Anita Adams

Anita is the only one of Lorrie's sisters who thinks he is beautiful. She is also protective of him; before he leaves for school she gives him a letter knife and tells him to use it on Rakeem if “that boy puts his thing on you.”

Lorrie Adams

Fourteen-year-old Lorrie Adams, whose full name is Lawrence Lincoln Jefferson Adams, is the main character of “Proper Library,” and he narrates the story of his day. He is his mother's only son, and as she tells him, “the only real man I got.” Lorrie is extremely bright, compassionate, and empathetic; he describes the plight of the only white girl on the bus, Laura, with great sympathy, even though the first thing she says when he boards the bus is “faggot.” Lorrie's primary struggles as a gay teen are withstanding the persecution of his schoolmates and reconciling his ambition to...