Book Talk: Books with Different Points of View

I just finished reading Schooled by Gordon Korman (by the way, his books catapault me right back to school when I was reading Macdonald Hall books) and really enjoying how the story was told from multiple points of view. As the story of a boy who'd barely ever left his 60's era hippy comume, it would have been quite difficult to just read the main character's pov, so I felt it particularly worked there.

It made me think of the other books I've read with multiple points of view. I remember when I was a kid and read Baby-Sitter's Club books, I always liked the Super Specials, which were told from the perspectives of the girls, and sometimes even other people around them. Even the regular books had the baby-sitting chapters, which let you know there may be more than one side to the story.

Recently I've read Every Soul a Star and Leap Day by Wendy Mass. Every Soul a Star is told from three points of view, as three lives intertwine and are changed forever. Leap Day starts with an A chapter, telling the story from Josie's point of view and a B chapter which tells you the stories of the people around her. The School Story by Andrew Clements and Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes, are also examples of books where we see different points of view.

Discussing point of view can be really interesting with the students. We start to become more thoughtful about the main characters, wondering whether we're really getting the whole story. There's scope for discussion here, for wondering about how the story would change if it was told from another character's point of view. Personally, I would love Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows completely from Snape's point of view :)

Find more book talks here