A question for your kids: Do they prefer books in 1st or 3rd person?

Parentberries
1

I was thinking of writing children’s chapter books, but I don’t know if they should be in 1st or 3rd person. If you have a child that reads chapter books, could you please ask them about their favorite books, or ask them if they prefer 1st or 3rd person?

1st person = The narrator is a character in the story, such as “I won the prize”
3rd person = The narrator isn’t involved in the story, such as “Katrina won the prize”

The main characters are in 5th grade, so the ideal readers would probably be ages 8 through 10.

2

when i was younger i preferred first person because i have a super overactive imagination and i loved imagining that i was the main character, but honestly both are really good. for example, the harry potter books are all in third person.

i think it just depends on how exciting the story is for children rather than the perspective it is written from!

1 Like
3

when i was younger i definitely preferred 1st person as it allowed me to see myself in the story in a way. it does depend though, some stories wouldn’t really work in the 1st person (for example if you want to focus on multiple different people - switching pov can be confusing), and some stories don’t really work in 3rd person (like if you want to show a character’s deep feelings).

4

I don’t have kids that age but I do work with elementary aged kids and I want to say most of the favorites are first person.

5

[name_f]My[/name_f] oldest son is 6 but can easily read books meant for children aged 8-9. He generally prefers 1st person.

I can’t really remember what I preferred myself when I was his age, but I think it was third person. Either is fine, I believe :slightly_smiling_face:

6

[name_f]My[/name_f] son prefers third person. He is 7.

7

I preferred 3rd person usually as a kid (and now). But I read first person too if the premise is interesting enough!

8

I remember distinctly telling my parents as a child that I would only read books that were in 1st person.

10

I asked my little sister that is around that age and she said she doesn’t care but her favourite books tend to be in 3rd person.