Spin the wheel Classroom wheel spinner Book genre wheel
Spinning your way out of a reading rut
A genre is a shelf label: the kind of story a book promises before you open it. Mystery means a puzzle with clues, dystopian means a harsh future society, and narrative nonfiction is true stories told like a novel. Some of the 28 entries are broad, like fantasy, and some are narrower, like cozy mystery, which keeps the violence off the page and the tea on the table.
Book clubs use the wheel to settle the monthly pick without a vote that drags on. Teachers run reading challenges where each student spins at the start of the month and has to finish one book from that genre. Parents take it to the library on Saturday, and the child spins before heading to the shelves.
The list is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, and a few entries (romance, thriller, horror) are better suited to teens and adults. Remove those in Entries for an elementary class.
What's on this wheel
- Mystery
- Historical fiction
- Science fiction
- Fantasy
- Realistic fiction
- Graphic novel
- Biography
- Memoir
- Poetry
- Adventure
- Humor
- Horror
- Cozy mystery
- Dystopian
- Fairy tale retelling
- Sports story
- Survival story
- Animal story
- Folktales and myths
- Short stories
- Narrative nonfiction
- Science and nature
- How-to and crafts
- History
- Coming of age
- Romance
- Thriller
- Classic literature
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Using the wheel for a reading challenge
- Trim the list in Entries to match your group. A third-grade class may want only 12 genres, a book club all 28.
- Press Spin, write the genre on a bookmark or reading log, and pick a book from the library shelf or your own pile.
- After each finished book, use Remove from wheel to retire that genre. When the wheel is empty, you have read 28 kinds of books.
- Use the Results tab at the end of the term to see the order in which genres came up.
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Book genre questions
What is the difference between a genre and a sub-genre?
A genre is the big category, such as fiction or mystery. A sub-genre narrows it, like cozy mystery or historical mystery. Libraries and bookstores use both, so the wheel mixes them to give you wider choices.
Can I use this for a school reading log?
Yes. Many teachers ask for a certain number of genres per semester. Copy the genres from Entries onto a reading log and let students check off each one as they finish a book.
Which genres are good for a 9-year-old?
Adventure, humor, animal story, fantasy, graphic novel, folktales and myths, and science and nature are all solid choices at that age. Realistic fiction and mystery also work well from third grade.
What if I spin a genre I hate?
Give it one chapter, or pick the shortest book you can find. A short story collection or a graphic novel in that genre costs very little time and often changes people's minds.
How do I find a book in the genre I spin?
Ask a librarian for the top three in that genre for your age. Most public libraries also have genre stickers on the spines, so you can walk the shelves and look for the label.
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