Often, when figuring out the best book to suggest to a patron, the first question that we ask is, "Do you prefer reading fiction or nonfiction?" For a child just starting on the path of early literacy, however, this question may not be easy to answer if they do not know the difference between the two. As literary genres (categories), the labeling of a book as either fiction or nonfiction provides us with important information about its structure. If a book is classified as nonfiction, it means that the person, place, or thing that the author writes about is real. On the other hand, a work of fiction is when the author writes about people or places that are either partially or completely made up.
Fiction, with its fantastical worlds and heroic characters, is a great place to start when introducing your children to reading! But children's fiction is a huge genre that encompasses books of many different forms. The purpose of this guide is to provide you and your children with information on all of the great works of fiction available in the Children's Department and how to find them. This first tab begins with an overview of how our collection is cataloged, where fiction titles can be found in the room, and which subgenres are available. The subsequent tabs dive into the various levels of fiction available, along with some suggested titles that we think you and your children will love!
Genre
The genre of a book is the specific literary category that it falls in, meaning what type of book it is. The two main genres represented in the Children's collection are Fiction and Nonfiction. Knowing your child's preference regarding reading fiction versus nonfiction is the first step to picking out books they will like the next time you visit the library!
Subgenre
However, with over 35,000 books in the children's collection alone, knowledge of what subgenres your child likes can further help when trying to find the right book to read. A subgenre is a small subset of a genre based on specific literary conventions. Some of the most popular subgenres in our fiction collection are,
Adventure
Realistic
Fantasy/Science (Sci-Fi)
Historical
Horror
There are five areas in the children's room where fiction titles can be shelved based on the reading level of the title and its physical characteristics. The first, and largest, of these is the "Fiction Chapterbook Section," which is located directly in front of the circulation desk. This section is where children in grades 3 through 7 can find books at their reading level. Similar to the picturebook area, the books found in this section are shelved in alphabetical order by the author's last name, with each shelf being labeled with its corresponding letter. All of the call numbers in this area begin with "JFIC" to indicate that they are a juvenile fiction title, which is then followed by the first three letters of the author's last name.
Example: The title "The Night Diary," by Veera Hiranandani would have the following call number,
JFIC
HIR
The Night Diary by The 4 paperback book racks in the children's department are located in various locations throughout the room in conjunction with the reading level shelved on them. Paperback racks 1 and 2 are found in the picturebook section when you first walk into the room. These first two racks are where titles at the levels of pre-k to early grade 3 can be found. Starting with 1, this is where you can find picturebooks. Next, rack 2 is where the beginner chapter books are shelved which is where popular series like, "The Magic Treehouse," are found.
Paperback racks 3 and 4 are located at the opposite end of the room in the nonfiction section. This is where you will find books reading levels for grades 3 through 7. These racks tend to include trade paperback copies of popular fiction titles. Displays of new materials for these sections can be found on the table next to the racks.
All call numbers in the Children's Department, regardless of if they are fiction or nonfiction, start with the letter "J" for juvenile. This is to make it easy for both patrons and staff to know what materials are for children and what are for adults. So, if you see a "J" you are in the right place! For the department's fiction collection, 5 different call numbers indicate both the item's reading level and location in the room.
JFIC: For any hardcover/standard paperback work of fiction.
JPB-1: Paperback picturebooks
JPB-2: Paperback beginner chapter books
JPB-3/4: Trade paperback copies of popular fiction titles
E/JPB Easy: Hardcover and paperback Early Readers.
When looking for books in our online catalog, you may have noticed the inclusion of a Lexile score for children's books. A Lexile score serves two purposes, to measure how difficult the text itself is and also to show what reading level a child is at.
What are all these JPBs?
When you have visited the Children's Room you may have noticed that all of the books classified as fiction in our collection are not all shelved in the designated "Fiction Section, or that they have slightly different call numbers. If the call number starts with "JPB" that means that the title you are looking for is a paperback edition. In the children's collection, there are 4 JPB call numbers. These numbers are used to indicate both the reading level of the item with 1 being the earliest and, also, its location in the room.
Example: A paperback edition of "Bluey Barky Boats," would have the following call number,
JPB-1
BLU
Bluey: Barky Boats by