Informational texts, complex fantasy, realistic fiction, traditional literature (folktales), biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, mysteries, historical fiction , short stories, genre combinations, diaries • Variety of structures often combined in complex ways (description, comparison and contrast, temporal sequence, problem and solution, etc.) • Topics that go well beyond readers’ personal experiences and content knowledge • Content particularly appealing to adolescents • Many themes presenting mature issues and the problems of society (racism, war) with alternate interpretations  • Many texts focusing on human problems (war, hardship, economic issues) • Texts requiring inference to understand characters and why they change • Some literary devices (for example, stories within stories, symbolism, and figurative language • Fantasy and science fiction showing struggle between good and evil • Some words from languages other than English • Long, multisyllable words requiring attention to roots to read and understand • A wide variety of complex graphics that require interpretation (photos with legends, diagrams, labels, cutaways, graphics, maps)

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