Catherine

Catherine is the protagonist of the novel. She is twelve years old and just beginning to enjoy her summer vacation from school. She has an eight-year-old brother named David, and much of her energy is expended trying to corral him and teach him how to behave in society with a set of rules she has written in the back of her sketchbook.

Catherine is very artistic, often drawing in her sketchbook with colored pencils. She finds a connection with Jason, a disabled boy at the therapy building, through the pair's shared artistic sensibility. She begins to draw word cards for Jason to carry in his album, and they strike up a friendship through this shared experience.

Catherine is desperate to have a "cool" friend and to be one of the "in" crowd, so when Kristi moves next door, she is quick to try to befriend her. At the...