Keepin' it real!

I enjoy receiving and giving realistic fiction, for both children and adults, with strong characters, beautiful language, and humane visions.

Sharon Creech

If I ask a typical middle schooler to show me a book categorized as realistic fiction, they'd probably show me one about some sort of girl drama or sports...because that's how they roll.  If they asked me to show them an example of realistic fiction, I'd run, or drive, to my nearest public library and find Dorothea Benton Frank, Elin Hilderbrand, or Nora Roberts...because that's how I roll.

Wait a minute....GASP...OMG, we're on the same page.  They just want to read something they can connect to, identify with, recognize, empathize, and feel similar feelings as the characters in their books.  Just. Like. Us.

Realistic fiction is a huge umbrella that spans romance to mystery, humor to sports, and even includes a little ghostliness in there sometimes.  It can be overwhelming to anyone when they hear..."find a realistic fiction book to read".  Wait, what?  For current middle schoolers, is Hurricane Katrina considered historical fiction or realistic fiction?  What about 9/11 fiction?  These are issues I've seen lately when teachers ask students to search for this genre.  Who decides?  Teachers?  Students?  Librarians?  Does it matter?  Well it certainly shouldn't but it does put some things into perspective when we strive so hard to categorize a book by genre.  As librarians and teachers, we should do more of the discussion about a book and less of the categorization (IMHO).  Am I channeling Donalyn Miller here or what?

So let's keep it real in January.  The weather is cold (this week in SC it's 30, next week it's going to be 70...but I digress) so it's a great time to find some good realistic fiction and sit down with some hot coffee, hot chocolate, soup, well you get the hint, and READ.  As I mentioned in our #bookbootcamp wiki, some of the books on this month's reading list overlap with other genres.  Just like us, our books are certainly unique but they can't be placed into a specific niche all of the time.  

With those random thoughts about realistic fiction, go be one of your students...explore, read, think.  We'll chat about all of this and more on Monday, January 25th at 8:00 pm EST on Twitter using hashtag #bookbootcamp.  If this is your first chat, welcome!  If you're a regular, welcome back!  Talk to you soon and have fun keepin' it real with your reading.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1921602/Realistic_Fiction

I Heart Romance

I admit without shame that I love reading romance.  I love to watch romantic comedies.  A good romance to me is heart warming, gut wrenching, funny and tear jerking all at once.

I willingly volunteered to read and put together resources for our #bookbootcamp for middle grades because I never consciously thought about 'romance' for middle school.  After reading lots of different romance books this summer and reading some of the resources I listed on our #bookbootcamp wiki, I realize that romance for middle grades is all about relationships- from crushes to first kiss.

Here are some of my favorite middle grade romances:

Guitar Notes by Mary Amato, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith,
The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper, I'd Tell You I Love You, but then I'd have to Kill You by Ally Carter,
Curveball: The Year I Lost my Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick, Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman, Spy School
by Stuart Gibbs and Geeks, Girls and Secret Identities by Mike Jung

Here is a link to my romance shelf in Goodreads to see more middle grade romances titles that I've read and marked 'to-read.'

I hope you will join me and the other librarians and teachers of #bookbootcamp for our Romance chat, on Monday, October 28, 2013 at 8:00pm.  What romance titles are popular in your middle school library? Check out my suggested reading list of romance titles.  

Enlist in 2013-2014 Book Boot Camp!