1. Fiction: True or False? Myths: Our First Stories? Fables: Teaching Stories Legends: Stories Based on History Folk Tales: Traveling Stories Fiction: Stories Today Practice Forms of Fiction: It’s All a Story Feature Menu

2. Why do we love to read fiction? Fiction: True or False? We know the stories aren’t factual... but we also know that a good story is true.

3. How can fiction—a pure product of imagination—be true? Fiction: True or False? A good story seems as if it could have happened. A good story makes us feel that things should happen that way. A good story tells us something important about real life. [End of Section]

4. Fiction comes in many forms. The earliest stories were probably myths. Myths: Our First Stories? Myths answer basic questions: Where do we come from? Why do the seasons change? What is love? How can we tell right from wrong? How did we learn about fire? Why do we die? What makes the sun rise?

5. The word myth comes from the Greek word mythos, which means “story.” Myths: Our First Stories? Myths were passed down orally for generations. The characters in myths are often gods and heroes.

6. Greek and Roman myths aren’t the only myths. Myths: Our First Stories? Myths are part of all cultures on Earth. At one time, most myths were connected with a culture’s religious beliefs. [End of Section]

7. The fable is another kind of story told all over the world. The most famous Western fables were told by Aesop, a slave in ancient Greece, over 2,600 years ago. Fables: Teaching Stories Fables are teaching stories. They have a moral, and they are often short.

8. Do you recognize these fables from Aesop? Fables: Teaching Stories [End of Section] What are the morals of these stories? The Tortoise and the Hare The Boy Who Cried Wolf

9. Legends are stories based on historical events. These stories are partly based on real people and real events. Legends: Stories Based on History Legends become more exaggerated and less accurate the longer they are told. There really was a war in Troy around 1200 B.C. A serpent probably didn’t rise up out of the sea and strangle one of the Trojans.

10. Ancient history isn’t the only source of legends. Did George Washington really cut down that cherry tree? Legends: Stories Based on History American history has also produced many legends. Did Davy Crockett really ride a streak of lightning? [End of Section]

11. Folk tales are stories that have been passed down by word of mouth for generations. Folk tales are stories that feature elements like Folk Tales: Traveling Stories sleeping princesses, elves, and giants genies, flying carpets, and magic lamps talking animals and three magic wishes

12. Folk tales tend to travel from culture to culture. Who has an evil stepmother who won’t let her go to the party? Folk Tales: Traveling Stories Who goes to the party anyway and loses her special slipper? You probably know her as Cinderella

13. The Cinderella story most of us know was written down by a Frenchman, Charles Perrault, in 1697. But researchers have found more than 900 versions of the story all over the world. Folk Tales: Traveling Stories The oldest version, from China, is more than 1,000 years old. Yeh-Shen, the Chinese Cinderella, has magic fishbones instead of a fairy godmother. [End of Section]

14. Today, the word fiction usually refers to short stories and novels. Fiction: Stories Today Many types of fiction are popular with readers. mystery historical fiction fantasy romance adventure science fiction

15. “Formula fiction” tells the same story over and over: A lot of modern fiction is “formula fiction.” Fiction: Stories Today “crime doesn’t pay” “boy meets girl” [End of Section] “the good guy always wins” Most good modern fiction moves beyond formulas. It surprises us. We never know what will happen next.

16. Look at this cluster diagram. You’ll be completing a diagram like this one a little later. Let’s Try It Practice 1. What does this diagram show? 2. Why do lines connect most green bubbles to the red bubble?

17. Let’s Try It Practice 1. What does this diagram show? This cluster diagram shows types or kinds of fiction. (Sometimes the different types of fiction are called genres.)

18. Let’s Try It Practice 2. Why do lines connect most green bubbles to the red bubble? The words inside the green bubbles are all types of fiction. Fiction, inside the center red bubble, is the main category. The others are all subcategories.

19. Let’s Try It Practice 3. “Fantasy” and “science fiction” are connected to each other. There is only one line to the center. Why?

20. Let’s Try It Practice 3. “Fantasy” and “science fiction” are connected to each other. There is only one line to the center. Why? Many critics consider science fiction to be a subcategory of fantasy. Both kinds of stories cannot happen in real life.

21. Let’s Try It Practice 4. Science fiction and fantasy are related because the stories cannot happen in real life. How are they different from each other?

22. Let’s Try It Practice 4. Science fiction and fantasy are related because the stories cannot happen in real life. How are they different from each other? Science fiction stories are based on scientific ideas— ideas that may become reality in the future. Fantasy stories are not based on scientific ideas.

23. On Your Own Copy this cluster diagram showing types of popular fiction. Write the title of an example for each type in its bubble. Then, add a sentence or two defining each type of fiction. Practice

24. Forms of Fiction: It’s All a Story The End