Rhyme Schemer

Mrs. Little is one of the novel’s primary characters and is the school’s librarian. She is an elderly woman whom Kevin initially disregards or disdains. He and Mrs. Little begin to interact more regularly when Principal Hartwick gives him a two-week after-school library detention for beating up Robin. Kevin resents the punishment and feels as if he is Mrs. Little’s servant. He also feels upset when Mrs. Little discovers that he is the one behind the found poems and turns him into Hartwick yet again, effectively extending his after-school detention time.

Kevin wants to see Mrs. Little as an enemy because he is accustomed to regarding every authority figure in his life this way. Over time, however, he can recognize that Mrs. Little actually has his best interest in mind. He starts to notice how Mrs. Little is often looking at him intently: 

And she doesn’t look away. 

It’s like she wants me to see. 

She’s looking, searching, telling me something 

that I can’t hear (78). 

This is one of Mrs. Little’s ways of showing Kevin that she cares about him. She is physically looking at him so that Kevin knows that he matters. She sees and understands him more than any of the other teachers do. Unlike Mrs. Smithton or Hartwick, Mrs. Little does not disregard Kevin simply because he has a history of acting out. Instead, she sees the good in Kevin and helps him see the good in himself.

Mrs. Little plays the role of Kevin’s archetypal guide in the school setting. She does hold Kevin accountable for his actions, but she also gives him opportunities to change and grow. She humors his poetic games, delighting in the found poems he leaves for her and offering him messages and books in exchange. She also invites Kevin to the open-mic night at the local coffee shop, an invitation that ushers Kevin into a new literary world. Mrs. Little’s efforts to relate to and invest in Kevin help him feel valuable. Once he recognizes his own worth, he no longer feels the need to hurt others to get attention.

Robin is another of the novel’s primary characters. At the novel’s start, he is Kevin’s bullying victim at school. Kevin has singled out Robin because he “is so short” (1). Kevin uses Robin’s small stature as evidence that he is inferior to him. He bullies Robin—insulting, tripping, punching, or harassing him—to make himself feel more powerful. Kevin does get in trouble for bullying Robin, but the repeated visits to the principal’s office and the after-school detentions do nothing to stop Kevin’s violence against Robin.

It is not until Robin asserts some authority over Kevin that Kevin is forced to acknowledge how he has hurt his classmate. After Kevin loses his poetry notebook, Robin finds and steals it. He then makes “copies of some pages from [his] / notebook” and gives “them to everyone. / EVERYONE” (55). Robin uses Kevin’s poems against him. He teases him for liking poetry and starts beating up on Kevin, too. Robin is able to bully Kevin without fear of retaliation because the school has issued a no-tolerance policy to Kevin, threatening to expel him should he act out again. Robin also knows that he can get away with hurting Kevin because none of the teachers like Kevin; they seem to see Robin’s actions as justice served against Kevin.

Robin’s bullying intensifies over the course of the novel, which ultimately leads Kevin to fight back in his own defense. Hartwick nearly expels Kevin for this behavior, but Mrs. Little comes to his defense. She asserts that Hartwick isn’t really addressing the issue by only punishing Kevin and demands that he put an end to the boys’ rivalry once and for all. She understands that Robin is hurting Kevin because Kevin hurt him and that Kevin is hurting Robin in return. Robin and Kevin then shake hands and apologize. While Kevin realizes that he is truly sorry, Robin never admits that he regrets his actions. He is therefore a more static character who plays an antagonistic role in Kevin’s story and helps illustrate The Causes and Repercussions of Bullying.

Petey is a secondary character and is one of Kevin’s four older brothers. He is a sophomore in high school, and he used to be the youngest in the family until Kevin’s birth. Now no longer the baby, Petey acts out against Kevin. Kevin identifies the start of Petey’s aggression as the day they saw a tornado together and Petey cried. 

Ashamed of himself for showing vulnerability in front of his younger brother, Petey began acting out against Kevin. He drops off Kevin blocks away from school and makes him walk. He dumps hot sauce on his food, calls him names, locks him in closets, and shoves him under the sink. Despite his constant bullying, no one intervenes on Kevin’s behalf. The first time anyone addresses the issue is when the boys’ other brother Paul takes Petey aside and lectures him about being “a better big brother, / a better person” (51). Petey responds by punching the wall, which implies that he hasn’t taken Paul’s advice to heart, but this conversation is meaningful to Kevin. He finally feels like someone notices Petey’s unkindness and wants to make it better for him.

Petey does show signs of change by the novel’s end. The narrative demonstrates his evolution via his changing regard for Kevin’s poetry writing. At the start of the novel, Petey teases Kevin for writing poetry at all, deeming the pastime a hobby for old women. He also makes fun of Kevin when he offers up names for his band and yells at him to shut up whenever he sings lyrics that he’s written over the band’s screeching guitar riffs. However, when one of Petey’s bandmates remarks that Kevin’s rhymes are actually quite good, Petey finally starts looking at Kevin’s writing in a new way. He lets the band play one of Kevin’s songs and then invites Kevin to write more lyrics for them—the notebook he gives Kevin for his birthday is meant for band lyrics exclusively.