Realistic Fiction - Exodus Books

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Realistic fiction is kind of a newcomer to the long list of literary genres. Primarily aimed at children and adolescents (the corresponding genre in adult literature is usually just called "literary fiction"), realistic fiction is recognizable by its relatable characters and situations. What sets it apart from historical fiction is that the stories do not center around an actual historical event or person, though they may be set in a very real time period.

Characters deal with the things everyone else deals with—death, friendship, loneliness, embarrassment, first love—and they don't get transported to a make-believe island as a solution to their problems. They have to work it out, which is one of the main appeals of this genre; kids like to read about other kids (real or imaginary) going through the typical young person's trials and how they deal with it.

Not that all realistic fiction is sad and gloomy. It's just what it sounds like—stories about real-life from a fresh perspective. Also, we aren't suggesting there are no realistic elements to a fantasy like The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: there are, which is precisely what makes reading that book so rewarding. It's just that real kids don't fight literal dragons, they fight bullies, or their own insecurities, or ferocious acne.

A lot of the best and most-loved stories fall squarely within the limits of realistic fiction. Huckleberry Finn wasn't a real pirate, but he really rafted the Mississippi; Anne Shirley wasn't a Medieval princess, but she really became Matthew and Marilla's daughter; Anna and Caleb Witting aren't big on imagination, but they are big on really accepting Sarah into their family (at least, eventually).

The full range of human experience is explored in these stories, its darkness, its light, its sorrow, its joy. This is the purpose of literature, after all: to show us true life, and in showing us, to better prepare us for it. These books are some of the best at doing just that.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

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Parent Categories

Fiction & Literature

Fiction by Genre

Realistic Fiction

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Coming of Age Stories

Family Stories

Orphan Stories

51 Items found Print

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20th Century America,

8th grade (Ages 13-14)

	After the Dancing Days by Margaret I. Rostkowski from HarperTrophy for 7th-9th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $5.99 $4.00 (2 in stock)
	Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko Reprint from Puffin Books for 7th-10th grade 2005 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	All He Knew by Helen Frost from Farrar, Straus and Giroux for 7th-Adult in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $17.99
	Betsy and Joe by Maud Hart Lovelace, illustrated by Vera Neville 15th Printing from Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. for 6th-9th grade in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC) $45.00 (1 in stock)
	Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace from HarperTrophy for 3rd-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Betty Before X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson from Square Fish Publishing for 8th-12th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Book Thief by Markus Zusak from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. for 8th-12th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $14.99
	Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo from Feiwel & Friends for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo from Feiwel & Friends for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	Endless Steppe Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig from HarperCollins Historical Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.99
	Escape From Warsaw Originally titled The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier, illustrated by Irwin Hoffman from Scholastic Inc. Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $4.00 (2 in stock)
	Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan from Scholastic Inc. for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $7.99
	Going Solo by Roald Dahl from Puffin Books for 7th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian from HarperCollins Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian from HarperCollins Realistic Fiction for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $9.99
	Great Wheel by Robert Lawson from Walker and Company Realistic fiction for 4th-8th grade 1958 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.99 $6.00 (2 in stock)
	Hero on a Bicycle by Shirley Hughes from Candlewick Press for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	I Am David Previously published as North to Freedom by Anne Holm from Harcourt Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $7.99
	Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida 2^nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks for 5th-9th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $6.99
	Journey Home by Yoshiko Uchida from Aladdin Paperbacks Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $7.99
	Journey to Topaz A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation by Yoshiko Uchida from Heyday Books Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
	Journey to Topaz A Story of the Japanese-American Evacuation by Yoshiko Uchida from Heyday Books Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $12.00
	Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter, illustrated by Gordon Grant, decorations by Lee Thayer from Purple House Press for 7th-10th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park from Sandpiper Books for 5th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred R. Taylor Reissue from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $9.99
	Machine Gunners by Robert Westall from Macmillan for 7th-10th grade 1975 Carnegie Medal in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool from Yearling for 6th-10th grade 2011 Newbery Medal Winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	My Own Lightning by Lauren Wolk from Dutton Children's Books for 6th-10th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99
	New Land A Novel for Boys and Girls by Sarah Lindsay Schmidt from Robert M. McBride & Co. for 7th-10th grade 1934 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	No Promises in the Wind by Irene Hunt from Berkley Books Historical Fiction for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99 $4.50 (2 in stock)
	Number the Stars by Lois Lowry Reissue from Sandpiper Books for 5th-8th grade 1990 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.99
	Orphan for Nebraska A Guild Book by Charlene Joy Talbot from Atheneum Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga First Ed from Balzer & Bray for 4th-8th grade 2020 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $16.99
	Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse from Scholastic Inc. Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade 1998 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
	Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse from Scholastic Inc. Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $4.50 (1 in stock)
	Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse 1^st edition from Scholastic Inc. Realistic Fiction for 6th-8th grade 1998 Newbery Medal winner in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.00 (1 in stock)
	Papa's Wife by Thyra Ferre Bjorn from Rinehart & Company, Inc. for 7th-Adult in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Road to Memphis by Mildred Taylor from Bantam Books Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
	Road to Memphis by Mildred Taylor from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade 1991 Coretta Scott King Award in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $6.99
	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade 1977 Newbery Medal winner in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Puffin Modern Classics by Mildred Taylor from Puffin Books Realistic Fiction for 5th-8th grade 1977 Newbery Medal winner in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF) $8.99
	Song of the Pines A Story of Norwegian Lumbering in Wisconsin Land of the Free Series by Walter & Marion Havighurst, illustrated by Richard Floethe 1^st edition from John C. Winston Historical fiction for 6th-10th grade 1950 Newbery Honor Book in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
	Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp from HarperCollins Biography for 7th-10th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $16.99
	Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay from Margaret K. McElderry Books for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $17.99
	Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye from Greenwillow Books for 4th-8th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $7.99
	Upon the Head of the Goat A Childhood in Hungary 1939-1944 by Aranka Siegal First Square Fish: Aug.2012 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux for 5th-9th grade 1982 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $9.99
	Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis from Laurel-Leaf Books for 5th-8th grade 1996 Newbery Honor Book in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.99
	Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis from Yearling for 4th-8th grade in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF) $8.99
	Well Done, Denehurst! by Gwendoline Courtney from Girls Gone By Publishers for 6th-9th grade in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $24.00 (1 in stock)
	Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk from Puffin Books for 6th-10th grade 2017 Newbery Honor Book in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA) $8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
	World of the Trapp Family Life Story of the Legendary Family Who Inspired The Sound of Music by William Anderson 1^st edition for 6th-9th grade in Biographies (Location: BIO) $15.00 (1 in stock)

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