Genres and Formats

Genres and Formats

Genres, subgenres, categories, subjects, and formats? Say, what? Uhm..what is the difference? I can clearly see a dark cloud of confusion hovering over you (and over me too)! If we do not know the genres in literature, we are unable to teach our children what they are, and we do not want to be that type of librarian!

Let’s clear this confusion. There are two genres: fiction and nonfiction. What about everything else? Well, it is a subgenre.  

Fiction is broken down into two categories: realism and fantasy. Realism is broken into realistic and historical; modern and traditional fall into fantasy. Modern includes soft science fiction, hard science fiction, high fantasy, and low fantasy. Are you still with me?

In hard science fiction, science is the main focus of the story. In soft science fiction, science is definitely part of the story, but the character is now the main focus. High fantasy, ingenious writers create new worlds with species and languages that are out of this world (literally) such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. On the other hand, low fantasy is somewhat similar to what we see here on Earth but includes things that are not quite possible. For example, pets may act like humans but we all know that does not happen in the real world (I’ve seen a cat that thinks he is a baby).
  
Now, ballad, fable, fairy -tale, myth, folktale, and legend fall under traditional. Under nonfiction, we have informational. Information is broken down into three more genres: biography, narrative nonfiction, and expository nonfiction. Under biography, we have two similar genres, autobiography and memoir. Even though they are like “cousins,” they have different characteristics. An autobiography covers a person’s entire life, but a memoir is more like a snapshot of a particular stage of his life.

I’ve visited libraries and their collection is organized by “genres” such as mystery, horor, war, humor, and adventure. Not so fast, cowboy! These are not genres; they are SUBJECTS or  CATEGORIES. Well, now I know!

Let’s talk about formats. Formats include poetry, drama, novels, chapter books, short stories, picture books, and graphic novels. These also tend to be confused with genres and are sometimes used to organize the library’s collection.

As a new librarian, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with all the new things happening in the library and the stress that comes with learning new things in the education world (but can also be fun and rewarding).  With experience, things certainly get better. But, one can make mistakes that can affect our children. My desire is to educate my students and teach them the difference between genres, subgenres, categories, subjects, and formats. My plan is to stay away from genrefying my library and allow them to choose the books they wish to read without making them feel that a book is for a specific gender.

Perry, K. (2016, May 13). Genres and Formats: They Might Not Be What You Think.
Retrieved September 14, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbfpB3eyDyg
&feature=youtu.be

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