Below is a list of genres with a brief description of each. The genre can be found on the copyright page of most fiction books. If you're unsure of what genre your book is, ask your librarian and we'll look it up for you!
Fiction: Stories that may be based on actual events or people, but are written entirely with imagination of the author, containing made-up elements.
Realistic Fiction: Fictional stories that take place in modern time, right here and now. The characters are involved in events that could really happen.
Historical Fiction: Stories that take place in a particular time period in the past. Often the basic setting is real, but the characters are fictional.
Science Fiction: Story based on impact of actual, imagined, or potential science, usually set in the future or on other planets.
Historical Fiction: Stories that portray alternate accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events.
Non-Fiction: Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject.
Creative Non-Fiction: Stories that contain literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives.
Narrative Non-Fiction: Factual information presented in a format which tells a story.
Biography: Story of a real person's life, written or told by another person.
Autobiography: story of a real person's life, written or told by that person.
Survival: Fiction and Non-Fiction – contains elements of the main character's (or persons within the story) personal struggle(s) to maintain conscientious decisions which ultimately could effect the outcome of the story's ending.
Fable: Narration demonstrating a useful truth, especially in which animals speak as humans; legendary, supernatural tale.
Fairy Tale / Folk Tale: Story about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.
Western: Stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century, portraying how primitive and obsolete ways of life confronted modern technological or social changes.
Fantasy: Fiction with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.
Mystery / Suspense: Fiction dealing with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.
Thriller / Horror: Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.
Humor: Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement, meant to entertain; but can be contained in all genres.
Poetry: Verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that creates emotional responses from the reader.
Drama: Stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.
Legend: Story, sometimes of a national or folk hero, which has a basis in fact but also includes imaginative material.
Mythology: Legend or traditional narrative, often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods.
Speech: Public address or discourse.