![]() I had a librarian classify my 2013 novel, When the Butterflies Came as Fantasy. Often readers, including teachers and librarians get Magical Realism and the Fantasy genre mixed up. But those are not stories using Magical Realism in the Classic sense. I also read, and have read, widely in the paranormal, supernatural and dystopian genres. I love me some edgy, contemporary stories and read them a lot. This is not your average contemporary Young Adult novel or Middle-Grade story. Instead of looking at the story straight on, it makes the reader look at things in a whole different light-where the story bats its eyelashes and looks askance, perhaps almost coy-which can also help the reader understand the truths of the story in an entirely different way. That one element brings an edge or slant that doesn’t line up quite right with the real world. Magical Realism is added as an element, NOT in huge doses-but often that one magical realism element turns an otherwise regular story into something entirely different because it affects the characters and the plot in such a unique way. Up until that point, bookstores and libraries were filled with well-defined categories such as, “Contemporary” “Mystery”, “Romance”, “Western”, “Science-Fiction”, etc.Ī story where the author creates a very normal, regular world, populated with ordinary, regular people (no Vampires or Centaurs, Klingons or Doctor Octopus) but adding a touch-mind you, just a touch-of something surreal, fantastic or bizarre that turns the story upside down while staying very much grounded in our normal, regular world setting. Magical Realism was coined several decades ago, but began to be more widely used in the 1990s to describe a certain type of book that hadn’t been published very much before. You might even put ghosts into that category, as well as super-powers, or creatures raised from the dead zombies, the undead, etc. In today’s climate of publishing, especially the children’s and young adult realm where vampires, werewolves, fairies and mermaids have been the staple for a decade now, a reader might say that any book with a supernatural twist falls under the category of “magical realism”. Magical Realism added to a story brings to mind all sorts of delicious and unusual story twists, whether delightful, creepy, or just plain enchanting in a unique and unexpected way. Does your book qualify as middle-grade?.Turning Kids Into Bookworms: A Book List For Parents.Successful Author or Illustrator Visits.Schedule a Skype Visit with a Mixed-Up Files Author.Author Websites With Discussion/Activity Guides.
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