With the trending of genrefying libraries, the term genre can be used loosely. Some genres are not being correctly used as genres, they may be subgenres or formats. When identifying genres, you have fiction and nonfiction, everything else is a sub-genre.
The fiction side can be branched off into realism and fantasy. Under realism, you will find realistic and historical. Under fantasy, you will find modern and traditional. Traditional can breakdown into smaller parts such as folktale, ballard, myth, fairytales, and legends. The modern side of fantasy can break down into hard and soft science fiction and high and low fantasy.
Nonfiction breaks down into informational, which can break down into biography, autobiography, and memoir. Informational can also break down into narrative nonfiction and expository nonfiction.
Other popular categories, that libraries may be organized by may include chick lit, sports fiction, adventure, horror, mystery, war, and dystopia. These are not genres, they are subjects, or categories.
Formats include poetry, drama, short stories, novels, chapter books, picture books, and graphic novels. Many times you will find these incorrectly labeled as a genre in a library. However, it is a format and kids should know this. For example, Meet the Dullards is a low fantasy book in a picture book format.
It is important to categorize a library with a girl and a boy section. Boys should be comfortable checking out a book that a girl may like and vice versa. Genrefying a library sets students up to browse. However, it relies on the librarian and the students thinking the same way when categorizing the books. It is defintely a preference and something to think about.
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