Jo

Jo, or Jo Ann Beard, the author of the book, is the first-person narrator of each essay in "The Boys of My Youth," and describes in rich detail the mental and emotional impact that each event in the book has on her. Jo vividly recalls many moments from her childhood, when she lived with her family in small-town Moline, Illinois. While Jo was a difficult child to deal with in terms of day-to-day tasks like getting into the bathtub, she is never especially mean, nor does she get into more serious forms of trouble.

As Jo becomes a teenager and young adult, she frequently refers to her own stern, un-fun personality as she, for example, talks with boys at parties. Despite Jo's frequent insistence on this personality trait, she also maintains deep, lifelong friendships with several women, and also becomes happily married at a rather young age. Furthermore...