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Realistic Fiction

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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Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), Hardcover
...and now Miguel
by Joseph Krumgold
from Thomas Crowell
for 5th-8th grade
1954 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Across So Many Seas
by Ruth Behar
from Nancy Paulsen Books
for 4th-8th grade
2025 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$15.29
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Books of Wonder
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Steven Kellogg
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Readers #10
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
1954 edition from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Perrine
Windermere Series 4
by Hector Malot, translated by Gil Meynier, adapted by Edith Heal
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Heritage Press
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Books of Wonder
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Barry Moser
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Ted Lewin
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Kamil Lohták
from Simon and Schuster
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Donald McKay
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by True Williams
from Random House Value
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain, illustrated by John Falter
from Macmillan
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Tom Sawyer Abroad / Tom Sawyer, Detective
by Mark Twain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Album of Horses
by Marguerite Henry
from Rand McNally
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
All Aboard for Freedom
by Marie McSwigan, illustrated by E. Harper Johnson, with an introduction by Jan Papanek
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
All Alone in the World
by Johanna Spyri
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
All Creatures Great and Small / All Things Bright and Beautiful
James Herriot Series Book 1
by James Herriot
from MJF Books
Realistic Fiction for 7th-Adult
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
All the Blues in the Sky
by Renee Watson
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 6th-9th grade
2026 Newbery Award Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$15.29
And Then There Were Eight
by Paul Molloy
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Avonlea
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Clare Sieffert
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Avonlea
Children's Classics
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Stan Hunter
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Avonlea
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Clare Sieffert
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Avonlea
Anne #2
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Anne of Green Gables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Jody Lee
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Elizabeth R. Withington
1934 Printing from L. C. Page & Company
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Anne of Green Gables
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Mick Ellison
from Reader's Digest
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Anne of Green Gables
Sterling Classics
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Jody Lee
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Longmeadow Press
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables
Anne #1
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.74
Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Sybil Tawse
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
$17.00
Anne of Green Gables
Anne #1
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Eric Kincaid
from Wordsworth Editions
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Green Gables Treasury
by Carolyn Strom Collins, Christina Wyss Eriksson
First Edition
for 4th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of Ingleside
Anne #6
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 7th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of the Island
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by L.M. Montgomery, illustrated by Mark Graham
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of the Island
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by L.M. Montgomery, illustrated by Mark Graham
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Anne of the Island
Anne #3
by L.M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Anne of the Island
by L.M. Montgomery
from Grosset & Dunlap
Orphan Stories for
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Anne's House of Dreams
Anne #5
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Annotated Secret Garden OSI
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Annotated from W. W. Norton and Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
At the Foot of the Rainbow
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bambi's Children
by Felix Salten, illustrated by Erna Pinner
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bambi's Children
by Felix Salten, illustrated by Kurt Wiese
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bandit of Mok Hill
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Marvin Friedman
from Doubleday & Company
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Banner in the Sky
by James Ramsey Ullman
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
1955 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Baree, Son of Kazan
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by James Oliver Curwood
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bat-Poet
by Randall Jarrell, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
from Macmillan
for 5th-10th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Beautiful Joe
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by Marshall Saunders
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bel Ria
by Sheila Burnford
1st edition from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$18.69
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)
Big Red
by Jim Kjelgaard
from Holiday House
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$15.29
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, Illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Sterling Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from Garden City Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Charles Keeping
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Walter Seaton
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst
from Breslich & Foss
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Books of Wonder
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch
from William Morrow & Company
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by John Beer
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty
Rainbow Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Wesley Dennis
from World Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Children's Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Edwin John Prittie
from John C. Winston
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty
Everyman Children's Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Lucy Kemp-Welch
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
Black Beauty
Macmillan Classics
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by John Groth
from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by E. Raymond Kinstler
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Beauty (abridged)
by Anna Sewell, illustrated by Chiara Fedele
from Miles Kelly Publishing
Realistic Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Beauty / Call of the Wild
by Anna Sewell, Jack London, illustrated by E. Raymond Kintsler & Lee Gregori
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-8th grade
in Companion Library (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Stallion
by Walter Farley, illustrated by Domenick D'Andrea
Golden Anniversary Edition from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Black Stallion
by Walter Farley
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Black Symbol
by Annabel & Edgar Johnson
from Harper & Row
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Bob, Son of Battle
G&D Famous Dog Stories
by Alfred Ollivant
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-9th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Born to Trot
by Marguerite Henry
First Edition from Rand McNally
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Born to Trot
by Marguerite Henry; illustrated by Wesley Dennis
Reprint from Simon and Schuster
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Boy and His Bear
by Harriet Graham
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Boy with a Pack
by Stephen W. Meader, illustrated by Edward Shenton
from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bridge to Terabithia
by Katherine Paterson
First Ed from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
1978 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Bright Island
by Mabel Louise Robinson
75th Anniversary Edition from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Bright Island
by Mabel Louise Robinson, illustrated by Lynd Ward
4th printing from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 5th-8th grade
1938 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
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