FICTION OR

NONFICTION?

An HCA Library Workshop Presentation

Stories?Informati

on?What’s the difference?

We read many, many different books.

All of the books we read can be sorted into

two groups.

Fiction Nonfiction

What is the difference

between fiction and nonfiction

books

Fiction books are books that tell a story.

Fiction books tell made-up, make-believe stories that

are not real.

Fiction books are written to entertain.

The opposite of fiction books are nonfiction

books.

They give you facts about something,

leaves

roots

and are written to explain and give you information.

If you are reading a

story about making

friends with a unicorn,

it is a made-up, make-believe story because

there is no such animal.

It is fiction!

It is entertaining you.

it is fiction because

you know that cows

can’t really

jump over the

moon!

If you are

reading about a cow that jumped over the moon,

it is nonfiction because

it is explaining the facts

of milking a cow. It is giving you

information.

If you are

reading about how a farmer milks a

cow,

it is nonfiction because

it is giving you informati

on.

If you are reading

about how and why a

bee gathers nectar from

a flower,

These are the differences between fiction and nonfiction books:

Fiction Nonfiction

FictionMake-believe

stories

FictionMake-believe

storiesEntertain you

FictionMake-believe

storiesEntertain you

Not real

NonfictionTrue

information

NonfictionTrue

informationFacts

NonfictionTrue

informationFacts

Explain

Now it’s time to practice deciding if a book is fiction

(not real) or nonfiction (real). Return to your

Library Workshop page and click on the gnome.The End!