Realistic Fiction

Realistic Fiction genre

Life, After

After a terrorist attack kills Dani’s aunt and unborn cousin, life in Argentina–private school, a boyfriend, a loving family–crumbles quickly. In order to escape a country that is sinking under their feet, Dani and her family move to the United States. It’s supposed to be a fresh start, but when you’re living in a cramped apartment and going to high school where all the classes are in another language–and not everyone is friendly–life in America is not all it’s cracked up to be. Dani misses her old friends, her life, Before. But then Dani meets a boy named Jon, who isn’t like all the other students. Through him, she becomes friends with Jessica, one of the popular girls, who is harboring a secret of her own. And then there’s Brian, the boy who makes Dani’s pulse race. In her new life, the one After, Dani learns how to heal and forgive. She finds the courage to say goodbye and allows herself to love and be loved again.

The Wolf

Sixteen-year-old Lucy, living in the shadow of her violent father, experiences a night of tenderness, danger, and revelation as she and Jake, her fifteen-year-old neighbor, search for a legendary wolf in the Australian outback.

Benjamin Dove

As an adult, Benjamin Dove looks back on a childhood summer that changed his life forever. A summer when his new friend Roland, seemingly descended from the knights of the past, encouraged him to stand up for himself and for those he loves. It was a summer when he and his friends formed the Order of the Red Dragon that gave them a sense of identity and purpose in their turbulent world; a summer when innocent childhood games were torn apart by an almost inevitable tragedy. Benjamin Dove is a brilliantly conceived work of fiction, tinged with both light and dark humor. Disturbing themes are explored, from bullying to child abuse to rivalry, yet there is always a sense of a child’s unbreakable spirit. Published to acclaim in 1992, Benjamin Dove has won several book awards, including the International Board on Books for Young People Award (the IBBY), The Icelandic Children’s Book Award, and the Reykjavik City Children’s Book Award. It has also been made into a feature length film of the same name, that went on to win awards at eight international film festivals. Benjamin Dove is a timeless story that explores such perennial and poignant themes that it is sure to become a modern-day classic. The New York Times calls it a “best-selling, distinguished children’s book.”

Candyfloss

When her mother plans to move to Australia with her new husband and baby, Floss must decide whether her loyalties lie with her mother or her father, while at the same time, her best friend begins to make fun of her and reject her.

Piano Piano

Marcolino hates practicing his scales on the piano, but feels he must because he is the reason his mother never became a grand pianist–until his grandfather lets them both in on a little secret.

Mixing It

Steve, a British high school student, and Fatimah, a devout Muslim and daughter of immigrants, must learn to overcome their community’s prejudices after a picture of Fatimah nursing Steven after a terrorist attack is featured in a national newspaper.

Dear Vincent

17 year old, Tara McClusky’s life is hard. She shares the care of her paralysed father with her domineering, difficult mother, forced to cut down on her hours at school to help support the family with a part-time rest home job. She’s very much alone, still grieving the loss of her older sister Van, who died five years before. Her only source of consolation is her obsession with art and painting in particular. Most especially she is enamoured with Vincent Van Gogh: she has read all his letters and finds many parallels between the tragic story of his life and her own. Luckily she meets the intelligent, kindly Professor Max Stockhamer (a Jewish refugee and philosopher) and his grandson Johannes, and their support is crucial to her ability to survive this turbulent time. The book tackles the difficult topic of suicide fearlessly, with a novel that’s not afraid to go to the dark places but which resolves its story beautifully.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume VI, Issue 3