You sit in front of a blank screen, ready to write. You've done your homework. You have your plot. You have your cast of characters. Now you're ready to tell the story, but who should do the telling? Most stories for children are written in either first person or third person point of view. Of course there are exceptions to every rule (didn't we learn that in English class?).

FIRST PERSON POV:

CLICK HERE (to find out how I survived seventh grade) by Denise Vega
Erin Swift tells the story of how she feels about going to a new school and being separated from her best friend. Erin's mother is a web designer, so Erin knows computers. Vega shows what Erin has written in her own personal private web where she puts down her feelings about classmates and life in general. First person viewpoint is right for this story as the reader identifies with Erin from the first sentence to the last.

LETTERS FROM RIFKA by Karen Hesse
Hesse tells the story of her family's migration from Russia to the United States in letters Rifka writes to cousin Tovah. A question often asked is how can we describe the character by using first person POV? If it's necessary to the story, we have to work it in somehow. Otherwise, let the reader use his/her imagination. Remember, show don't tell.

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE by Kate DiCamillo
Opal's mother left when Opal was three years old. Since she can't describe herself, she asks her father to tell her ten things about her mother. "She had red hair and freckles." "Just like me," I said. That's all we know about Opal's appearance, but it's enough.

A NORTHERN LIGHT by Jennifer Donnelly

"Mattie's Aunt Josie said, 'You're very levelheaded and you're probably thinking that attention from a boy like Royal Loomis is a bit more than a plain girl like you should expect.' I felt my face turn red. I know I have too many freckles and lank brown hair. Mama used to call it chestnut, but it's just plain brown like my eyes. I know that my hands are rough and knobby and my body is small and sturdy. I know I do not look like Belinda Becker or Martha Miller-all blond and pale and airy, with ribbons in their hair. I know all this and I do not need my aunt to remind me."

THIRD PERSON POV

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Paterson
Jess Aarons, the main character, wants to be the fastest runner in fifth grade.

"Leslie (the new girl in school) lined up beside him on the right. He moved a tiny bit to the left, but she didn't seem to notice.He felt it before he saws it. Someone was moving up. He automatically pumped harder. Then the shape was there in his sideways vision. Then suddenly pulling ahead."

Later, while Jess is visiting the Smithsonian with his music teacher, Leslie falls to her death in the creek. We don't see this, but Jess is told about it when he comes home. "He was all the way into the kitchen before he realized that something was wrong. Brenda's pouting voice broke in. 'Your girl friend's dead, and Momma thought you was dead, too.'"

The beginning of Chapter 7: "Mr. Burke had begun to repair the old Perkins place. After Christmas, Mrs. Burke was right in the middle of writing a book, so she wasn't available to help, which left Leslie the jobs of hunting and fetching." After quite a long explanation, the paragraph ends, "When she came home from school and on weekends, he wanted her around. Leslie explained all this to Jess." So although it appeared to jump out of third party viewpoint, Leslie explaining it to Jess makes sense.

THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS by Katherine Paterson
"Gilly had a vision of herself sailing around the living room of the foster home on her right foot like an ice skater. With her uplifted left foot she was shoving the next foster mother square in the mouth. She smacked her new supply of gum in satisfaction."

SECOND PERSON POV:

IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura Joffe Numeroff
"If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw" and so on.

"The Hobbyist" by Chris Lunch, found in a young adult anthology, ULTIMATE SPORTS, edited by Donald R. Gallo, is another example of second person viewpoint. "You were not born into physical greatness and all the love and worship and happiness that are guaranteed with it. But fortunately you were born American. So you can buy into it. You, you are a most dedicated hobbyist, paying for it all by shoveling snow/cutting grass and by working in, of course, a card shop."

Second person viewpoint is not often used in fiction because it's rather awkward. However, it can be used in non-fiction and especially crafts.

"Nature Note Cards" (my craft published in Shine Brightly, Summer 2004) You (implied) "Look around your yard for small flowers, leaves, ferns .."

"Puzzling Notes" by Mindy Alyse Weiss (Highlights, August 2008) "On card stock, (you) write a note to someone special. (You) Decorate the note."

MULTIPLE POV:

THE PIGMAN by Paul Zindel
In this YA story, Zindel alternates chapters between the first person voices of two high school sophomores, John and Lorraine.

Chapter 1 John POV - "Now I don't like school, which you might say is one of the factors that got us involved with this old guy we nicknamed the Pigman."

Chapter 2 Lorraine POV - "I should never have let John write the first chapter."

This works well for young adult and adult, especially mysteries, as it keeps the reader on the edge of the seat. Kids want to know and see the world through the eyes of the main character. Spinning from one person to another could leave your young reader so confused she'll toss the story aside.

MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAVE by Paula Danziger
The story opens with the Mummy Committee meeting for a school project. The kids decide to make a human mummy by wrapping one of them in plaster gauze. I couldn't decide who the main character is supposed to be. Unlike the stories mentioned above, we continually get into the minds of each character, separated by paragraphs rather than chapters. For example:

"Billy Kellerman keeps his (eyes) open and stares at the papers, wishing that he had x-ray vision."

"Matthew is getting sick of the way that she acts toward him in front of his friends but knows that if he says something, it will get worse."

"Brian Bruno stands on the porch wondering why he didn't join the Pyramid Committee instead."

"The other guys look at each other and think that it's time to change the subject."

"Amanda also sits quietly, hoping that no one she knows sees them."

CHARLOTTE'S WEB by E. B. White
White tells an interesting tale of Wilbur, the pig, letting us get into the mind of each animal and person.

"Fern took no notice of the others in the bus. She just sat and stared out of the window, thinking what a blissful world it was and how lucky she was to have entire charge of a pig."

"There are a lot of things Wilbur doesn't know about life, she (the goose) thought."

(Charlotte, the spider) "felt sure that if she thought long enough an idea would come to her mind."

OMNISCIENT POV:

HOLES by Louis Sachar
Written in third person viewpoint, we stay with Stanley Yelnats throughout the story. However, Sachar weaves in incidents that had happened years ago, which in the end ties the whole story together. Stanley does not know the history of Green Lake, so this would come under omniscient POV.

Referring back to MAKE LIKE A TREE AND LEAVE (multiple POV), "The other guys look at each other and think that it's time to change the subject." This could also be considered Omniscient POV as the author knows what each person is thinking at the same time.

Another example of omniscient viewpoint would be "Meanwhile, back on the farm, Grandma planned a surprise for Kelly." If the story is Kelly's, she doesn't know what Grandma had planned until she gets the surprise. Or "Snowmen lined the country road, but nobody in the car even noticed them." If nobody noticed them, they shouldn't have been mentioned unless the story has been told in omniscient viewpoint.

CHANGE OF VIEWPOINT:

Now that you're ready to write, take a moment to choose the best character to tell the story. Study a few children's books to see how different authors handled the problem.

If you're writing for a magazine, check the guidelines and read several copies of the magazine. Some prefer first person while others want only third person, although most accept both. If you can't decide which viewpoint to use, try writing it in several viewpoints. You'll know which is best.