Jake is the story’s narrator and protagonist. When he tells the story, he is 10 years old and in the fourth grade at Despres Elementary School, but when the story actually takes place, he is in third grade. Jake’s narrative voice is casual and humorous. He uses vivid images and relatable similes, often using these to inject notes of comic absurdity, as when he describes Principal Karp as looking like “a giant piece of celery” (9). Jake is a generally kind child who enjoys his friendships and cares about others’ feelings. He worries about hurting his father’s feelings in Chapter 5, and in Chapter 10, he devises a way to make his father feel included and valued even though he really does not need his father’s help with the science fair project. He goes into detail in Chapter 1 about how much he enjoys spending time with his best friend, Willie, and in Chapter 8, he feels terrible when he realizes how he has been devaluing this friendship. Jake also shows concern for the feelings of people who are not his close friends or relatives. Although Jake is quite intelligent, he is humble about this—he points out that “almost all the kids [he knows], they’re pretty smart, too” (3).