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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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42 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 8th grade (Ages 13-14), Hardcover, New Books & Materials
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)
$14.95
Anne of Avonlea
Anne #2
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
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)
$19.99
Anne of Green Gables
by L. M. Montgomery, illustrated by Sybil Tawse
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
$20.00
Anne of the Island
Anne #3
by L.M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
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)
$19.99
Annotated Secret Garden
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)
$35.00
Ark, The
by Margot Benary-Isbert
2021 Revision from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Berliners
by Vesper Stamper
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$21.99
First Four Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Freewater
by Amina Luqman Dawson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 5th-8th grade
2023 Newbery Medal Winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri, translated by Helen B. Dole and illustrated by William Sharp
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
$20.00
How the Heather Looks
by Joan Bodger
Reprint from Living Book Press
for 7th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$24.99
Labors of Hercules Beal
by Gary D. Schmidt
from Clarion Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
Little Britches
Little Britches Series #1
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$24.99
Little House on the Prairie - 75th Anniversary Edition
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
75 Anv Rev from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$16.99
Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Illustrated by C. E. Brock
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
$17.00
Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Graham Rust
from David R. Godine
Realistic Fiction for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$18.95 $13.00 (1 in stock)
Little Town on the Prairie
Little House Series #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1942 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by M.E. Gray
Unabridged from Everyman's Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$16.95
Love and Other Great Expectations
by Becky Dean
from Delacorte Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
Maizy Chen's Last Chance
by Lisa Yee
from Yearling
for 4th-8th grade
2023 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Man of the Family
Little Britches Series #2
by Ralph Moody
from Purple House Press
Biography for 5th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$23.00
Mary Poppins
by P. L. Travers
from Harcourt Children's Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Miracle on 34th Street
by Valentine Davies
from Harcourt
Realistic Fairy Tale for 6th-9th Grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$14.99
Moment Comes
by Jennifer Bradbury
from Atheneum
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
Most Perfect Thing in the Universe
by Tricia Springstubb
from Margaret Ferguson Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.00
Rainbow Valley
Anne #7
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
Rilla of Ingleside
Anne #8
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.99
Rowan Farm
by Margot Benary-Isbert
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$23.00
Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett; illustrated by Graham Rust
from David R. Godine
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$19.95
Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, foreword by E. L. Konigsburg
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.99
Secret Garden
Sterling Classics
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.95
Summer of the Swans
by Betsy Byars
1st edition from Viking Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.95 $6.50 (3 in stock)
Super Jake and the King of Chaos
by Naomi Milliner
from Running Press
for 2nd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Swallows' Flight
by Hilary McKay
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.99
Time Sight
by Lynne Jonell
from Henry Holt and Company
Time Travel Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
We Could Be Heroes
by Margaret Finnegan
from Atheneum
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$17.99
Wonderstruck
by Brian Selznick
First Edition from Scholastic Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$29.99
World of Little House
by Carolyn Strom Collins & Christina Wyss Eriksson
from HarperCollins
Literature Resource for 4th-8th grade
in Little House Materials (Location: LIR-LHM)
$29.99
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