Point of View in Stories

Stories can be told from different perspectives or "points of view." The point of view affects how close you feel to the characters and what information you can access as a reader.

First person point of view is when the story is told by a character in the story. You can spot this when you see pronouns like "I," "me," "we," or "our." This makes you feel like you're right inside the character's head!

Second person point of view speaks directly to you, the reader. It uses pronouns like "you" and "yours," making you feel like you're a character in the story. This point of view is less common but creates a very direct experience.

Third person point of view comes from someone outside the story looking in. It uses pronouns like "she," "he," "they," or "them." There are three different types of third person perspective that vary in how much information they reveal.

Try This! Next time you read a book, notice which pronouns are being used in the first few paragraphs. Can you identify which point of view the author is using?