Maggie’s character begins to mature a bit as she sees Claire crying next door. Seeing her friend upset makes Maggie realize that she has only looked at the situation from her own perspective. Throughout the novel thus far, Maggie has really only looked at the world from her own perspective, considering how she feels and what she wants but not how others feel or what they may want. The only time she considers other people’s feelings is when she thinks everyone blames her for her allergies, and then she doesn’t feel compassion but rather self-reproach. Maggie and Claire will continue to experience challenges in their friendship as they struggle to understand how to relate to others, but Maggie makes a significant step toward maturation and empathy when she realizes that she never considered the situation from her friend’s perspective. This scene underscores the theme of Empathy and Compassion.

While Maggie is generally kind girl and has a big heart, she makes mistakes, just like anyone does. These mistakes sometimes isolate herself from others. While she previously ignored her friend’s feelings, she later deceives her parents. They agree to install a lock on her door only if she promises to be responsible about her privacy, and she accepts this deal even though she wants the lock specifically to deceive them by secretly keeping a pet. This not only shows that she’ll essentially lie to get what she wants but also demonstrates that she’s still trying to deny science and the facts of her allergy in order to have a pet. Despite the doctor’s advice to stay away from all pets with fur, she decides that she might know better. When she starts to have allergic reactions, she tries to write them off as being from something other than the mouse, still denying the reality of her situation. Through her request for a lock and her denial of the facts about her allergy, Maggie demonstrates that she still has some growth to accomplish if she wants to mature and be fully accountable for her actions. Still, the mistakes she makes aren’t catastrophic and could be considered age-appropriate if not ideal.

While Maggie is sometimes selfish, she’s also an incredibly good caretaker of her pet. When she gets the mouse, she also gets a book telling her how to care for it. She learns all the basics and devotes much time to caretaking. Despite her resulting allergic reaction, she regularly cleans the mouse’s cage. Her skill and dedication to her pet help round out her character. No one is all good or all selfish, including Maggie. She has both strengths and weaknesses, rounding out her personality and making her character relatable and realistic. Her actions in having a pet and caring for it align with her desire to be needed. She still believes that her family doesn’t really need her because her parents have each other and her brothers have each other. Because she doesn’t see how they need her, she remains feeling stuck and alone. She always sees her brothers having fun, which solidifies this idea in her head. At times, she ignores evidence to the contrary, such as her brothers getting frustrated because Maggie is always in her room. They try to get in because they miss her. She doesn’t realize that this act on her brothers’ part shows that they want her around. Like many other moves people make toward her in the novel, she doesn’t recognize this as love and a desire for her companionship, leaving her stuck in her belief that she isn’t special enough to anyone in her family. She’ll need to learn to broaden her perspective and see facts contrary to her opinions in order to grow and see the love that has always been around her.

In the novel, Sebastian represents an affinity for and a belief in science and research. He’s friendly to Maggie and gives her more information about different types of allergies. He has experience because of his allergy to eggs and his sister’s allergy to bee stings. He’s motivated by a desire to understand, so when he doesn’t have an answer to one of Maggie’s allergy questions, he plans to research the answer. While Maggie sometimes tries to deny the reality of her situation, Sebastian embraces his condition, which is somewhat understandable given that his allergy could be life-threatening. These two characters represent different ways to respond to chronic medical conditions. Sebastian’s love for science emphasizes Maggie’s lack of respect for scientific facts.

Maggie’s jealousy of Claire is evident in her mental reaction to Claire’s insistence that her father will allow her to keep the boy mice. Claire has already told Maggie that the reason her father says yes to everything is because he promised her he’d do so if she maintained a positive attitude about moving. This implies that Claire isn’t fond of their frequent moves. Maggie never thinks much about the negative aspects of Claire’s situation; she sees only the positives about it. She doesn’t register the constant adjustment that Claire has experienced because of her father’s moves. Therefore, Maggie becomes jealous when she thinks about all that Claire gets, failing to consider that Claire doesn’t have anyone her age living in her house or that she can see her mother only a few times a year. Maggie cares deeply for her friend and loves her companionship but still proves incapable of understanding her friend’s situation. This lack of understanding leads to her seeing Claire as lucky. This dynamic highlights the theme of Different Kinds of Luck. In order for the friendship to thrive, Maggie must learn to see her friend’s emotions and acknowledge that Claire faces challenges too but that they differ from her own. Conversely, she could recognize that Claire’s special privileges have a trade-off and appreciate the aspects of her own life that Claire envies, such as having siblings and not having to constantly move.