Welcome to Fiction and Narrative Texts!
Stories take us on incredible journeys. Whether we are exploring a mysterious forest, travelling back in time, or solving a playground mystery, stories let us experience different worlds and see life through someone else's eyes. In English, we call these made-up stories fiction or narrative texts.
In your Key Stage 2 reading test, you will read unseen fiction passages and answer questions about them. Don't worry if reading tests sometimes feel tricky! With a few handy detective tools, you can easily find the clues hidden inside any story.
Note: In this chapter, we focus on reading stories. Other chapters in this section cover non-fiction, figurative language, text structure, poetry, and fact versus opinion.
What is a Narrative Text?
A narrative is simply a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it is usually written to entertain, excite, or move the reader.
Across Key Stage 2, you will encounter a wide variety of fiction, including:
• Modern fiction: Stories written in recent times, often set in schools, modern towns, or imaginary contemporary worlds.
• Fiction from our literary heritage: Classic stories written in the past, which might use older-fashioned words and sentence patterns.
• Books from other cultures and traditions: Stories that introduce us to people, traditions, and settings from around the globe.
• Myths, legends, and traditional stories: Ancient tales of gods, heroes, magical beasts, and folklore passed down through generations.
Key Takeaway: Fiction texts come in many different flavours, but they all share the same goal: telling a story that brings characters and settings to life.
The Building Blocks of a Story
Every narrative text is built using four main ingredients: setting, characters, plot, and theme.
1. Setting (Time and Place)
The setting tells us where and when the story takes place. A setting can be a real place (like a busy London train station) or a fantasy world (like an enchanted mountain). The author carefully chooses words to build a specific atmosphere or mood, such as making a dark castle feel spooky or a sunny beach feel cheerful.
2. Characters (The People or Creatures)
Characters are the individuals in the story. Authors show us who characters are in two ways:
• Direct description: The author directly tells us what they look like or how they behave (e.g. "Martha was tall and rarely smiled.").
• Actions and dialogue: The author shows us their personality through what they say (using inverted commas for direct speech) and what they do.
3. Plot (What Happens)
The plot is the sequence of events. Most narratives follow a pattern:
• Introduction / Opening: Introduces the characters and setting.
• Build-up: Events start moving; excitement or tension begins to rise.
• Problem / Climax: A big challenge, danger, or mystery occurs.
• Resolution: The problem is sorted out, and the story comes to a satisfying close.
4. Themes and Conventions
A theme is the big, underlying idea or message in a story. Common themes in fiction include friendship, bravery, honesty, good versus evil, and overcoming fear. Conventions are familiar features we expect to see in certain types of stories (for example, magical helpers in traditional tales or a brave hero facing a monster in a myth).
Key Takeaway: Whenever you read a story, ask yourself: Where are we? Who is here? What is the problem? What lesson is the story teaching?
Key Reading Skills for Fiction
When you answer questions on a fiction text, you use several core reading skills assessed in the reading test. Let's break down the most important ones.
Skill 1: Retrieval (Finding Facts in the Text)
Retrieval means going into the text to find and record information that is directly stated. Think of yourself as an archivist looking for an exact file.
• How to do it: Look for key words in the question (such as a character's name or an object), find those words in the text, and read the sentence around them carefully.
• "Find and copy" questions: If a question asks you to "find and copy one word" or "find and copy a phrase", copy it exactly from the text without adding your own words or changing the spelling!
Skill 2: Inference (Reading Between the Lines)
Inference is the most important skill in Key Stage 2 reading! It means working out what the author is telling you without them saying it out loud. You become a detective collecting clues.
The Inference Equation:
Text Clue + What You Already Know = Your Inference
For example, if the text says: "Liam stood by the door, wringing his hands and chewing his lower lip as his teacher picked up the test papers."
The author does not say "Liam was nervous". But his actions (wringing hands, chewing lip) tell us clearly that Liam is anxious or worried about his test results!
In the reading test, you will often need to infer:
• Characters' feelings: How someone feels right now (e.g. terrified, proud, embarrassed).
• Characters' thoughts: What someone might be thinking.
• Characters' motives: Why someone does something (their reasons or intentions).
Skill 3: Summarising Main Ideas
To summarise means to pick out the main points of a paragraph or a whole passage in a few words, leaving out small, unimportant details. When asked to summarise, look at what the entire section is mostly about, rather than focusing on just one sentence.
Skill 4: Predicting What Happens Next
A prediction is a sensible guess about future events based on details that are stated (written directly) and implied (hinted at). A good prediction must always link back to evidence from the story!
Skill 5: Making Comparisons Within the Text
Sometimes you will be asked to compare things within the same story. For example:
• How does a character's behaviour change from the beginning to the end?
• How is one character's reaction different from another's?
Key Takeaway: Retrieval is finding what is on the page; inference is finding what is between the lines. Always use evidence from the text to prove your answer.
Mastering Question Formats in the Test
In the 50-mark English reading test, questions come in three main formats. Knowing how to tackle each one gives you a huge advantage.
1. Selected Response Questions
These require you to choose from given options. They include:
• Multiple choice: Ticking the correct box.
• Ranking and ordering: Numbering events from 1 to 5 to show the order in which they happened in the story.
• Matching: Drawing lines to match characters with their actions or feelings.
Top Tip for Ordering: Always go back to the text and locate all the events before numbering them! Do not rely solely on your memory, as events can happen in a surprising order.
2. Short Constructed Response Questions (1 mark)
These usually require a short answer of a few words or a "find and copy" task. Keep these answers concise and straight to the point.
3. Extended Constructed Response Questions (2 or 3 marks)
These questions ask you to explain an idea and justify it using evidence from the story. A brilliant way to answer these is using the P-E-E method:
• Point (P): Give your answer directly (e.g. "Arthur is terrified of the cave...").
• Evidence (E): Give a quote or detail from the text (e.g. "...because he trembles and takes two steps backwards...").
• Explanation (E): Explain how the evidence supports your point (e.g. "...which shows he is too frightened to go inside.").
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
• Pitfall 1: Relying on memory. Never guess! Even if you remember reading something, always glance back at the text to double-check the exact details.
• Pitfall 2: Copying too much in "find and copy". If the question asks for one word, writing a whole sentence will lose you the mark. Write only the single word requested.
• Pitfall 3: Giving your own wild ideas instead of evidence. If asked why a character was unhappy, don't invent your own reasons. Look for the reasons provided or hinted at in the text.
• Pitfall 4: Forgetting the 3-mark requirements. A 3-mark question needs a well-developed explanation with clear reference to the text. Writing just one short phrase will not earn full marks.
Quick Review Checklist
Before you tackle any fiction text, remind yourself of these key tools:
• Identify the setting, characters, and the main problem early on.
• Look for clues in characters' actions, speech, and body language to infer their feelings and motives.
• In "find and copy" tasks, copy the exact words with correct spelling.
• For 2-mark and 3-mark questions, remember to back up your answer with evidence from the passage!