Contempoary Realistic Fiction

Contemporary Realistic Fiction is fiction that is plausible and could actually happen, set in the present day.  The characters are realistic and they face realistic problems.  Many children and adults alike enjoy contemporary realistic fiction because often the characters face problems similar to problems that they have faced in real life.

There are different subgenres within contemporary realistic fiction.  These include adventure, survival, mysteries, animal stories (as in ones that do not contain talking animals), sports, comedy and romance.  The themes found in realistic fiction include coming-of-age stories, relationships with peers and family and current issues.  Current issues includes things like drug use, violence, war, and cultural dislocation or being bicultural.  Obviously, some of these themes can be controversial so many of these books are often found on the "banned books list."

Historical fiction is closely related to contemporary realistic fiction.  Many books that are now considered historical fiction now, started out as contemporary realistic fiction are now considered historical fiction because of the age of the book.  There is no set guideline as to how old a book needs to be to shift from contemporary to historical fiction so it is subject to debate.  I suspect the older books from the 1960s and 70s will be re-categorized as "historical fiction" in the next few decades.

- Information taken from Galda and Cullinan's  Literature and the Child. 

Newbery books that are contemporary realistic fiction:

• The Crossover - Kwame Alexander (2015)
• Doll Bones  - Holly Black (2014)*
• The Year of Billy Miller - Kevin Henkes (2014)
• Three Times Lucky - Shiela Turnage (2013)
• After Tupac & D Foster - Jacqueline Woodson (2009)
• Feathers - Jacqueline Woodson (2008)
• The Higher Power of Lucky - Susan Patron (2007)
• Rules - Cynthia Lord (2007)
• Criss Cross - Lynne Rae Perkins (2006)
• Olive's Ocean - Kevin Henkes (2004)
• Pictures of Hollis Woods - Patricia Reilly Giff (2003)
• Hoot - Carl Hiaasen (2003)
• A Corner of the Universe - Ann M. Martin (2003)
• Surviving the Applewhites - Stephanie S. Tolan (2003)
• Hope Was Here - Joan Bauer (2001)
• Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate DiCamillo (2001)
• Joey Pigza Loses Control - Jack Gantos (2001)
• The Wanderer - Sharon Creech (2001)
• Getting Near to Baby - Audrey Couloumbis (2000)
• Lily's Crossing - Patricia Reilly Giff (1998)
• Wringer - Jerry Spinelli (1998)
• The View from Saturday - E.L. Konigsburg (1997)
• Belle Prater's Boy - Ruth White (1997)
• What Jamie Saw - Carolyn Coman (1996)
• Walk Two Moons - Sharon Creech (1995)
• Missing May - Cynthia Rylant (1993)
• What Hearts - Bruch Brooks (1993)
• Somewhere in the Darkness - Walter Dean Myers (1993)
• Shiloh - Phyllis Reynolds (1992)
• Nothing But the Truth: A Documentary Novel - Avi (1992)
• Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli (1991)
• Afternoon of the Elves - Janet Taylor Lisle (1990)
• Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind - Suzanne Fisher Staples (1990)
• The Winter Room - Gary Paulsen (1990)
• Scorpions - Walter Dean Myers (1989)
• After the Rain - Norma Fox Mazer (1988)
• Hatchet - Gary Paulsen (1988)
• A Fine White Dust - Cynthia Rylant (1987)
• On My Honor - Marion Dane Bauer (1987) 
• Dogsong - Gary Paulsen (1986)
• Dear Mr. Henshaw - Beverly Cleary (1984)
• A Solitary Blue - Cynthia Voigt (1984)
• Dicey's Song - Cynthia Voigt (1983)
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Beverly Cleary (1982)
• Jacob Have I Loved - Katherine Paterson (1981)
• The Westing Game - Ellen Raskin (1979)
• The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson (1979)
• Bridge to Terebithia - Katherine Paterson (1978)
• Ramona and her Father - Beverly Cleary (1978)
• M.C. Higgins, the Great - Virginia Hamilton (1975)
• Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe - Bette Greene (1975)
• Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George (1973)
• The Planet of Junior Brown - Virginia Hamilton (1972)
• From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler - E.L. Konigsburg (1968)
• Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth - E.L Konigsburg (1968)
• Up a Road Slowly - Irene Hunt (1967)
• The Egypt Game - Zilpha Keatley Snyder (1968)
• My Side of the Mountain - Jean Craighead George (1960)

*Doll Bones is one of those books that rides the genre line.  It seems like it should be fantasy but from what I can tell, nothing supernatural actually happens in the book so I would say it's more realistic fiction than fantasy but it could easily be categorized as either.