WHAT IS A “CHARACTER”

In stories a character is the main person or thing, around which the story moves.

A character can be many different kinds of things:

A boy or girl

An animal

A toy

A star – or... anything!

But even if the character is not a person, it will think and act like a person.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The MAIN character is the hero of the story.They are good, and usually have some problem to overcome.Usually there is another character who is opposite the main character. This is the VILLAIN of the story.They are trouble-makers, and cause problems for the hero.Other characters in the story are MINOR characters, who help out either the hero or villain.

THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

Let’s look at the story of The Three Little Pigs:

Who would you say is the MAIN character?

Who is the VILLAIN?

Who are the MINORcharacters?

STORY AND CHARACTER

The third little pig is the main character because he’s the hero.

He’s the smartest of all the little pigs; he builds the only house that’s strong enough to keep the wolf out;

And, he’s more clever than the wolf, outwitting him several times.

The wolf, no matter how hard he tries, cannot win against the third little pig.

BAD & GOOD & GOOD & BAD

In fairy tales, wolves are almost always the villain.In Little Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb, The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf, as well as many other stories, the wolf is portrayed as vicious, cunning and dangerous.That’s because, when the stories were first thought up, the storytellers were farmers and shepherds.But what if you wrote a fairy tale where the wolf was the hero?

THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES

In the story we’re going to read next, author Eugene Trivizas and illustrator Helen Oxenbury decide to switch the heroes and villains in their unique fractured fairy tale: The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig!

Will it change the story? Will it make it better, or worse? Let’s find out!