Realistic Fiction is a literary genre commonly seen in Children's Literature, and is one of that medium's most popular genres. The genre concerns realistic events happening to realistic people, in a world exactly like Real Life. (This means Slice of Life stories; if they contain aliens, time travelers, and ESPers, or wacky video game battles, they don't count.) A good example of a beloved realistic fiction children's author is Beverly Cleary.
While realistic fiction stories have a significant overlap with Slice of Life and Coming of Age tales, the label is never applied to Historical Fiction. (Which doesn't make that much sense, when you think about it, aren't all historical fiction stories that don't include Stupid Jetpack Hitler incredibly realistic?) Due to its prominence in Children's Literature, the vast majority of realistic fiction stories star young kids, with the odd teenager here and there (though those tend to be called Young Adult instead).
Due to the (lamented by the more pretentious) rise in supernatural / fantasy stories, even those that are otherwise down-to-earth, realistic fictional stories have become increasingly rare, and are almost unheard of in pop culture. (After all, what's more likely to referenced in the average sitcom...Star Wars, or Ramona Quimby? Exactly.) This could be tied to the tendency for popular culture fiction to be mostly focused on mindless entertainment and spectacle, while realistic fiction tends to focus on mundane problems and hard-hitting themes. (Though not always- see the aforementioned Ramona.)
Remember, before you add a series to this list, ask yourself: Does this work of fiction have anything impossible in Real Life in it? If so, then it doesn't belong here. Try Mundane Fantastic instead. Also, compare Lit Fic.
Examples of this genre:
- Afrotistic
- All-American Girl (Meg Cabot)
- All the Rage
- Almost Perfect
- Along for the Ride
- Ananda's Fall
- Ana on the Edge
- Anger Is a Gift
- Anything but Typical
- Are You Alone on Purpose?
- Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
- The Art of Being Normal
- Beautiful Music for Ugly Children
- Because of the Rabbit
- Because of Winn-Dixie
- Being Bindy
- Blubber
- Blue Avenger
- Blue Iguana
- Both Can Be True
- Boy Meets Boy
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Call Me Sunflower
- Came Back to Show You I Could Fly
- Can You See Me?
- The Catcher in the Rye
- Clémentine and its Sequel Series Waylon
- Colin Fischer
- Cookie
- Counting to D
- Dear Evan Hansen
- Dear Mr. Henshaw
- The Diamond Girls
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Don't Call Me Ishmael!
- Don't Hurt Laurie!
- Dunk
- The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things
- The Easy Part of Impossible
- Eleanor & Park
- The Ellen and Otis series
- Elliott & Win
- Everest (2002)
- Every Shiny Thing
- Everything, Everything
- Fangirl
- The Fault in Our Stars
- Fish in a Tree
- The Fort (2022)
- Freak the Mighty
- Frindle, and more generally, most stories by Andrew Clements.
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- The Fudge series.
- Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen!
- Girl, Fifteen, Charming But Insane
- The Goldfish Boy
- Gracefully Grayson
- Grass and Sky
- Hands Held in the Snow
- Harmonic Feedback
- Harriet the Spy
- Haze
- He Is Your Brother
- The Henry Huggins series.
- Hoot
- Hope Was Here
- How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life
- How to Fly with Broken Wings
- It's Kind of a Funny Story
- Julia's Kitchen
- Keeping You a Secret
- Kira☆Kira
- The Kissing Booth
- Let It Snow
- Lets Talk About Love
- Lily and Dunkin
- Linked
- Little Darlings
- Livvie Owen Lived Here
- Lola Rose
- Loser (2002)
- Losing Joe's Place
- Loveless
- Love Letters to the Dead
- A Mango-Shaped Space
- Maniac Magee
- The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family
- Marcelo in the Real World
- May the Best Man Win
- Mindblind
- My Life with the Liars
- Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
- No One Needed to Know
- The Nowhere Girls
- The October Child
- October October
- One-Third Nerd
- On the Spectrum
- Orange Clouds, Blue Sky
- The Other Boy
- Out of My Mind
- The Outsiders
- Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
- The Pants Project
- Paper Towns
- Peta Lyre's Rating Normal
- The Pigman
- The Pinballs
- Pinky and Rex
- Planet Earth Is Blue
- P.S. Longer Letter Later
- Puberty Blues
- Queens of Geek
- Rage: A Love Story
- Rain Reign
- Ramona Quimby
- Remember Dippy
- Restart
- Rogue
- Rules
- The Rules of Survival
- The Sky Is Everywhere
- Slug Days Stories
- Small as an Elephant
- Small Steps
- Social Queue
- Socks
- The Someday Birds
- Stargirl
- The State of Grace
- The Suitcase Kid
- The Summer I Turned Pretty
- Teeth
- Tell Me How You Really Feel
- There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
- Things I Should Have Known
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before
- Tornado Brain
- Turtles All the Way Down
- The Way You Are
- The Westing Game
- What to Say Next
- When Marnie Was There
- Wild Orchid
- Wish
- You Have a Match
- Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
