Picture Books for Teaching Point of View

Using picture books for teaching point of view helps your student identify different perspectives more easily because of their short nature and illustrations. The book list is separated into 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person books.

Why Use Picture Books for Teaching Point of View?

Picture books are a great way to teach point of view because of their short nature and the illustrations.

Reading a full story in one sitting gives time for your students to digest and analyse the clues that will help them independently identify the point of view. Using picture books to teach point of view makes it easier to:

identify the connection between the narrator and story events.
determine if the narrator is a part of the story or not.
analyse text to determine from what point of view the story is told.
show stories can be told differently depending on who is telling the story, including bias.

Difference Between Point of View and Perspective

Perspective: the viewpoint through which the story is told, including the thoughts, feelings and actions of characters. Perspectives in a book can include:

The perspective of different sides of a story
Hearing a different perspective of a familiar story
Different cultures and economic backgrounds
The Perspective of authors
The perspective of an unexpected character

Point of view: A book is told through a point of view and focuses on who the narrator of the story is. Different types of points of view include:

1st person: The main character tells the story.
Keywords: I, me, we, my, us, mine, ours, our

2nd person: The author puts the reader into the story, with events happening to them.
Keywords: you, your, yours

3rd person: The narrator is not a part of the story. They are usually some kind of all-knowing and all-seeing presence telling the story about others.
Keywords: names, he, she, his, her, they, them, their, theirs

Questions to Use With Picture Books for Teaching Point of View

Who is the narrator? How do you know?
Which character is narrating? How do you know?
How does the narrator feel about what is going on in the story?
Is the narrator all-knowing and all-seeing about what is happening?
Which part of the first page shows the book’s point of view?
How can you identify the 1st/2nd/3rd person point of view?
What is the difference between the 1st/2nd/3rd person point of view?
How does a 1st/2nd/3rd person narration affect the story?
Does the author/narrator state facts or opinions? How can you tell?
Can you trust the author/narrator point of view? Explain your answer.
How does the narrator feel about……?
Do you agree with the author’s/narrator’s point of view? Why or why not?
If the author wrote this book from a different viewpoint, what would change?
How would the book change if told from the point of view of a different character?
Can a book character also be a narrator?
Why might a narrator be biased in their telling of the story?

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