Tara Sullivan

Tara Sullivan is the main character of Kissing Doorknobs. She starts out relatively normal, but begins to hear the phrase, "Step on a crack, break your mother's back" all the time. She begins to count cracks in the sidewalk obsessively and gets furious when she is interrupted. This behavior is compounded by compulsive praying, and exorbitant fears. Finally, she is diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and she learns to recognize and even starts to overcome her disability.

Greta Sullivan

Greta is Tara's younger sister and she takes a protective role, beating up the boys who harass Tara because of her obsessive quirks.

Mother

Tara Sullivan's mother has an increasingly difficult time with Tara's 'quirks' and she ends up shaking her violently at the town carnival to try to get her to stop praying compulsively. Finally, when Tara's OCD is diagnosed, she apologizes for all the things she...