Source: Hancock, M. (1993). Character journals: Initiating involvement and identification through literature. The Reading Teacher, 37:1 pp. 42-50.

A character journal is a written diary kept by the reader as s/he assumes the role of a character in the book and keeps an ongoing journal by writing about one episode that occurs during each book chapter. The reader writes in the first-person voice of the character and shares his/her thoughts and feelings in response to the unfolding events of the book. In so doing, the reader becomes more involved in the literature being read, attains a deeper immersion in the role of the character and a better understanding of people of different cultures (Hancock, 1993).