Book Background

Main characters- Eddie, Billy, Tarter, and Billy’s dad
Eddie- Eddie is a sweet boy that has some ADHD and ADD problems. He is a very gifted child and has really only one friend, Billy. When Eddie’s dad dies, Eddie is crushed and Billy helps him every step of the way. Then when Billy dies, Eddie goes into silence for about 3 months. He is silent from June to mid- October. I really like Eddie, and he is a good kid that had some problems. This strings in Billy as a major character.
Billy- Billy is a ghost that wants Eddie to move on and he wants him to start talking again. When Billy was alive his best and only friend was Eddie. Billy was considered the smartest kid in class, and even the whole middle school. He was a great kid that just had some problems making friends because of how smart he is. When he dies he becomes a ghost and tries to help Eddie through his silence by talking to him or “bumping” as he called it. The only person that Eddie tells about him and Billy talking again is Billy’s dad.
Billy’s Dad- Billy’s dad is a very important character in the means of helping Eddie with getting out of the special Ed program. What happened was that Eddie has a problem with paying attention to one thing for more than ten minutes. So when he took the IQ test he failed it and he was sent to the special ed program. Billy’s dad though, he realized Eddie’s full potential and did something for him. He gave him the questions on the IQ test five at a time. When Eddie finished, he had about as high of a score as Billy. Now the principal didn’t like this, so he didn’t put the test on record, but he didn’t put Eddie in the special Ed program either. He also is the one that set up the meetings for the people that want to participate in the book ban and he holds him in his office, which is the boiler room. Tarter, the reverend didn’t like this, and this bring us to Tarter.
Tarter- Tarter is the reverend of the only church in the book. He is a man that had a very hard childhood, and is now taking it out on other kid by unusual punishment. He also heads up the school board, and he has infiltrated the entire town. It really got bad when the librarian decided to read a Chris Crutcher book and it had some problems with the church not liking that because of the adult content. He is the whole reason that Eddie went and started talking too. If it wasn’t for the book ban, Eddie probably would have never talked again, or until he couldn’t stand it anymore. But Tarter is a evil character that just need to get over controlling everything.
Setting- The setting in the book is in Bear Creek, Idaho during the modern times.