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Fantasy
— fiction story with highly fanciful 
or supernatural elements that would be 
impossible in real life
Animal fantasy 
—fantasy in which the main 
characters are anthropomorphic animals 
that display human characteristics
Contemporary realistic fiction
— fictional 
story set in modern times with events that 
could possibly occur
Historical fiction
— realistic story in a real world 
setting in the historical past with events that 
are partly historical but largely imaginative
Biography and Autobiography ( Chapter 11 ): 
Nonfiction works describing the life (or part 
of the life) of a real individual
Informational Books ( 
Chapter
 12 ): 
Trade 
books with the primary purpose of informing 
the reader by providing an in-depth explana-
tion of factual material
Poetry and Verse ( Chapter 13 ): 
Verse in which 
word images are selected and expressed to 
create strong, often beautiful, impressions
Box 1.2 
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C H A P T E R 1 :
Introduction to the World of Children’s Literature

9
genres are presented in this textbook. I have categorized literature into six ma-
jor genres: early childhood books, traditional literature, fiction, biography and 
autobiography, informational books, and poetry and verse. Notice that some 
of the genres have subcategories. Four chapters of this textbook are devoted to
the subcategories of fiction, and the remaining five genres are covered in one 
chapter each. 
T
he Dewey Decimal System 
Libraries also use genres to organize books on shelves so people can easily find 
them. Although nearly all university and other large libraries use the Library 
of Congress classification system, most school and public libraries still use the