Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Contemporary realistic fiction is defined by our text , Literature and the Child Ninth Edition as “Realistic fiction that has a strong sense of reality. Its plausible stories are about people and events that could actually happen.” “The characters often seem like people we know and the plots consist of events and actions that can and do occur in everyday life.” I found this to be true of the book, The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt.

 The Summer I Learned to Fly is about a girl names Drew Robin Solo also known to her mother as Birdie. The characters consist of Birdie, her mom- who owns a cheese shop, Nick who works at the cheese shop, Swoozie who works at the cheese shop and Emmet Crane. The book is set in California between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The book is written in first person by an eighteen -year old Birdie recounting her thirteenth summer. Birdie tells the story of how she made her first true friend and her first crush. Birdie helps her mom by working in the cheese shop where she meets Nick. Nick has shaggy, blonde hair and loves to surf. He has a green vespa and has been on his own since he was sixteen. He always makes time for Birdie and Birdie is smitten. Swoozie also works in the cheese shop. She is like a surrogate aunt to Birdie.

 Birdie has always been cautious and listened to her mom. It is just the two of them. Birdie’s father died when she was three. One day, Birdie finds a notebook that her father wrote before he died. It contains things he liked, didn’t like and the things he wanted to do with his daughter one day. The notebook changes something in Birdie. She wants to know more about her father but can’t ask her mother because it makes her mom too sad. Birdie is on a quest to know more about her dad when she meets Emmet Crane. Unbeknownst to her, Emmet has run away from home and is eating the day -old food that Birdie puts out each night that cannot be sold. Emmet is on his own quest. He has a sick brother named David. Emmet believes that he can cure David if he can jump into the hot springs a few hours away. Birdie wants to accompany Emmet on his journey to help not only Emmet but Nick. Nick was riding his vespa too fast and hit a tree. The accident caused him to lose his leg. Birdie is heart sick over this development.

The two young teenagers leave in the middle of the night to find the hot springs. After many hours, Emmet and Birdie find the hot springs and jump in. Unfortunately, the hot springs do not cure David or Nick. Birdie is still looking for answers about her father. However Birdie learned to fly and find solace when she tried to help Emmet and Nick.

This is a story of a girl who put others before herself in order to help them. This act helps to heal the hole in her heart from her father dying. Emmet and Birdie end up healing each other through helping each other.

The Boy with Big, Big Feelings

The Boy with Big, Big Feelings written by Britney Winn Lee and illustrated by Jacob Souva is a realistic fiction picture book. It is told in second person. There is art on each page including the cover pages. The art helps describe the words in the story and the words describe the art. The words and the pictures work together to tell the story. The boys feelings are drawn as watercolors while the boy is drawn traditionally. It brings the eye to the boy’s feelings and shows just how important his feelings and the intensity of those feelings are. The Boy with Big, Big Feelings  is about a boy who feels all of his feelings very strongly. He feels that this makes him different. He feels alone until he meets a girl who also has big feelings. They become friends. Soon, the two kids find others with big feelings and make more friends. The two kids own their truth. They don’t change to make friends. They simply find others like them. They are happy with themselves and now have the bonus of having friends who have big feelings as well.