Ally Nickerson
Ally is the protagonist of the story. She is an intelligent middle school student who demonstrates above-average math skills. Her English skills…not so much. This chasm is not the result of a lack of intellectual ability but rather stems from being dyslexic. Unfortunately, she spends a great deal of the book not realizing this is the cause of her problems and unexpected difficulty on the verbal side of the academic equation. As a result, she and most of her fellow students think she is simply dumb. That unfortunate circumstance between reality and perception is the driving force of the narrative which ultimately concludes that standardized education, rather than Ally, is the epicenter of dumbness here.
Mr. Daniels
Mr. Daniels is Ally’s teacher and he is exactly the sort of person who can transform the future of a student like Ally from one that ends before high school graduation into one that ends with a college degree. He cares about his students' learning more than adhering to strict curriculum guidelines and classroom management. Mr. Daniels is the teacher that every parent of a child with a “learning disability” prays to show up before it’s too late.
Travis
Ally’s older brother is in high school and has a part-time job working at a garage. In his way, he mirrors the problems of his sister; Travis is also afflicted with dyslexia and the none the wiser. Just as the school expects Ally to fit into a neat little compartment, so does the owner of the garage lean on Travis to do things exactly as the manual sets out. Travis is intelligent like his sister, but that is hard to prove to even a dictatorial garage owner when you have trouble reading.
Shay and Jessica
Shay is the snotty rich girl who everybody wants to be friends with but everybody also hates. She’s an emotional, mental, and psychological bully. Jessica is here today. Ultimately, Ally discovers that the bully has a reason for their cruelty and tries to reach out, but this is not the story of a bully redeemed. Eventually, even Jessica turns her back on her.
Keisha and Albert
Keisha is not just the new kid in class, but also the only one with black skin. Naturally, this makes her an immediate target for Shay, but Keisha wins not just Ally’s friendship and kinship but profound respect by standing up to the rich bully. Over time, the two outcasts become a trio when a big, poor, kind-hearted Trekkie named Albert becomes a natural addition to their little clique of under-appreciated misfits.
Noah Webster
Webster isn’t a character in the story, but his presence lurks over it with a surprising darkness of tone. A visit to the Noah Webster House is instrumental in changing Ally’s understanding of her difficulty with reading when she learns that his dictionaries were a vital element in the standardization of how English is taught and expected to be learned. Although extolled as a heroic figure by the tour guide, Ally’s perspective is notably less forgiving and should be eye-opening to many readers of the novel who are themselves suffering problems with standardized expectations.
Max
Max is Ally's classmate, who loves parties and fights. Ally got a love letter from Max. Which turned out to be Shay's plan to make Ally look weird and stupid. But this didn't turn out the way Shay wanted because, since Ally didn't know how to read, due to her dyslexia, she couldn't read the letter and decided to try and read it at home, but the letter said to meet him at lunch.
