Welcome to Day 10 of 40 craft lessons from 40 picture books.
Choosing the best Point of View (POV) for a story is one of the trickiest decisions writers have to make. Many confuse the narrator with POV, so let’s start there. The narrator is the entity telling the story: a character, an object, an imaginary creature, or even a god-like voice outside the story world. POV, on the other hand, is the vantage point, the camera angle, the place where the reader “stands” to experience the events. What the narrator knows, sees, and feels defines the POV.
The third-person POV (“she,” “her”) is the most common in literature, but it is not the only option. First-person POV (“I,” “me”) can be a powerful choice for stories that we want the reader to feel like they’re inside the character’s head, for example, memoirs
In I Need My Monster (2009, Amanda Noll, Howard McWilliam) , Ethan discovers that his under-the-bed monster, Gabe, is gone.
This book is written in first-person POV. The tone is humorous; who would interview other monsters to fill the place of his old monster? But, the book could have in the same homor with third-person POV. So, why not third-person POV?
Many children Ethan’s age experience fear of the dark or nighttime monsters. Using first-person POV lets young readers sit inside those feelings safely, from Ethan’s perspective. A third-person version of the story could still work, but it wouldn’t feel quite the same. First-person makes the fear more relatable, and Ethan’s problem more personal.
POV is not just a technical choice, and there is no absolute right or wrong answer. It’s part of the storyteller’s craft—fine-tuning the level of intimacy between the character and the reader. Selecting a POV shapes how readers connect with the story. Sometimes you may even need to rewrite a manuscript in a different POV and compare the results to discover which version truly serves the story.
I hope reading this blog post has given you new ideas. See you tomorrow for Day 11.
