Felicity Pickle, a sixth-grade girl with gray eyes, freckles, and red hair, is the protagonist and first-person narrator of A Snicker of Magic. Her immediate family consists of her little sister, Frannie Jo; their mother, Mama; and their dog, Biscuit. Felicity’s father, Roger Pickle, is no longer around, but she hopes he’ll return someday. Felicity has a special ability with words: she can see them everywhere—around people, around cars, in the sky, or on her shoes. She collects words in a blue book and uses her ability to create poems on the fly. Despite her talent, Felicity struggles with public speaking. Her “words are a mess when [she tries] to say them to more than one person at a time” (13). In addition to her fear of public speaking, Felicity’s central conflict revolves around her family’s nomadic lifestyle. Mama has moved their family from place to place, never staying in one town long enough for Felicity or Frannie Jo to settle in or make friends. Felicity’s arc revolves around facing her public speaking fears, making connections in Midnight Gulch, and solving the curse that keeps Mama from settling down in one place.

At the beginning of the story, Felicity can tell there is something special about Midnight Gulch.