The emphasis on being one’s authentic self runs throughout the book. Emma has grown up in a nonjudgmental family who love her for who she is and who provided freedom and encouragement during her homeschooled years. Emma has a strong connection to nature; she has learned to treat everything, from frogs’ eggs to abandoned fox kits, with empathy and respect.

Before starting public school, the only difference that Emma knows will make her stand out is her red hair—“There’s no melting into any crowd” (34). She is shocked by Iris’s disgust to her statement about hatching frog’s eggs in the bathroom—a sentiment echoed by Leah. Caught by surprise, Emma pivots rather than explains the homeschool experiment, worried that “homeschooling” will also be negatively judged. Later, when Emma eventually joins the girls’ group at lunchtime, she stays quiet when Leah complains about having to visit her “boring” grandparents. Even though she wants to share about missing her beloved Pépère and Mémère, she stays silent for fear of being seen as “different.”

Emma has homeschooled friends, but she never had to navigate new relationships in a large group of peers with diverse interests and beliefs. Unsure of how to proceed, and with mounting insecurities about being misjudged, Emma hides who she really is.