YOU, ROCK! Playing With Point of View in Nonfiction Picture Book

By Chana Stiefel

Stuck on a manuscript? It might help to change your perspective. In other words, try playing with POV (Point of View). POV is the perspective from which your story is told (first, second, or third person). Changing the POV (say, from third to first person) can make all the difference in how readers relate to your characters and/or how they absorb the information and lessons you are trying to convey. It’s the difference between books titled ALL ABOUT ROCKS (3rd person POV), YOU, ROCK! (2nd person, I am claiming this title!), and I AM A ROCK (1st person). 

 

Why Is Point of View Important?

 

POV helps the reader understand the character’s feelings and actions. Each character in a story has their own perspective, so whoever is telling the story will impact the reader’s opinion and connection to the character and events. A quick reference guide:

 

Point of view	Key words	Impact
First person	I, we, me, us, mine, ours	The reader experiences the story directly through the narrator’s thoughts and feelings. st person personalizes the story, creates a more intimate connection, and can make big topics relatable.
Second person	You, your, yours	The narrator addresses the audience directly, creating a connection. 2nd person draws in the reader. The reassuring voice allows the child to see themselves in the story.
Third person	Names, he, she, him, her, it, they, them, theirs	The narrator is not part of the story. An all-knowing (i.e. omniscient) narrator tells the story about others. The reader gains insights to many characters’—or to one character’s (limited third person)—thoughts and feelings. 3rd person allows you to be bold creatively.

 

In this post, we’ll focus on picture books with first and second person POV. Let’s look at some mentor texts. 

 

The Power of First-Person POV

 

For years, I was working on a picture book biography about Captain Barrington Irving, who broke records as the youngest person and first Black man to fly solo around the world. I wrote the first several drafts in third person. The opening page read:

 

“As a little boy, Barrington Irving bugged his mom with big questions.

 

“How does a washing machine work?”

“Why is the sun so hot?”

“How do birds fly?”

He didn’t know that one day he too would soar like a seagull—high into the clouds.” 

The problem: An editor said the story felt distant, removed. Finally, after years of playing with it, I realized that I needed to tell Barrington’s story from his own first-person perspective. After all, it is Barrington’s story to tell. I also wanted to add another layer. When my children were young, they loved to play “airplane” by lining up chairs like the rows in a jet. Why not include “you,” the child reader, in the co-pilot seat? So I sprinkled in some second-person too, to make the story more interactive.

 

Here’s the revised opening that appears in Let's Fly, co-written by me and Barrington Irving, illustrated by Shamar Knight-Justice (PRH, 2025).*

 

“I’m a dream chaser. A solo flier. A world-record breaker. I’m Captain Barrington Irving. People said I’d never make my dreams come true. But I powered through. Want to know how? Buckle up!

 

Flight control…check! Fuel…check! Electric power on! Cockpit door locked. Start the engine. Ground control…ready for takeoff! Let’s fly!

 

As a reader, can you feel the difference?

 

Author Lesle’a Newman’s upcoming picture book Song of th Dead Sea Scrolls, illustrated by Vesper Stamper (Enchanted Lion, Fall 2026), is told in first person from the perspective of these ancient manuscripts. “In 2018, I was lucky enough to spend time at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where I was  shown actual pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Newman says. “As a poet, I always start a project with a question. In this case I wondered, what would it be like to spend thousands of years in a dark cave while history unfolded all around you? And so I wrote my book in the voices of the scrolls themselves to see what they had to say.”

 

Similarly, author Jilanne Hoffman wrote A River of Dust (Chronicle, 2023), about the global journey of dust from Africa that provides nutrients for the Amazon, in first person from the POV of dust.  “In my first draft of A River of Dust, third-person omniscient felt distant, like a travelogue,” she explains. “When I finally tried to write from the perspective of dust (thank you, Miranda Paul for suggesting!), I wrote several openings: quirky dust, sassy dust, silly dust, etc. before finally landing on regal, yet vulnerable, a fitting voice for a phenomenon of global importance.”

 

More great examples:

 

 

The Pull Toward Second-Person POV

 

For his upcoming picture book biography You Can Move Mountains, about painter Bob Ross, author Richard Ho chose to  tell the story in second person. Here are the opening lines: 

You start with a blank canvas.

Any size or shape will do.

Because the canvas is your world . . .

. . . and you’re the creator.

A bit later in the story:

The canvas beckons.

A limitless sky . . .

. . . and a waiting horizon.

Start filling it in.

 

“I knew from early on that I wanted to model the book after an episode of The Joy of Painting, Ross’ beloved show on PBS,” Ho says. “So much of the show's charm is in how Bob talks directly to the viewer, offering half-hour pep talks to encourage all of us to live an

artful life.”

 

Many SEL (Social Emotional Learning) picture books are also told in second person. For example, my next book, Awe!, illustrated by Susan Gal (coming from Scholastic 3/3/26) explores the benefits of experiencing this “Awesome, Wondrous, Empowering emotion.” I wrote in second person because I wanted to draw children in—to see themselves in the story and to feel inspired to search for awe every day.

Rebecca Gardyn Levington, author of many SEL books including Whatever Comes Tomorrow, about managing anxiety, notes that “picture books are meant to be read TO a child by a parent or caregiver. So, when books are written in second person, the parent/caregiver literally becomes the narrator of the book and therefore it feels, to the child, that the reassuring words are coming directly from their loved ones' mouths and being spoken TO them ("you") specifically, offering them even more connection and comfort.” 

 

 

 

Which POV Should You Choose?

 

Whichever POV you ultimately choose should be deliberate and intentional. The story should feel natural (not forced) and serve a purpose in taking your story to the next level. In the meantime, enjoy the process of playing with POV until you discover the best approach.

 

Try These Exercises

 

1. Review your favorite picture books. Determine what POV the author chose. What works? What doesn’t?
2. Reimagine those stories from a different POV. 
3. Apply this to your own manuscripts. Which POV makes your story shine? Creates the strongest connection with the reader? Has the most creative hook? 
4. Compare and contrast different picture books on the same topic told from different points of view. Which works best for you? Which will appeal most to children?

 

One final note: When switching POV, you might be wondering…is a story narrated by an inanimate object like the moon still nonfiction? Melissa Stewart has delved into this topic in her book 5 Kinds of Nonfiction, as well as in these posts: 

• What is creative nonfiction? 

• What is informational fiction?

 

I hope this post gives you a fresh new perspective on playing with POV! More resources are included below. Please let me know how it goes. And remember, YOU ROCK! 

 

*P.S. An author asked how co-authoring worked for Let's Fly. In other words, how do you co-write an autobiography told in first person? In short, I wrote the manuscript based on several interviews with Barrington Irving, as well as news articles, a trip log, and other resources. I also met Barrington for a tour of his airport in Florida. He read multiple drafts of the manuscript, offered feedback, and gave approval. 

 

Further Resources:

 

• Julie Hedlund is kindly offering my 12 x 12 webinar on POV from 2025 at 25% off: https://12x12challenge.com/chana25
• https://taralazar.com/2024/01/26/storystorm-2024-day-26/ 
• https://childrenslibrarylady.com/book-teaching-point-of-view/

 

 

About the Author: Chana Stiefel is the award-winning author of more than 30 books for children. Her nonfiction picture books include AWE! (Scholastic, 3-3-26), Let’s Fly!, Let Liberty Rise, and The Tower of Life, which received many honors, including the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Award and a Robert F. Sibert Honor. Chana’s most recent nonfiction middle grade is How Rude: Animals That Burp, Toot, Spit, and Screech to Survive. She loves to visit schools and libraries to share her passion for reading and writing with children. Chana is represented by Miranda Paul at Aevitas. Follow @chanastiefel on Instagram. Learn more at chanastiefel.com.