culture or country. This genre can include traditional, contemporary and fractured tales as well.
• Historical Fiction – made up story set in a recognizable historical time period
• Horror/Scary – intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle its readers
• Magical Realism – elements of the fantastic which break or creep into an otherwise realistic world
• Mystery – plot is the key element with the protagonist seeking an answer to a crime or a mysterious event
• Nonfiction, Non-fiction, Informational Text – based on facts, real events, and real people
• Poetry – a style of writing that uses a formal organization and that is often divided up into lines or stanzas, or it refers to something beautiful
• Prose – this is how a “typical” novel is written without any specific structure or rhyming sequence. You’ll often see this style of book written in paragraphs with dialog within the text.
• Realistic Fiction – creates imaginary characters and situations that depict our world and society. It focuses on themes of growing up and confronting personal and social problems. This genre portrays characters coming to understand themselves and others
• Romance – a central storyline that focuses on a love story between two characters that has an optimistic ending
• Science Fiction – fiction based on imagined future scientific or technological advances and major social or environmental changes, frequently portraying space or time travel and life on other planets.
• Speculative Fiction – a genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements it is also an overarching genre that includes fantasy, science fiction, alternate history and more

Bibliography

• http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/documents/english/biblio46/genre_definitions.pdf
• http://libguides.ashland.edu/childlitgen