Characters play an important part in making a story interesting. Characters are the people or animals in a story. The main character is who the story is mostly about. Characters are important because they are what the story is about.
You can learn all kinds of things about characters as you read. You can learn about what they do and what they say. You can learn about the things that happen to them. You can even learn about what they think and how they feel.
Student responses will vary. Acceptable answers include:
Paula and Sammy
Paula is quiet and shy. Her best friend, Sammy, is silly and loud. Sammy sings and dances everywhere he goes. Everyone who sees him stops to stare, but Sammy does not care. Paula thinks Sammy is silly. Paula is not silly. She tries not to be loud. She doesn't want people to stare. One day Paula and Sammy were eating lunch at the park. Sammy stood up and started singing very loudly. Paula said, "Shhhh. People will stare." Sammy laughed. "I don't care. Singing is fun. You should give it a try." Paula blushed. She would not try it. She did not want to look silly. A few minutes later, some people walked by. They saw Sammy and smiled. Then they began singing, too. Paula watched them. They were having such fun. Paula wanted to have fun, too. She took a deep breath, and then started to sing. She sang quietly at first. Then she sang louder and louder. Soon she was the loudest singer of all. "You're right, Sammy!" Paula cried. "Singing is so much fun!"