The Girl in the MIRROR.

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This is what most authors try to do when they create characters. They show the words, actions, and thoughts of characters so readers can understand them fully.

In The Devil's Arithmetic, author Jane Yolen shows readers that the character Hannah is resilient and observant. As you read, notice how Yolen accomplishes this.

"Come, it is time to get dressed," [Hannah's aunt] Gitl said.

Dressed! Hannah looked down at the flowered smock she had on, the same awful thing she'd been wearing the night before. Anything would be better. Following Gitl into the bedroom, she paused only a moment, wondering without much hone if die door would transport her hack to the Bronx.

"What should I wear, Gidl?"

While Hannah stood in the center of the room, Gidl went to the standing wardrobe and pulled out a dark blue sailor-suit dress with white piping at die sleeves and neck, and a blue sash belt. It was the ugliest thing that Hannah had ever seen.

"Lovely," Gidl said.

Hannah pulled the dress on. It fit her perfectly but came down way over her knees.

The stockings were a heavy skin-colored cotton that came halfway up her thighs, the shoes shiny black mary janes. Shaking her head, Hannah put them on as well. If she pretended she was going to a Halloween party, the outfit would be bearable.

Gitl braided her hair into two tight plaits, then held up a pair of blue velvet ribbons. She tied them around the end of the plaits, then pinned the plaits on top of Hannah's head like a crown. "There! Look!" She pushed Hannah toward a mirror that hung on the wall.

Hannah looked. Gone were her braces. Gone was the light coral lipstick her mother had allowed her to wear to the seder*. The girl who stared back had the same heart-shaped face, the same slightly crooked smile, the same brown hair, the same gray eyes. But there was something old-fashioned and unfamiliar, something haunting, like one of the old photographs on Grandma Belle's grand piano. Photographs of Grandma's family but none of Grandpa Will's, because, Aunt Eva had once explained, no photographs had been saved in the death camps. "We are our own photos. Those pictures are engraved only in our memories. When we are gone, they are gone."

Hannah smiled awkwardly at her reflection and turned away.

These paragraphs show that Hannah is observant.

Wouldn't you be shocked? But Hannah deals calmly with this stunning fact. This show her resilience.

This sentence shows she's a bit of a smart aleck.

*seder [SAY-duhr]: a family meal held during the Jewish holiday of Passover.

To understand a character, it's OK to guess sometimes.

In fact, you have to. This is called making an inference. And it's a big part of reading. If authors just told us that their characters were happy or sad or whiny, books would be pretty boring.

Making your own inferences about character allows you to be a partner with the author â€" and that makes reading more interesting. Here, Jane Yolen tells us more about creating characters.

SCOPE: Now do you begin to develop a character?

Jane I usually envision a character doing something, at some moment in his or her time. Often I hear the character's voice first. Only when I have begun

Yolen: writing do I begin to see what the character looks like.

JY: A writer always has to walk a tightrope between too much description and too little. I work hard to pick out just the right details so the reader can "see" my characters.

JY: She is resilient and observant. Here, she is still very much a modern girl sent back in time. Later, when her hair is shaved off in the death camp, her memories go too. So it's important to see her react to this odd situation while she still has her memories.

JY: They need to look for what characters do. In this instance, Hannah gets dressed in an outfit she thinks is awful. She looks in a mirror and is surprised by what she sees â€" and doesn't see â€" there. I hope it helps keep the story moving and that the reader is shocked and surprised.

• Reread the excerpt. What are the other clues that Hannah is resilient and observant?
• Imagine some other possible reactions that Hannah might have had to being sent back in time.
• What would you have done if you were Hannah?

PHOTO (COLOR): THE STORY SO FAR: Hannah Stern is a typical American teen... until she opens a door and finds herself in Nazi-occupied Poland. Why does everyone here seem to know her as a cousin?

PHOTO (COLOR): Jane Yolen's first book was published on her 22nd birthday! As a teen, she won a Scholastic Art & Writing Award.