Julie Robinson, the protagonist in the story, is striving for independence. She wants a better life for herself than her parents have, and a secure future.

Thus, she dreams of a college education following high school and knows it is the key to a better life and secure Illustration by Richard Williams for Julie's Summer by Crystal Thrasher. Atheneum: New York (1985).

Julie is honest. She learned to work hard from her parents. They are poor, like all their neighbors and friends during an economically difficult period in history. She is idealistic, trusting, and naive. Julie possesses a complex personality that changes in the course of the story and matures as she deals with difficult situations and suspicious, gossipy...