Treehorn
Treehorn is a young boy who begins to notice that he is no longer able to reach a closet shelf that he has been able to reach before. In addition, his clothes are becoming roomier and at dinner, his head doesn’t even above the table anymore. Although this shrinkage continues with each successive day, Treehorn is peculiarly unaffected. He simply goes about doing the things he enjoys doing like watching TV, eating cereal, and sending off for boxtop offers as well as dealing with the various reactions by those who know him but no longer recognize him.
Mother and Father
The first person that Treehorn informs of the evidence of his shrinkage is his mother, who is too busy baking a cake to even pay attention to what he’s saying. Later that evening at the dinner table, his father insists he quits playing games and sits up straight so that he can seem across the table. After first denying the circumstances, his parents express anxiety about what others will think, and his father wonders if he is doing it on purpose just to get attention.
The Bus Driver
Treehorn considers the school bus driver to be his friend, but upon stepping onto the bus for the first time since he began getting smaller, the driver fails to recognize him. When Treehorn insists it is so, he cautiously admits that he does kind of look like him, but is instantly moved to wonder why a family would give the same name to two different sons.
The Teacher
Upon seeing that Treehorn has shrunk, his teacher accepts it for the day with the caution that everything needs to be back to normal by tomorrow since shrinking is not allowed in her class. Upon finding Treehorn trying to jump up high enough to reach the water fountain, she sends him to the principal’s office with the additional warning that shrinking does not earn anyone any special privileges.
The Principal
The Principal is an official little bureaucrat who initially confuses Treehorn’s problem with “shirking” and informs him that the school is a team project where nobody is allowed to shirk their duties. When Treehorn corrects, he responds that his job is not to punish but to help everyone on the team solve any problem they may have. He then sends Treehorn on his way telling if he has any more problems, he should come to his office right away.
