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Literary Element - Point of View

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The action in a story is described from a particular point of view, either the author/illustrator's point of view or from the viewpoint of one or more of the characters.  When a story is told from the author's point of view, the author may include his or her thoughts about the characters or actions.  If the story is written from a character's point of view, we see the action through that character's eyes.  For example, in MEAN MARGARET, by Tor Seidler, Fred, a woodchuck, thinks Margaret, a human child, sounds like a moose in mating season and tries to feed her clover, insects and snails.  In MOONSTRUCK, THE TRUE STORY OF THE COW WHO JUMPED OVER THE MOON, by Gennifer Choldenko, we see the cow through a horse's eyes.  At first the horse thinks the cow is slow and clumsy but changes his mind when the cow actually does jump over the moon.  He advises Mother Goose to stop writing about cats and fiddles and concentrate on this fantastic and unbelievable cow.

This page was last updated on December 08, 2010.