Analyzing Fiction and Nonfiction

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

I attended my first Broadway show when I was seven years old. Who would have thought that I would be in an award-winning Broadway production twenty years later?

• autobiography

• biography

• legend

• myth

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

Struggle

My soul is like the oar that momentarily,

Dies in a desperate stress beneath the wave;

Then glitters out again and sweeps the sea,

Each second I’m newly born from some new grave.

• drama

• narrative essay

• persuasive essay

• poetry

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Booth thought that Lincoln had caused the South to lose the war. Booth got away by jumping from the balcony, injuring himself in the process.

• drama

• nonfiction

• persuasive essay

• persuasive essay

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

The moon station had been bombarded by asteroids all day. Much damage had been done to the lunar gardens. I climbed into my jetpack and flew over to see what I could.

• contemporary fiction

• drama

• myth

• science fiction

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

Johnny Appleseed traveled from town to town planting thousands of orchards across the Ohio River River Valley, and giving away thousands of apple seeds. You could tell it was him by the cook pot he wore on his head. Everywhere he went apple trees sprouted up from his footsteps.

• drama

• nonfiction

• personal essay

• tall tale

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

• fable

• legend

• myth

• poetry

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

KATHY: (excitedly) My boyfriend is coming home on leave from the Army.

LYNN: That is wonderful. When does he arrive?

KATHY: He'll be here tomorrow on the afternoon bus. I'm going home now to tell my mother. (walks off stage right)

• drama

• narrative essay

• persuasive essay

• poetry

Mystery, fantasy, fable, biography, drama, personal essay, and folktale are all

examples of

• chapter books

• genres

• nonfiction

• picture books

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

Frederick Douglass was a slave who escaped from Maryland. He eventually raised enough money to buy his freedom. After settling in Rochester, New York, he published the anti-slavery newspaper called The North Star.

• autobiography

• biography

• narrative essay

• personal essay

Read this passage, and then decide what genre of fiction or nonfiction it is.

The angry forest gods sent thousands of elephants to drink the ocean dry, leaving ships on the muddy bottom. And that is why our elephants are so large.

• myth

• nonfiction

• speech

• science fiction