My Sister Jodie - Characters

Characters

• Pearl - the main character and narrator of the story. Pearl is shy and quiet, and adores her older sister. She turns 11 in the book. She makes friends with Harley and Mrs Wilberforce, who is a bookworm like Pearl. It is hinted a couple of times she may have a crush on Harley.

• Jodie - Pearl's rebellious older sister and the daughter of Sharon and Joe. She is 14 years old. Jodie's hair is naturally mousy coloured but has dyed it orange with gold streaks and later on in the book tries to dye it black but it comes out purple. She clashes with her mother a lot but her dad adores her and always sticks up for her. She was always the popular one but when she goes to Melchester college, its Pearl that's the popular one and Jodie gets bullied. She has an affair with 19 year old gardener Jed but she dumps him after he kills one of the badgers. Unfortunately for Pearl, Jodie ends up dying when she falls from the tower and breaks her neck.

• Harley - A tall friend of Pearl's and is in the same class as Jodie. Harley is 13. He boards over the Summer holidays and watches badgers, and though Jed wants to kill them Harley is against that. He gives Pearl a torch for her birthday so they can meet and watch badgers together at night. It is hinted he may have a crush on Pearl as he says that she is the prettiest girl in the whole school and at one one point, the two hold hands. Harley says that while he likes Jodie 'in small doses' he likes Pearl a lot more. He and Pearl keep in touch after Jodie's death.

• Sharon - Pearl and Jodie's mother. She and Jodie have frequent clashes throughout the book. She worked at a tea-shop before moving to Melchester and is the loving but sometimes up-tight wife of Joe. She is the school cook.

• Joe - Pearl and Jodie's father. Joe adores Jodie and can never say no to her. He is the school caretaker. He is very good in woodwork and makes toys for Jodie and Pearl.

• Zeph, Dan and Sakura - Three children who board over the Summer. Sakura is a delicate, shy Japanese girl who Pearl befriends. Zeph (Real name Zephaniah) is a boy whose greatest love is food. Dan has a man from a biology kit which he carries around with him. He is described by Harley as 'Ever so bright yet seems backward.' When she leaves, Pearl promises to keep in touch with them all, and she kept her promise.

• Harriet, Sheba, Freya, and Clarissa - Pearl's friends, though Clarissa is sometimes mean about Jodie. Pearl is closer to Harriet than the rest and keep in touch after Jodie's accident. Freya always cries at the start of term.

• Mr and Mrs Wilberforce - Mrs Wilberforce's family owned the whole college and her father turned it into a school. She is in a wheelchair after slipping down the stairs in the secret tower and snapping her spine, losing the use of one arm and both her legs. Her husband runs the school under a strict balance. Pearl writes to Mrs Wilberforce when she leaves.

• Jed - The gardener, who looks like a pirate and Jodie fancies him. They both flirt with each other and Jodie hangs out with him a lot during the summer holidays. But he kills a badger cub deliberately which makes Jodie hate him. At the end of the book he is dating Tiffany Colgate, the daughter of the cleaner of Melchester College.

• May - Joe and Sharon's third daughter, Jodie's would have been sister and Pearl's sister too. She is born near the end of the book, a while after Pearl finds the pregnancy test in the bathroom. Pearl is distraught when Jodie falls to her death from Melchester colleges window, and promises to look after May and be a great sister to her.

• Miss French - the assistant head, who has a soft spot for Mr Wilberforce. She owns a big dog called Shep, and is obsessed with Elvis Presley. Before her death, Miss French liked Jodie as she regularly took Old Shep for long walks. Jodie's mum dislikes Miss French because she bosses people around.