Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction Texts

Fiction books and nonfiction books look different once you know what to look for. Fiction books tell stories with characters, a setting, and events that someone made up. Nonfiction books give true facts about real people, animals, or things. In this lesson, you will compare these two kinds of texts by looking at their text features, the special parts of a book that give you clues about what kind of text it is.

A fiction story usually has characters who talk, think, and solve a problem. It has a setting, which tells you where and when the story happens. It also has a plot, the order of events that happen from beginning to end. The pictures in a fiction book often show made-up things, like an animal wearing a hat or a child flying on a cloud.

When you open a fiction book, ask yourself, "Who are the characters, and what happens to them?" If you can answer that question, you are likely reading fiction.

A nonfiction book has different features because its job is to teach true facts. You might see a heading at the top of a page that tells you what that section is about. You might see a caption under a photo that explains what the photo shows. Many nonfiction books also have a table of contents at the front and a glossary at the back to help you find and understand information.

The pictures in a nonfiction book are usually real photographs or labeled diagrams, not made-up drawings. When you open a nonfiction book, ask yourself, "What facts is this page teaching me?"

Looking at the two kinds of texts next to each other makes the differences easier to see. The diagram below lines up a fiction feature with the matching nonfiction feature so you can compare them.

Every author writes a book for a purpose, a reason for writing it. An author who writes fiction usually wants to entertain you with a fun or exciting story. An author who writes nonfiction usually wants to inform you, which means teaching you true facts.

You can find the author's purpose by looking at the text features. A book full of headings, labeled diagrams, and a glossary was written to inform. A book full of characters having an adventure was written to entertain. Try this with the parent skill on Distinguishing Stories From Information Books to review how make-believe and real facts sound different when you read them aloud.

Fiction: A text with made-up characters and events that do not really happen.

Nonfiction: A text that gives true facts about real people, animals, or things.

Text Feature: A special part of a book, like a heading or a caption, that gives you information.

Heading: A short title at the top of a section that tells you what that part is about.

Caption: A sentence under a picture that explains what the picture shows.

Author's Purpose: The reason an author wrote a book, such as to entertain or to inform.

Pick two books, one fiction and one nonfiction, and place them side by side. Point to one text feature in each book and say what it tells you. Then try to name the author's purpose for each book: was it written to entertain you or to inform you?

Related lessons

• Distinguishing Stories From Information Books