45 pages • 1 hour read
Natalie LloydHummingbird
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Olive Martin
Eleven-year-old Olive Martin is the first-person protagonist of Hummingbird, who lives with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI or “brittle bone disease”). Olive is the daughter of Mama and Mama’s first husband Jupiter, niece of Uncle Dash, stepdaughter of Mama’s second husband Coach Malone, stepsister to Hatch Malone, and granddaughter of Grandpa Goad. Characterized by optimism, she sees the world through a lens of wonder, as she does when she begins attending Macklemore Middle School after years of homeschooling. Her empathy and romanticization of life drive her to extend friendship to others, even her seemingly cold stepbrother Hatch. Although hope and love are important values to Olive, she is made more complex by the free verse sections interspersed throughout the novel. They grant deeper insight into her thoughts, giving her space to process emotions like disappointment and insecurity. These sections speak to her resilience, as she endures and processes pain without losing her optimism.
Olive’s desire to escape the label of “fragility” and pursue Wildwood’s wish-granting hummingbird with new friends Grace and Hatch reinforces the themes of Fragility, Vulnerability, and Strength and Existing with Limitations. When she breaks her thigh bone, she temporarily thinks “I’ll always be fragile. I’ll always be broken, or waiting to break” (314). However, with the support of her friends and Grandpa Goad, she realizes she isn’t as limited as she thinks. Olive’s moment of transformation occurs in Chapters 32 and 33: She takes the stage as Emily Dickinson and evokes the hummingbird. She finds her deeper truth—“My bones are fragile, but I am not” (337)—and ultimately makes a wish on Hatch’s behalf. Overall, Olive’s transformation reinforces the idea that she is more than her limits.
Hatch Malone
Hatch Malone is Olive’s 11-year-old stepbrother from Mama’s second marriage to his father, Coach Malone. Olive initially thinks Hatch is the “perfect” son and resents his cold attitude toward her. However, she learns his “perfection” masks grief, as he lost his beloved dog Biscuit and thus, struggles all the more with fabric and other sources of overstimulation: In Chapter 6, he is described as “always [wearing] the same blue hoodie […] rubbing the fabric between his fingers and thumbs. And he usually does this while reading the same tattered comic book: The Adventures of Marvelo the Great and His Fine Dog, Hank” (39). Hatch eventually opens up to Olive after spying on her and Grace, voicing loneliness over Biscuit’s disappearance. By the end of the novel, he uses his wish to give Olive a chance to perform as Emily Dickinson, and is reunited with Biscuit due to her own wish. Overall, he builds the theme of Fragility, Vulnerability, and Strength: Although Hatch does not have physical limitations like Olive, his difficulty with socializing and textures supports the idea that everyone is fragile in their own way.
Grace Cho
Grace Cho is Olive’s new friend at Macklemore, a self-proclaimed entrepreneur. Both girls are passionate about their respective interests and unafraid to be themselves. Grace is innovative and supportive, being the one to suggest a stage ramp for Olive. She demonstrates the positive impact of friendship by including Olive in her search for the hummingbird and encouraging her dreams: In Chapter 29, she and other members of the school’s theater troupe “roar” with a struggling Olive to demonstrate their willingness to share her pain. The novel ends with Grace being sought after by two of the hummingbird’s previous seekers, reinforcing the idea that one can grasp their dreams even without magic.
Mama and Jupiter
Olive’s parents Mama and Jupiter are important sources of support: Mama’s assertive personality lends itself to self-advocacy, while Jupiter’s sensitive nature promotes self-love. In Chapter 4, Olive characterizes Mama as “[having] steel in her soul; she’s a strong woman with a heart the size of a Tennessee sunset. And when she talks about how much she loves her family, she usually gets a little fired up” (24). Behind this strength is a gentler side: “Whoever my mama’s talking to, her eyes stay starry-focused. And fully kind” (23). In Chapter 27, Olive reflects that Jupiter has always believed in her potential. Overall, Olive’s observations of her parents reveal she shares their attentiveness, reinforcing Friends and Family as the Most Important Magic.
Mrs. Matheson, Ms. Pigeon, Mr. Watson, and Miss Snow
Olive’s theater teacher Mrs. Matheson and aide Ms. Pigeon represent barriers to accessibility and inclusivity at Macklemore, while teacher Mr. Watson and librarian Miss Snow validate Olive’s passions, reinforcing the novel’s theme of Friends and Family as the Most Important Magic. Mrs. Matheson and Ms. Pigeon dismiss Olive’s needs through body language and speech—with Mrs. Matheson outright ignoring Grace’s suggestion that the theater troupe build a ramp for Olive. Ms. Pigeon approaches Olive from a good (if misinformed) place: “I thought Ms. Pigeon would just be there for a little help early on, while I got settled into Macklemore. But now I wondered if it would feel more like she was babysitting. At the same time, it was really kind of her to help” (69). However, her chastising of Olive in Chapter 10 illustrates that even well-meaning people can negatively impact others if they fail to listen.
On the other hand, when Olive meets Mr. Watson, his smile “was as bright and friendly as his yellow sneakers, the kind of smile you feel in your heart as soon as you see it” (70). Similarly, when Miss Snow is introduced, Olive notes her “kind smile and fluffy yellow skirt. Her long hair shimmered pink at the edges. And a tiny diamond stud sparkled on her nose like a fallen star” (163). This whimsical language reinforces both adults as supportive figures in Olive’s life.
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