What is your definition of fiction? For years, I explained to my class that fiction was something that couldn’t really happen in real life (like talking animals). But it wasn’t until a professor confronted me on my definition that I realized it was incomplete and inacurrate. “What about historical fiction or realistic fiction?” She had me there! My definitionf for fiction began to metamorphasize. While fiction can have things that really happen in real life, it also has parts that are “made up” by the author.
In general, young readers are more familiar with narrative fiction. Even a child in Stage 1 of literacy can tell a story–maybe about Cinderella or Batman. But sometimes kids struggle with fiction, too. In this section, I will give you some fiction story maps and text structure templates to help your child be better prepared to retell a story, making sure she includes the important parts (and not every small detail of the story!).