Name: _______________________

Identifying Genre and Subgenre 2

 

Directions: Choose the genre and subgenre in which the story most likely belongs.  Then explain how you got your answer.

 

Fiction: science fiction, historical fiction, and realistic fiction

Nonfiction: autobiographies, biographies, informational writing, and essays

Folklore: myth, fairytale, legend, tall tale, and fable

 

1.  Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

The story of a German professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans climb down a crater and have many wild adventures, encountering dinosaurs and prehistoric man.  They eventually return to surface again in southern Italy.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

2.  Sleeping Beauty retold by Charles Perrault

A beautiful princess pricks her finger on a sewing needle, after being cursed by a wicked fairy.  The princess falls into a deep sleep.  One hundred years later, a prince fights his way through the enchanted forest and awakens the beautiful sleeping princess with a kiss.

 

 Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

3.  The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy by James Cross Giblin

Joseph McCarthy was a senator during the cold war who accused many people of being "communists." Many actors and directors were banned from working on movies because of McCarthy's accusations.  James Cross Giblin tells the true story of Joe McCarthy's life, his rise to power and his down fall.  

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

4.  No Way Out by Peggy Kern

Bluford High freshman Harold Davis is trapped. Medical bills for his sick grandmother are piling up, and a social worker has threatened to put him in a foster home. Desperate for money, he reluctantly agrees to work for Londell James, a neighborhood drug dealer. The choice leads him into a world of dangerous streets where no one is safe. Will Harold escape the violence that surrounds him, or will he become its next victim?

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

5.  The Complete Book of Science, Grades 5-6 by School Specialty Publishing

The Complete Book of Science for grades 5 to 6 teaches children important science skills.  Children complete a variety of exercises that help them develop a number of skills in this 352 page workbook. Including a complete answer key, this workbook features a user-friendly format perfect for browsing, research, and review.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

6.  The Fox and the Grapes retold by Aesop

One day a fox came upon a grape orchard and found a bunch of beautiful grapes hanging from a high branch. "Boy those sure would be tasty," he thought to himself.  He backed up and took a running start, and jumped.  He did not get high enough.  He went back to his starting spot and tried again.  He almost got high enough this time, but not quite.  He tried and tried, again and again, but he just couldn't get high enough to grab the grapes.  Finally, he gave up.  As he walked away, he put his nose in the air and said: "I am sure those grapes are sour."  It is easy to hate what you cannot have.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

7.  Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf

When resistance fighters assassinated the highest ranking Nazi officer in Czechoslovakia, Hitler sought revenge on the small village of Lidice. All 173 men and teenage boys were executed while the women were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. Wolf tells the heart-wrenching story of the fictional Milada, who is sent to a Lebensborn center and adopted by the commandant of Ravensbruck. This is an amazing, eye-opening story, masterfully written.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

8.  Davy Crockett and the Frozen Dawn retold by S. E. Schlosser

One winter, it was so cold that the dawn froze solid. The sun got caught between two ice blocks, and the earth iced up so much that it couldn't turn. The first rays of sunlight froze halfway over the mountain tops. They looked like yellow icicles dripping towards the ground. Now Davy Crockett was headed home after a successful night hunting when the dawn froze up so solid. Being a smart man, he knew he had to do something quick or the earth was a goner. He had a freshly killed bear on his back, so he whipped it off, climbed right up on those rays of sunlight and began beating the hot bear carcass against the ice blocks which were squashing the sun. Soon a gush of hot oil burst out of the bear and it melted the ice. Davy gave the sun a good hard kick to get it started, and the sun's heat unfroze the earth and started it spinning again. So Davy lit his pipe on the sun, shouldered the bear, slid himself down the sun rays before they melted and took a bit of sunrise home in his pocket.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

9.  The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment, and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realizes that these beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture�now weak and childishly afraid of the dark. They have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity�the sinister Morlocks. And when the scientist's time machine vanishes, it becomes clear he must search these tunnels if he is ever to return to his own era.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

10.  Chicago Tribune published by the Tribune

This newspaper contains news, sports, classifieds, and entertainment stories.  

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

11.  All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

The book tells the story of a fictional character named Paul B�umer, a soldier who�urged on by his school teacher�joined the German army shortly after the start of World War I.  B�umer arrives at the Western Front and meets an older soldier, nicknamed Kat, who becomes Paul's mentor. While fighting at the front, B�umer and his comrades have to engage in frequent battles and endure the dangerous and often squalid conditions of warfare.  The book does not focus on heroic stories of bravery, but rather gives a view of the conditions in which the soldiers find themselves.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

12.  African Creation Story by unknown

In the Bakuba account, the Earth was originally nothing but water and darkness, ruled by the giant Mbombo. This giant, after feeling an intense pain in his stomach one day, vomited up the sun, moon, and stars. The heat and light from the sun evaporated the water covering Earth, creating clouds, and after time, the dry hills emerged from the water. Mbombo vomited once more. Many things were contained in this second vomiting�people (the first man and the first woman), animals, trees, the falling star, the firmament, and lighting.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

 

 

13.  On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Kerouac tells the true story of his cross-country adventure,  Kerouac is a writer holed up in a room at his aunt's house.  One day he and a friend hit the road to see America.  He takes the reader through the highs and lows of hitchhiking, bonding with fellow explorers and opting for beer before food.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

14.  The Most Exciting Moment of My Life by Mr. Morton

Mr. Morton, in a five paragraph narrative, tells the true story of the most exciting moment in his life: when he went to a reading workshop near downtown Chicago.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

15.  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by unknown

Sir Gawain is King Arthur's nephew, and this is the story of how Gawain met a challenge from a giant knight dressed in all green armor.  The story is very serious and is told as though it was true; many people believe that King Arthur was a real person, but this story is probably not true.  If it were true, it has been greatly exaggerated.

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

16.  The Complete Book of U.S. History by School Specialty Publishing

This textbook tells the history of America, from the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War.  

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer:

 

 

 

17.  The Fallen by Paul Langan

Martin Luna world is crumbling. A fight threatens to end his sophomore year at Bluford High School. But at home, things are even worse. Frankie, the most feared homeboy from his neighborhood, is hunting him. Alone and with time running out, Martin makes a desperate choice. Will it save or destroy him?  This is book eleven in the Bluford series.  

 

Genre: ___________________________________           Subgenre: _________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Explain your answer: