Realistic Fiction

Realistic Fiction genre

Adventure On Thunder Island (Blue Kite Series)

In this book, children of the Ojibwa First Nation learn the stories of their culture by living them.Jessica takes a ride on her brother’s raft and is washed ashore on Thunder Island. Jack Waboose meets a troll in Colony Creek and trades a golden walnut for a Frisbee. Troy accepts a dare to catch birds on Pidgeon Bridge and gets trapped. Milton Whitehawk takes a walk in Ebony Forest and meets a mysterious girl who says that she’s his sister.These are the stories that you will read about in Adventure on Thunder Island, tales in which the supernatural is everywhere, and exciting events happen every day.

My Kokum Called Today

A telephone call from her grandmother has a young native girl in the city looking forward to visiting the reserve. In gentle, joyous ways we see how women — especially grandmothers — are often the spiritual glue when families are separated by long miles.

Little Voice (In The Same Boat Series, 4)

A young Ojibway girl, struggling over the fact that her father has died, spends a summer in the bush with her grandmother and finds her own identity and voice. Things have been hard for her family since her father’s accidental death in a logging accident, and Ray has been unable to express her grief. In school, the green eyes she inherited from her father are unusual for a child from an Ojibway background in a northern Ontario town and get her noticed in ways she doesn’t enjoy. At home, Ray believes that her mother, grieving herself and busy with Ray’s younger brother and sister, no longer needs her. Ray becomes so withdrawn that at times she hardly speaks. At the end of this beautiful and empowering story, which begins in 1978, the withdrawn green-eyed girl has found her voice and is not afraid to use it.

Skysisters

Two Ojibway sisters set off across the frozen north country to see the SkySpirits’ midnight dance. It isn’t easy for the younger sister to be silent, but gradually she begins to treasure the stillness and the wonderful experiences it brings. After an exhilarating walk and patient waiting, the girls are rewarded by the arrival of the SkySpirits — the Northern Lights — dancing and shimmering in the night sky. This powerful story, with its stunning illustrations, captures the chill of a northern night, the warmth of the family circle and the radiance of a child’s wonder.

Deron Goes to Nursery School

Deron Goes to Nusery School is a title in the First Experiences series, a vivid new series portraying young children’s very first experiences of nursery school, time with grandparents, and other events. The first time for anything can be daunting, and these books set out to familiarize children, through simple read-aloud words and beautiful photos, with what seems at first unfamiliar but will eventually become a routine part of everyday life. Set in and photographed in Ghana in West Africa, these beautiful books brilliantly capture these universal early childhood experiences from the relatively unusual and revealing perspective of a country in the developing world. In Deron Goes to Nusery School, Deron watches his mother make his new school clothes. The next day he goes with her to the school and meets his new teacher, who shows him around the school and introduces him to the other children. Playing, singing, writing, eating lunch, resting, and listening to a story are all part of Deron’s exciting first day, and at the end he can’t wait to go back tomorrow. Written and photographed by an award-winning author, this is a uniquely heart-warming book to share with all young children.

Grandma Comes to Stay

In Grandma Comes to Stay, three-year-old Stephanie helps her mother tidy up, go shopping at the market, and cook in preparation for Grandma’s stay. When she arrives, Grandma gives Stephanie a box of pencils and reads her favorite book. The next day she shows Stephanie how to tie a head-dress, and Stephanie shows Grandma how to kick a ball, play with dolls, and bang a drum. At bedtime Grandma tells her a wonderful story, and when Grandma leaves the next morning Stephanie says, “Come back soon, Grandma!” Written and photographed by an award-winning author, this is a uniquely heartwarming book to share with all young children.

A Song for Jamela

The summer holidays are here and Jamela is bored as a girl can be! All she can think about is the Afro-Idols TV final, so when she lands a job at Divine Braids hair salon, she can’t believe her eyes when Afro-Idols celebrity Miss Bambi Chaka Chaka arrives at the salon to be coiffed. But while Jamela’s idol dozes and Aunt Beauty designs her starry hairdo, a buzzy fly appears on the scene and threatens to ruin everything.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 3.

The Red Umbrella

The Red Umbrellais the moving tale of a 14-year-old girl’s journey from Cuba to America as part of Operation Pedro Pan-an organized exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, whose parents sent them away to escape Fidel Castro’s revolution. In 1961, two years after the Communist revolution, Lucecita Aacute lvarez still leads a carefree life, dreaming of parties and her first crush. But when the soldiers come to her sleepy Cuban town, everything begins to change. Freedoms are stripped away. Neighbors disappear. Her friends feel like strangers. And her family is being watched. As the revolution’s impact becomes more oppressive, Lucecita’s parents make the heart-wrenching decision to send her and her little brother to the United States-on their own. Suddenly plunked down in Nebraska with well-meaning strangers, Lucecita struggles to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new way of life. But what of her old life? Will sheeve see her home or her parents again? And if she does, will she still be the same girl?   The Red Umbrellas a moving story of country, culture, family, and the true meaning of home.

Yasmin’s Hammer

A young Bangladeshi girl who helps support her family by working in a brickyard finds a way to make her dream of going to school and learning to read a reality.

Click here to read the Worlds of Words review.

This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.