Name: ___________________________ Per: _____ Date: ________________

Point-of-View Practice #2

DIRECTIONS: Read each of the following excerpts. Then, determine whether each is written from
first person, third person limited, or third person omniscient point of view.

1. From “The Higher Power of Lucky” by Susan Patron

Lucky Trimble crouched in a wedge of shade behind the Dumpster. Her ear near a hole in the paint-
chipped wall of Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, she listened as
Short Sammy told the story of how he hit rock bottom. How he quit drinking and found his Higher
Power. Short Sammy's story, of all the rock-bottom stories Lucky had heard at twelve-step
anonymous meetings -- alcoholics, gamblers, smokers, and overeaters -- was still her favorite.
Point of View? _________________________________

2. From “Willow Run” by Patricia Giff

The wheels made a horrible sound; no wonder. The wagon belonged to Joey Kind down the block,
who hadn't used it in years; the whole thing was a rusted mess. And the nerve of Joey to say, "You be
careful, Meggie Dillon. Don't ruin it." Too bad, I wanted to tell him, keep your old wagon. But I had to
borrow it. It was all for the war effort. And right now rattling along in the center of the wagon was Big
Bertha, Mom's iron statue that had a clock in her stomach. She'd been rusting away in the attic
forever, just like Joey's wagon.
Point of View? _________________________________

3. From “The New Policeman” by Kate Thompson

J.J. Liddy and his best friend, Jimmy Dowling, often had arguments. J.J. never took them seriously. He
even considered them a sign of the strength of the friendship, because they always made up again
straightaway, unlike some of the girls in school, who got into major possessive battles with one
another. But on that day in early September, during the first week that they were back in school, they
had an argument like none before.
Point of View? _________________________________

4. From “I, Coriander” by Sally Gardner

It is night, and our old house by the river is finally quiet. The baby has stopped its crying and been
soothed back to sleep. Only the gentle lapping of the River Thames can be heard outside my window.
London is wrapped in a deep sleep, waiting for the watchman to call in the new day. I have lit the
first of seven candles to write my story by. On the table next to me is the silk purse that holds my
mother's pearls and beside it is the ebony box whose treasure I am only now beginning to
understand. Next to that, shining nearly as bright as the moon, stands a pair of silver shoes.
Point of View? _________________________________

5. From “The Grim Grotto” by Lemony Snicket

"Quigley," Sunny whimpered. The youngest Baudelaire often talked in a way that could be difficult to
understand, but lately her speech had been developing almost as quickly as her cooking skills, and her
siblings knew that Sunny was referring to Quigley Quagmire, with whom the Baudelaires had recently
become friends. Quigley had helped Violet and Klaus reach the top of Mount Fraught in order to find
Name: ___________________________ Per: _____ Date: ________________
the V.F.D. headquarters and rescue Sunny from Count Olaf’s clutches, but another tributary of the
Stricken Stream had carried him off in the opposite direction, and the cartographer—a word which
here means "someone who is very good with maps, and of whom Violet Baudelaire was particularly
fond"—didn’t even have a toboggan to keep him out of the chilly water.
Point of View? ________________________________