This is the one area that I found lacking about this book. A great story with a lot of strong themes, but I felt like I really never knew the characters. I would have enjoyed knowing Mary and Paula in more depth since their stories are very compelling. Even the main protagonist, Jubie, is not fully developed in my view---what made her into such a strong figure that would buck cultural norms at the time regarding race relations. A lot of missed opportunities

I think the author's style here of using a 13 year old as narrator dictated the depth of the development of each character. We are seeing what she saw and I think the story progressed well in the limited vision a girl of that age in that situation had. If you asked any 13 year old to talk about their family members I think you would get about the same depth of view she had.

Interesting note, Joyce, and I do agree with you that we are getting the perespective of a young person and that it is different than an adults I guess I've seen other books told by a young protagonists that seem to have a richer feel to them.

Dave, this is exactly how I felt about the book and it colored my reading of it. None of the characters are fully realized, particularly the best ones, Mary and Jubie. I wanted to know so much more about Mary and I was left feeling that the book had something missing.