What point of view is this story told from? How do you know? How would this story have been different had it been told from a different point of view?

The story is narrated by the author, Jerry Spinelli, looking through the eyes of Donald Zinkoff. All of the book is written in the third-person "he," except the very beginning, when the author addresses the reader in the second-person "you." Looking only into Zinkoff's mind gives the author distance from the thoughts of all the other characters, which means he can concentrate on a deeper exploration of Zinkoff's emotional and mental experiences. Spinilli is a skilled author, so changing any part of his narrative would disturb the balance of the book.