Feelings in Stories

Core Idea

Characters in stories have feelings just like you do -- they can feel happy, sad, scared, angry, excited, or surprised. You can often tell how a character feels by looking at the pictures or listening to what happens to them. Noticing feelings in stories helps you understand why characters do what they do and helps you think about your own feelings too.

How It's Best Learned

While hearing a story, pause and ask: How does the character feel right now? How can you tell? Look at the character's face in the pictures. Think about a time you felt the same way. Act out different feelings with your face and body.

Common Misconceptions

• Thinking characters only feel one way through the whole story; feelings often change as the story moves along.
• Believing you can only tell how characters feel if the words say so; pictures, actions, and what happens all give clues.
• Assuming your feelings about the story have to match the character's feelings; you might feel happy when a character feels nervous, and that is okay.

Explainer

Characters in stories have feelings -- emotions and moods just like you do. They can feel happy, sad, scared, angry, excited, surprised, and many other ways. When you read a story, one important thing to notice is what the character feels at different times in the story.

How can you figure out how a character feels? Look at the pictures. Does the character have a smile or a frown? Are their eyes wide open or squeezed shut? The character's face tells you a lot. Also, watch what the character does. If they run away, they might feel scared. If they jump and clap, they might feel excited. And listen to what happens to them. If something bad happens, the character probably feels sad or worried.

Here is something important: characters' feelings change. At the beginning of a story, a character might feel scared. In the middle, they might feel brave. At the end, they might feel happy and proud. That is what makes stories interesting! Characters grow and their feelings change as things happen.

When you notice how characters feel, you understand their actions better. You can think, "Oh, the character did that because they felt scared," or "The character did that because they wanted to help someone they love." Understanding feelings helps you understand the whole story.

One more thing: your feelings do not have to match the character's feelings. You might feel happy and giggly reading about a character who is nervous. You might feel worried while enjoying a funny story. That is completely okay! You and the character can feel different ways about the same thing, and that is part of what makes stories fun and interesting.