Point of View

Joan Bauer tells her novel "Peeled" in the first-person narrative from the point of view of her main character, and principle protagonist, Hildy Biddle. Because the novel primarily focuses around not only Hildy's coming of age, but her investigation and discovery of the plot to force people off their farms to build an amusement park on their lands, it is only natural for Hildy to guide the reader through her adventure. In so doing, Bauer allows the reader to learn and discover clues as Hildy both uncovers the mystery, and becomes a better journalist in the process. Additionally, the personal struggles and emotional turmoils of Hildy are given to the reader firsthand, real and raw, through her words, rather than a third-person narrator's.

Setting

The setting of Joan Bauer's novel "Peeled" is that of rural, Upstate New York, in the town of Banesville. The setting of...