teaches to read and write, and who is given dresses and taught to act like a conventional girl by Tom's mother. Dotty beats up Sammy Leeds when he teases her. Danny Forester, son of the town's barber. Danny's left eye always seems half-shut, except when he gets excited. Tom swindles Danny out of a quality baseball glove by betting on hypnotism, which earns Danny a whipping from his father. Abie Glassman, a Jewish itinerant salesman who winds up settling in Adenville and opening a variety store. His business is shunned by the Mormon community due to religious prejudice. Unable to make enough money to support himself, he dies of starvation. Jimmy Gruber, a diabetic boy who dies in childhood, after his father steals Frankie's rocking horse (named 'Bullet') as a present before Jimmy dies. When Frankie realizes the gravity of diabetes, he allows the Grubers to keep his expensive swing horse. Eddie Huddle, Frankie's best friend and son of the town blacksmith. Frank and Allan Jensen, who are children of Scandinavian immigrants. Due to being unfamiliar with Adenville, they get lost with their dog Lady, whereas John recalls that "before any native boy and girl in Adenville was allowed to go outside unsupervised, they had to swear on the Bible to stay away from Skeleton Cave". Their disappearance mobilizes the entire town into action to search the mammoth cave. Tom rescues the boys using his 'great brain'. Howard Kay, one of John's best friends, who has "a round face like a pumpkin". In the first book, John, wanting to get the mumps before Tom and Sweyn and expose them, sneaks into Howard's bedroom when he is quarantined with mumps and begs him to breathe on him, which Howard does (albeit reluctantly). Later, Howard was reluctant to ride on Tom's raft Explorer when the river had turned muddy, which was a sign of a looming flood. However, Tom pressured Howard by calling him "yellow bellied" if he backed out (and thus lose the five-cent admission). The subsequent flooding becomes a disastrous ride, nearly killing Howard. When John sees Uncle Mark and Parley Benson's father attempting to revive Howard by feeding him whiskey, this sends John into shock, and he faints. Vasillios "Basil" Kokovinis, a Greek boy who recently immigrated to America. His father, George Kokovinis, runs the Palace Cafe in Adenville and speaks good English having come to America five years