1. C HARACTERS : The people or animals featured in a story

2. C HARACTERS - The subjects involved in the story; who the story is about Common Types/Labels: - “Flat” Characters: not much too them; simple actions, stereotypes - “Round” Characters: well developed; have their own true-to-life personalities - “Static” Characters: Characters that don't change throughout the course of the story - “Dynamic” Characters: Characters that DO experience a change during the story - Protagonist: The “hero” of the story; the character that the story focuses on - Antagonist: The “villain” - the character that is causing problems for the protagonist

3. C HARACTER D EVELOPMENT Character Development: How the author builds or creates a character that is interesting to readers Influenced by: - Appearance - How the character looks, dresses, walks, talks, or presents him/herself to readers or other characters - Action - Things the character does; choices made, reactions to events in the story - Relationships - How the character interacts with other characters; how the character feels toward or describes him/herself or other characters * Good round characterization is built into EVERY part of the story – the setting, the social cimate, the time period, etc. etc.

4. A NALYZING A CHARACTER “Analyzing a character” means looking at the character’s actions, appearance, and relationships to understand more about him/her and the story. You can determine if the character is round or flat, static or dynamic, an antagonist or a protagonist. Analyzing a character will help you better understand the story’s conflict and plot, because you will see why the character does, says, or thinks certain things that influence the story

5. A NALYSIS P RACTICE Character: Spongebob What does Spongebob look like? What are some actions that show us what Spongebob is like? How does Spongebob relate to other characters? Based off of your answers to these questions, how would you describe the character Spongebob? Is he a flat or round character? Is he static or dynamic? Character: Liza from “Noodle Soup for Nincompoops” Appearance? Actions? Relationships? Even though we don’t know much about Liza’s appearance, can we still tell a lot about her from her actions and her relationships with Maggie and Harper? Is Liza a dynamic character? Why or why not?