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Children's and Young Adult Literature: Realistic fiction

Get real...

Newspaper articles on bullying

"Different degrees of realism have been discerned, and the realistic novel has several subtypes. For preschool children, the everyday-life story is its most common form, mixing both happy and unhappy events that are familiar to many children (such as a visit to the dentist, a birthday party, or the death of a pet). For older readers, the genre of realistic fiction is often considered synonymous with social critical literature and the problem book. The issues addressed concern both the life of the individual child/adolescent (including child abuse, divorce, and bullying in the works of, for instance, Anne Fine or Jacqueline Wilson) or they may affect the whole of society or even the world (such as ecological problems, war, and racism, in the works of, for instance, Beverly Naidoo)."

Zipes, J. D. (2006). The Oxford encyclopedia of children's literature. Oxford University Press.

Locating realistic fiction for children and youth

Adoption   Anger   Aspergers Syndrome   Autism   Bedtime   Birthdays   Body image   Bullying   Cancer   Death   Divorce   Eating disorders   Families   Family secrets  Foster  Friendship   LGBQTAI+   Grandparent and child   Grandparents   High school  Homosexuality  Interpersonal relations  Intergenerational Relations  Parents   Race relations  Same-Sex Families   School   Self-acceptance   Self-perception   Shyness   Sibling rivalry   Social acceptance   Substance abuse   Teachers     

*To locate additional titles in the Library Catalogue, combine a search for a particular topic or issue with the subheading juvenile fiction--e.g. racism - juvenile fiction.

Featured title for young adults

Book cover

A story rooted in the real-life tragedy of Vancouver's missing women and victims of the sex industry, "Rabbit Ears" is about two orphaned sisters, one of whom runs away to a life of drugs and sex work, the other of whom takes refuge in magic.

Featured title for children