Character Development
Noticing how characters grow and change over a story, and figuring out what caused the change. It helps kids understand people, in books and in real life.
Authors show what a character is like through what they say, do and think, and how other characters react to them. The words we use to describe a character, like brave, stubborn, kind or jealous, are called character traits.
Character development is how a character changes from the beginning of the story to the end. Main characters usually learn something or grow, and noticing that change is often the key to understanding the whole book.
How to teach it at home
Three techniques you can use during any reading session.
- Describe, then prove. When a character does something important, ask your child for one word that describes them, like “brave” or “selfish,” and what the character did that shows it.
- Track the change. Every few chapters, ask how the main character is different now than at the beginning. A quick note on a bookmark makes it easy to look back.
- Ask what caused it. Characters usually change because of a problem, a mistake or another character. Asking “What made them change?” connects the character to what happens in the story.
Questions to ask
These work with almost any book.
- What word would you use to describe ___? What did they do that shows it?
- How is ___ different now than at the beginning of the book?
- What made ___ change their mind?
- How do the other characters feel about ___? Why?
- If you were ___, what would you have done?
- What do you think ___ learned by the end?
If your child gets stuck
- Flip back to the first chapter together and reread how the character was introduced.
- Start with actions before traits. “What did she do?” comes before “What kind of person is she?”
- Compare the character to someone your child knows, or to themselves.
- It’s fine if your child describes a character differently than you would, as long as they can point to what the character did.
Books for practicing character development
Each of these books has questions about how characters think, act and change.
Bud, Not Buddy
It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but he's on a mission. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: posters of Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky…
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Charlotte’s Web
Wilbur is the runt of a litter born to a pig on the farm of Fern Arable's father. When it is announced that her father is going to kill the pig, Fern rushes forth to save it, asking of her father: "If I had been…
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Dinosaurs Before Dark
Jack and Annie find a magic tree house that takes them to the place and time of the dinosaurs. They encounter different kinds of dinosaurs including a Tyrannosaurus rex and find a gold medallion with the letter M engraved on it.
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Mummies in the Morning
Jack and Annie find themselves in the desert near a great pyramid. They run into a ghost names Hutepi who has waited a thousand years to make her journey to the Next Life.
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The Sign of the Beaver
Until the day his father returns to their cabin in the Maine wilderness, 12-year-old Matt must try to survive on his own. During an attack by swarming bees, Matt is rescued by an Indian chief and his grandson. A Newbery Honor Book.
View book for The Sign of the BeaverExplore other reading skills
- Inference & Text Evidence Reading between the lines, then finding the page that proves it.
- Main Idea & Theme What the story is really about, and the lesson it leaves.
- Point of View Who is telling the story, and how that shapes what we see.
- Compare & Contrast Noticing how characters, places and events are alike and different.
- Vocabulary & Writing Prompts Word lists and writing ideas to go with the book.