Freckle Juice

Andrew Marcus is a second-grader and the protagonist of the story. He desperately wants freckles, just like his classmate Nicky Lane. Andrew daydreams often, gets distracted easily, and like most kids, often worries about being embarrassed at school. At the beginning of the story, when his reading group giggles at his inattention, he becomes flustered and wonders “why [...] Miss Kelly ha[d] to pick him” (8) to read out loud when he wasn’t ready. Andrew wants to do well, and he becomes defensive when he makes a mistake.

Andrew has an active imagination. He daydreams about how different his life would be if he had freckles, and even when he insists that he doesn’t believe Sharon’s claims about the freckle juice, he still wonders if she might be telling the truth. When he opens up the recipe and finds that it is made up of ordinary household groceries, he still pushes aside his doubt, prepares the beverage, and drinks it. Andrew is an optimist, and even when he consumes the terrible freckle juice, he crawls to the mirror to watch his transformation. Despite seeing many obvious red flags that the recipe is a fake, Andrew holds onto hope until he can’t deny the truth anymore.