All books aren't stories???

One of the things that children need to be exposed to is different types of genres.  Genre is really just a fancy word for categories of books, music, etc.  If you listen to music, you might have different genres you like, maybe classical, jazz, country or blues.   We have different genres in books as well.   There are fairy tales, fables, informational, fiction to name a few.   Within fiction, there are different categories or genres. One genre that typically confuses young children (and some adults) is animal fantasy.   These are the books in which animals talk and do human things, like go to school.  Marc Brown's Arthur books are animal fantasy.   They are made up stories about real life things.  To my knowledge aardvarks don't go to school let alone talk. These books are fun to read and many times help young children solve or deal with real life issues.  A large percentage of books for children are animal fantasies.

Informational books are important to expose young children to because they teach us about our world. Children need to realize that we read everything and that everything isn't a story.  There are biographies, informational books, procedures/directions (how-to), realistic fiction, recipes and on and on.   I am not proposing that young children be able to pick up a book, look at it and state the genre.   I am proposing that parents expose their children to all types of genres.  I am proposing that when you do read to your child you call the text by the correct name.   It is very hard to convince a 5 year old that even though mom and dad called everything a story, everything isn't a story.

A story has to have certain elements; characters, setting, a plot.  An informational book about frogs doesn't have that.  It just has information.  So as you read, or your child 'reads', say things like,  That was a great fairy tale.  I like how fairy tales start with once upon a time.  Or maybe, I really liked that animal fantasy. I could tell it was made up because animals don't really talk.  Perhaps you could say, That was an interesting informational book on dinosaurs.  We learned a lot! It is your language that is important.

Will your child be damaged for life if you don't do the genre talk?  Of course not.   Will your child be a little more aware of texts thereby making him a little more prepared for school?  Yep!