His name is Will, a "normal" kid going through puberty. Avaerage hight, brown hair, thin, somewhat strong. Will is an aveage teenage boy with an amazing secret. Will moved to Alaska during the summer. The day that their moving in he goes on a bike ride. As he is riding he looks over into a lake and sees an island in the middle of it. Just after a patch of trees blocks his sight he stops to turn around. Once he is on the island he sees a heron. When will looked at the heron he found peace with the island and the sounds of it. That island changed Will. It made will more mature, more at ease of moving, and happier. Will met susan when he was riding his bike back home. When they started talking Will was shy so susan did most of the talking. Every time Will was with her he became less and less shy, and more. and more "talkative".
Will is a progressive charactor. He is sort of "out of it" in the begining but he becomes better at those things thoughout the book. Like how he is a obsevant. In the begining he wasn't as observant with nature as he was at the end. Part of that though might be because he didn't connect with nature as much as after he was on the island. Like when he first saw the heron. Will could help but sit and look at it. He drew a sketch of it after stareing at it for hours. First seeing it eat a frog Will became atracted to it. Watching its every move. Trying to draw every curve of its body just right. perfection was the only option. Will didn't just want to see it though. he wanted to understand the heron and how it lived. Will wanted to "be" the heron.
Will is also is a person that wants to learn. Will doesn't want to just be taught it but he wants to learn what he is doing on the island. If you learn something you understand it more and you do it for yourself not just to get it done.Will in the book is trying to learn why he is on the island so that he can understand instead of just going there and visit for a day. He wants to learn by camping there and suviving. Will is trying to understand the island the the wilderness around it. Will sleeps there to get a real understanding of what its like on the island.
3)If the point of view was from someone else or third person the book would be a lot different. Will's point of view lets you understand so much more about him. One of the main reasons is because he doesn't talk a lot in the book, Will mainly thinks about things. He thinks so that its quiet on the island(where he is for most of the book). The book would almost not make sence if it wasn't in will's point of view because will's thoughts tie the book together with why he stares at the heron. Will's thoughts also help you understand his writing and painting. From the reaso for the color to the way he writes. In the middle of the book will writes about his grandmother and relizes that he is trying to explain her when he really wants to describe her. Then he remembers the smallest things about her that he forgot like how she always had a loose hair fall on her face and her hand put it back.
If the book were to be from Susan's point of view it would have been a very different book. The reader wouldn't understand Will as much. Will would have a different efact on the story. He would be more the person that changes Susans life. Instead of the person who gets thier life changed by the island and by susan.
If the book would have been in third person the book would have been different also because most of Will's contributions are his thinking. The story could be writen in the view and still make some sence but the reader gets a better understanding of the book in first person. Like when he is on the island and is thinking and observing things. Will thinks to himself about why he is doing what he is doing and what he is doing. In third person though Will would just be sitting looking at a heron and drawing a picture even there is so much more to it. Will was tring to understand the heron not just see it.
So ultimately the book would be a lot different in a different view. It would not make as much sence and not have as much understanding of what Will is going through.
