The Yearling Characters

One is the Loneliest Number Thanks to the nonexistent medical technology (or basic hygiene) of the mid-nineteenth century, it's practically a miracle that Jody Baxter is even alive. All of his olde...

Penny Baxter is basically the best dad ever. In the world. No, seriously. He pours his whole heart and soul into making life easy and happy for Jody. What more could any kid want?It's a Hard Knock...

She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mama Well, first of all, Ma Baxter is fat. Really, really overweight. Like, obese. How do we know this? And why on earth do we keep dwelling on it? Because the narrator do...

Fodder-wing Forrester is Jody's BFF, and lives a few miles away in the same forest. He was born with a hunchback and a twisted body, but is still spunky enough to have earned his nickname when he a...

The Forresters are a huge family living a few miles from the Baxters in the woods, and we're talking huge in size as well as quantity. Ma and Pa Forrester have six giant strapping sons, along with...

Grandma Hutto is an old family friend of the Baxters who lives in town. She's a good friend, too: when Penny went to war, he brought Ora and little two-year-old Jody to stay with her for the four y...

Oliver is Grandma Hutto's son and one of Jody's good friend. He passed on his mad flutter mill-making skills to Jody, and always brings him a gift back from his travels as a sailor. Cha-ching! His...

Twink is the girl Oliver Hutto and Lem Forrester are both in love with. Jody hates her for taking Oliver's time, and for causing trouble, and, in his defense, he did get beaten up because of her. S...

Eulalie is a girl Jody's age who lives in town. She's the niece of the shopkeeper there, and she's also Penny's favorite thing to tease Jody about. Jody and Eulalie, sitting in a tree… Jody shows...

Mr. Boyles is the shopkeeper in town, and a friend to Penny. He loves hearing the news from the forest, and often cuts Penny a deal. Kind of like Craigslist…but not.

Doc Wilson is always drunk. Always. And he's the town doctor. Oh, man. He's a good doctor, though (standards were low back then), and has a great sense of humor. Jody likes him so much that he give...

Oh, boy. Nellie Ginright was an old flame of Penny's before he married Ora. When Penny and Jody stay in her cabin on their Christmas hunt for Slewfoot, she hints that maybe she should have married...

Poor Easy Ozell. He's desperately in love with Grandma Hutto. But he's got two strikes against him. First of all, he's a Yankee. Second of all, he's just a sad, tired, pitiful guy, and Grandma is p...