Detective Abby: What’s your best friend like? My best friend solves cases here at The R. E. A. D. Agency, too. She always has the best snacks and doesn’t mind sharing.

She can reach the highest shelves, and she asks great questions. But sometimes, she can get a little mad at  me when I’m late for our weekend hangouts. Which is… pretty often.

So what kind of person is she? What kind of person am I? And how do we fit together?

I might just have a case that can point to the answer. I’m Detective Abby. Welcome, story sleuths, to Crash Course Kids Literature.

[0:32] [THEME MUSIC]

[0:38] Detective Abby: Every story has suspects —or, I mean, characters. We story sleuths know all about those. They’re the people or animals who make the story happen. Looking closely at characters can help us understand the whole story.

We can understand characters by looking at the things they do and say and describing their qualities, or traits. Like, when my best friend shares her popcorn  with me, I’m reminded that she’s generous. And that’s a positive character trait.

And when she gets frustrated if I’m just  ten minutes late to our movie night, I notice that she’s impatient — a negative trait. It’s okay, we all have those. Some traits are also neutral, like  how she’s usually calm and relaxed.

Characters can also have both external and internal traits. External traits are things we can see, like how my friend is tall. Internal traits are things we  show through words and actions, like how the questions she asks show her curiosity.

And sometimes we say characters are static, if they stay the same throughout the story. Or they can be dynamic, if they change– like  if I start making sure I show up on time. No promises.

All of these character traits show who characters are. They also usually play a pretty big role in shaping the conflict and plot of a story. Let’s practice sleuthing about the characters in the book “King and the Dragonflies” by Kacen Callender.

But first, we gotta check out the case notes. Here’s what we know about the story so far. King is twelve years old.

His older brother Khalid recently died, and his family is trying to figure out how to live without him. King is having an especially hard time because, before his brother died, he told King to stop hanging out with his best friend, Sandy. See, Sandy told King that he was gay.

And, in this community, being gay isn’t typically accepted. Khalid was worried that if King and Sandy spent time together, people would think King was gay, too. But that’s the thing: King was already thinking he might be gay.

Then, Sandy goes missing. When Sandy is eventually  found, everything comes out. Sandy’s dad tells King’s parents that  Sandy is gay and that King is, too.

Sandy wants King to run away from home  with him, but King decides not to go. While people have said hurtful things to  them, King thinks things will get better. He finally tells his parents about how he’s been feeling and what Khalid told him.

And while his parents have a lot to learn, they tell him that they love  him and that Khalid did, too. Now, let’s take a closer look at the characters and how they make the story happen. King is the protagonist, or the story’s main character.

He’s also the narrator—we learn about all the other characters and what’s going on from his point of view. King tells us a lot about how he sees himself. He worries that his name makes people think he’s stuck-up.

So he tries hard to be the opposite: polite and humble. We can learn about King  from other characters, too. Sandy says, “You worry so much, you  never think about how to be happy.” Sandy, on the other hand, is bold and active.

He runs away from home. And he tells his dad that he’s gay, even though he knows his dad will hurt him because of it. Sandy tells King, “I’m happy that I decided to be myself, no matter what.” King is a dynamic character.

That means he changes over the course of the book. Whereas Sandy is more of a static character. He mostly stays the same.

Their different traits shape their relationship. King’s fear makes him avoid Sandy. Sandy’s boldness means he can’t understand King’s reluctance to run away with him.

Both of their actions are also shaped by their relationships with other characters. Sandy’s dad is abusive, so Sandy wants to run away. King’s heard his dad say he thinks being gay is wrong, so he’s afraid his family won’t love him if they find out the truth.

But King wants to be himself. And he also wants to help Sandy. So, King develops the character trait of bravery.

We see evidence of this when he eventually decides to tell his family everything, even though he’s scared. In the end, King’s family helps Sandy get away from his father. And King’s parents tell him that they love him no matter what.

Their family is able to start healing from their grief over losing Khalid. Taking a closer look at King and Sandy helps us understand who they are and why their actions are so important to this story. Every character has different traits, and that means every story is different.

So whenever we read, we can investigate the characters to figure out exactly who they are and why they act the way they do. Now, I’m off to lunch with my friend. Oh!

Late again! I’ll see you next time, story sleuths. Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Kids Literature, which was filmed at the Complexly studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all of these kind and brave people.