April is an 11-year-old sixth grader who has just moved to a California college town to live with her paternal grandmother. Her idolization of her mother, Dorothea, is seen in the way she wears false eyelashes and sweeps up her blond hair. April is also wildly imaginative and an avid reader. She gravitates to the subject of ancient Egypt and finds a willing co-creator of the Egypt Game in Melanie.

April has followed a rootless existence due to her mother’s career; she has never had the chance to establish friendships with her peers. At the beginning of the novel, April is isolated and friendless. At the end, she has close friends and a reputation for being daring. This earns the respect of the entire sixth grade: “Whether it was hanging by your heels from the highest bar, or putting a stinkbug on the principal’s desk—you could count on April to do it first and best” (52).

When she first moves in with her grandmother, she resents the arrangement and longs for the day when her mother will return to claim her. As time goes by, April recognizes her mother’s lack of concern. She comes to appreciate her new friends and the care of her grandmother.