From the Desk of Zoe Washington

Middle grade novels often feature situations that prompt new discoveries about self, others, or life in general for the protagonist. How does the internship at Ari’s Cakes befit one of these coming-of-age experiences for Zoe? What do her tasks there and the tasks or roles of others symbolize regarding growing up? Cite specific examples from three to four different work sessions at Ari’s Cakes in your response.

When Zoe receives Marcus’s second letter, she feels like a weight has lifted: “[…] it was like I’d been tensing my whole body for all of my twelve years, and now I could finally relax. At least a little bit” (60). Yet when she receives the next letter, in which Marcus claims he is innocent of the murder charge, Zoe becomes angry; she crumples the letter and discards it in her backpack. What is the rationale for each of these reactions? What later events in the plot might the messages and tone of these letters foreshadow?

Zoe and Trevor incite change in each other’s characters in both direct and indirect ways. What do Zoe and Trevor do or say to cause eventual change in the other?