The novel’s protagonist, Maggie Wilson, is a 10-year-old girl, and one of her main struggles during the story is figuring out how to accept change. In addition, she must learn that not all change is bad. As the novel opens, one of her strongest feelings is an aversion to change. She must attend a new school, where she knows no one, because of school zoning changes. She’s also about to have a new sibling, and she knows this will change her family dynamic but doesn’t believe this change will be a good thing. When her mother is about to go into labor, she tells Maggie that the change the new baby brings may not be a bad thing, but Maggie remains unconvinced. By the end of the novel, she has found a friend at school and has forged a strong bond with her baby sister. While she never specifically says so, her environment and the changes have been a good thing for her. She learns to accept what she hasn’t been able to mold to her own preferences and discovers unexpectedly good things during this process.

Maggie is imperfect in her relationships but does demonstrate a proclivity for caretaking.