The father loves english and tries to help his daughter with it, but she does not care about it and feels neglected when he does not see that she becomes bored with the subject. The author wrote in the perspective of the narrator, “Nothing’s more important than his books and vocabulary words. He might say I matter, but when he goes on a scavenger hunt for a book, I realize that I really don’t” (26). The text infers that her father is an english teacher, and he just wants to help her learn and do well in school, but the protagonist does not like the matter and feels that her father is trying to impose his interests and push hers aside. The protagonist’s mother passed away and is now just living with her father, which can be troubling at times because he cannot cook or clean as the mother used to do. In the perspective of the protagonist the author wrote, “Now when I come home, I’ve got to sweep, fold towels, or scrub the bathroom sink. Dad helps, but sometimes he makes a big mess” (2). It is tough for her to have lost her mother, and because she did most of the work for the house and her father did not, it is a hassle for her to try and do it all because her father cannot. It is hard for the narrator to become close with her father when she has to do so much work for …show more content…
When Izzy finds out her mother is leaving for Costa Rica and she cannot go with her, she becomes infuriated and negative. The author wrote in the perspective of the protagonist, “‘And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone i haven’t seen since I was six? That’s half my life ago. She’s a stranger!’ I felt a sudden urge to bolt for the front door and run” (24). Izzy has had a life where she is frequently moving across the country for her mother to try and finish college so they can have a better life, but Izzy sees it as her mother never doing what she wants to do. Izzy has been living with just her mother for a while, since her father has not been around. She has had a troubling life moving around frequently with her mother, and not having a father has made her life different. In the perspective of Izzy the author wrote, “I burrowed my head under the pillow with the baseball. A tiny piece of me felt guilty for stealing it, but it belonged to my dad and that made it special. That made it a part of me” (46). It is tough for Izzy to connect with her mother while there is a missing piece in her heart, for the place of her father, and it has changed her life. The baseball fills in the missing piece, and she