Content Warning: All Character Analyses reference a school shooting.

As a first-person narrator, 10-year-old Caitlin Smith reveals her character not only in what she does but in what she thinks. And because she is the focus of a coming-of-age story, Caitlin undergoes the most dramatic change of the novel’s characters. If she begins in a world of black and white, she ends in a world bursting with color.

Caitlin has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, an autistic spectrum developmental disorder that affects her ability to interact comfortably with peers and her ability to adjust to sudden changes. She is bright; she is fascinated by words (she is never far from her dictionary) and has a gift for artistic expression. Her charcoal drawings have already attracted the admiration of teachers. Caitlin also displays an extreme sensitivity to physical stimulation (most notably floods of light or sudden harsh noise) that impacts her ability to adjust to school, to the classroom, and especially to the playground.

What she needs to work on, her counselor tells her, is her ability to read other people. She works to make eye contact with those she talks with. She studies the chart in the counselor’s office that matches moods to facial expressions.