This book is about a young boy who is depressed. He rescues a dog and by finding out that it is possibly depressed, he makes the link to himself. His father is kind and understanding and also suffered depression when his father died, so is able to relate with the boy. The mother bull-dozes through life. Eventually, everyone is able to talk about depression. Even the school bully jumps on board and says he suffers from anxiety. The resolution is all a bit hard to believe… but the intention of the book is good.
The Librarian has recommended it for Year 6. I think a Year 5 would also read it. The subject matter is all a bit sad. I wouldn’t recommend it for Year 4. The language is all good but the topic of depression is so depressing. About 40,000 words long I think. It is a notable book by CBCA in 2023.
I may go back and edit this podcast to include a few more points about naming characters.
If anyone else has any ideas please send them in and we’ll acknowledge you and pop up the comments, assuming they are short. That is one of the priorities of this podcast – short and sweet.
If your writing hints are extensive, we’ll add a link to your site below.
Do you have to name your characters? No. It depends on all sorts of things, POV being the biggest factor, the second biggest being the type of story being written.
Why name your characters? As mentioned in the podcast, names allow us to easily identify which character is in the narrative.
When do you name a character? As soon as a character is named a relationship is developed. The purpose of fiction is to make you care about the characters, so name your characters as soon as you can.
How do you refer to Mum and Dad in children’s fiction. Mm! It all depends on the situation. Once again point-of-view is a major consideration, as is the relationship. Step-mums and step-dads are often referred to by their first name. If it is first person point of view you may write ‘Mum said….’ or if it is 3rd person you might say ‘their dad says..’ although this is not strictly true.
A different relationship is shown if a child call’s their mum mother. In a certain point in history, no child would have called their parents by their first names. (This is beginning to sound like a whole new podcast.)
I just listened to Carmel Bird on a podcast called ‘The Garret’, and she said the names of her characters just arrive, and it is so much fun.
Does the sound of a name affect your selection? Definitely. There are many studies to show that the sound of a person’s name affects how they are perceived. E.g. If someone is asked which alien race, the Krataks or the Thesolians, is evil their most likely answer is the Krataks.
Sometimes I cannot think of a name for a character so I use a temporary name which fills the gap until something appropriate comes to mind. Then I do a global replace of the old name with the new. The new name takes over within a day or two.
(If you wish to add something to this post on Naming Characters, please leave a comment.)
