“[Evan] put on his imaginary cape.

No one knew about the cape. His dad had ‘given’ it to Evan way back in kindergarten, when Evan was having trouble saying goodbye at the classroom door in the mornings the way everyone was supposed to.”

Though it isn’t real, the cape serves as a kind of security blanket for Evan, giving him confidence when he feels nervous or scared. The fear that Evan felt as a small child attending school for the first time foreshadows the anxiety he feels about completing fifth grade and attending a new school. This passage therefore lays the groundwork for the novel’s exploration of Growing up and Finding One’s Purpose.

“Evan told Rafe everything: about finding his dad’s name in one of the books he’d taken, and the way his dad had kind of run away after seeing it.

Correction: He told Rafe almost everything. He didn’t mention that when he got up to his room, some impulse had made him shove both books deep under his bed. He felt like maybe he’d accidentally discovered something his dad was ashamed of.”

Evan understands immediately that his father is troubled by the presence of the old library books. This is an early clue in the mystery Evan sets out to solve. He is unaware of his father’s potential involvement in the fire, but he recognizes that his father is upset by the topic.

“[Mortimer] stretched out in the grass under his library, looked at the stars, thought of Petunia, and felt connected to the world.

And at the same time, a little lonely.”

Mortimer is highly protective of the remaining library books, which serve as a reminder of his sister; the novel closely associates The Magic of Books and Reading with books’ power to connect. Presumably lost in the fire, his sister is important to him, and memories of her comfort him.