What Is a Genre?

A genre is a category of writing whose books share common features.

Story Brief #1

A genre is a category of books that share certain features, like a family resemblance.

🎯 Your mission

Read carefully. Then prove you understood.

⚡ The twist

Slow down. The first answer that pops up isn't always the right one.

What you'll learn · 1 of 3

A genre is a category of books that share certain features, like a family resemblance. Knowing genres helps you find more books you'll love and know what to expect when you open one. Fiction genres include realistic fiction, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction. Nonfiction genres include biography, autobiography, and informational books. Poetry and folktales are genres too.

What you'll learn · 2 of 3

Here's how genre clues work. Suppose a book's back cover says: 'When twelve-year-old Kit discovers a door in her closet that opens onto a world of talking foxes, she must find a way home before the portal closes forever. ' A magical door and talking animals point to fantasy.

What you'll learn · 3 of 3

If instead it said, 'Kit's family moves to a new city, and she has to make friends at a new school,' that's realistic fiction. The cover blurb is your first genre clue.

Key points

1A genre is a category of books with shared features.
2Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry each have many genres.
3The back-cover blurb gives genre clues.