38 pages • 1 hour read
Annie BarrowsIvy and Bean
Fiction | Novel | Early Reader Picture Book | Published in 2010A 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
Bean (Bernice Blue)
Bean is a seven-year-old girl and one of two titular characters in Ivy and Bean. Bean and Ivy are the main characters, but as Barrows introduces Bean first and focuses on Bean and Bean’s family, Bean is more central than Ivy. Barrows uses Bean to get to Ivy, so Bean’s character does more work. Without Bean, there is no Ivy and Bean. Bean must engage with Ivy and form a friendship with her. About Ivy, Bean’s mother says, “[S]he seems like such a nice girl. You could be friends” (7). The suggestion implies that Bean has the power to make Ivy her friend.
The girls’ friendship starts because of Bean’s choices. Bean chooses to hide in the bush and trick her with the $20. She then decides to try to scare Ivy. When Ivy offers to hide Bean from Nancy, Bean agrees. Initially, Bean has more power in the friendship. Notably, she gives the girls a goal that propels the plot—putting the dancing spell on Nancy.
However, later, Bean’s character doesn’t have as much power as Ivy. Since Ivy is the witch, she has the resources to exact vengeance on Nancy, and Bean depends on her. Bean also needs Ivy to hide her in her backyard. While Bean’s tough, aggressive characterization supplies her with power, Bean can’t punish her sister alone. She needs Ivy to cast the dancing spell, so she must become friends with Ivy and work with her. Their cooperation manifests when Bean gives Ivy a makeover, telling her, “The first thing we have to do is make you look more like a witch[….] It'll make your spells better, too” (53-54). In Chapter 4, Ivy helps Bean escape Nancy, and in Chapter 9, Bean helps Ivy get away from Nancy. Nancy has Ivy’s robe, so Bean “gave a yank and pulled the robe away in the nick of time” (100). The girls work together to defeat their antagonist, Nancy.
Bean is outgoing. Her worst fear is that her mother will “send her to her room for the rest of the day” (34). Bean doesn’t want to be confined to a specific indoor space. She wants to be outside, interacting with the world. Bean plays “with everyone. Big kids, little kids, all the kids in the neighborhood” (25). Though she associates “nice” with “boring,” Bean isn’t a mean-spirited person. She helps the little kids when they fall, and assists Ivy, and when she thinks Nancy is crying over her disappearance, she has second thoughts about using the dancing spelling on her. Bean has a conscience. Realizing that Nancy is crying over not being able to get her ears pierced, her feelings are hurt and she expresses her frustration by yelling at Nancy, “You’re a big turkey!” (93). Bean regularly insults Nancy, and Nancy is her antagonist in this way. The two pick fights with each other and often bicker, call each other names, and express frustration with the other’s actions.
Ivy
Ivy is a seven-year-old girl and the other titular character in Ivy and Bean. Ivy and her family recently moved to Pancake Court, Ivy’s mom has a job that allows her to work from home, and Ivy has a spell book from her aunt, who might be a witch. Knowing less information about her family’s background and arrival on Bean’s cul-de-sac gives Ivy a mysterious aura, which matches her witch identity. Because witches are often villainized, Barrows may have opted to keep Ivy’s background opaque. At times, Ivy’s behavior furthers the enigmatic characterization. When Ivy takes out the spell book, “She read it to herself, and then she whispered it, but so low that Bean couldn't hear. Bean didn't mind. Everyone knew that witches' spells were private” (70). As a witch, Ivy needs privacy. By reading the spell to herself, however, Barrows develops an increased sense of secrecy in Ivy’s characterization and furthers intrigue about what information the spell book contains.
Though Ivy appears in Chapter 1, she doesn’t have a speaking role until Chapter 3 when Bean yells at her from the bush, and Ivy replies, “Who's there? Are you a ghost?” (24). As Bean compels Ivy to speak, Bean showcases her influence on Ivy. Yet Ivy isn’t Bean’s sidekick, nor is she less powerful than Ivy. When Nancy arrives, Ivy takes control of the situation and leads Bean to a secret hiding spot. After Ivy says the word “[d]uh,” Bean realizes, “Ivy looked like a wimp, but she didn't talk like one” (37). Bean judges Ivy unfavorably because she reads books and wears dresses, but once Bean interacts with her, Bean discovers that she is her equal. Each girl is assertive and resourceful, using their imagination to evade and confront adversarial situations.
Ivy’s primary motivation is to study witchcraft. Bean thinks that people are automatically born witches, but Ivy corrects her, explaining, “That's what most people think. But I'm learning. I probably know more than most born witches my age” (44). Her friendship with Bean helps her develop her witch identity. Bean’s adversary becomes Ivy's target, allowing Ivy to cast the dancing spell on Nancy.
Neither Ivy nor Bean changes dramatically throughout the story. What prompts their friendship isn’t a character transformation but rather the end of their respective judgments. Ivy’s mother mimics Bean’s mother. Ivy says, “My mother keeps on saying what a nice girl you are. She's always telling me I should play with you. It's driving me nuts” (49). The girls discover that neither of them is nice. They’re not opposites, as the girls assumed before getting to know each other, but share a preference for thought-out adventures and quirky identities.
Nancy
Nancy is Bean’s older sister. Nancy is 11, and Bean is seven, and Nancy tries to act like a parent by bossing Bean around. Nancy uses a “grown-up voice” and shouts commands like, “Comb your hair." "No more pretzels." "Brush your teeth." "Say please” (13). Nancy’s bossy behavior toward her sister creates the central conflict, turning Bean and Nancy into enemies. Bean advances the discord by calling Nancy a slew of names. While shopping, Bean tells Nancy, “Don’t be a tightwad” (17). As payback for the tortuous shopping trip, Bean tries to torment Nancy with the $20 on a string scheme. As the plan fails, Bean works with Ivy to cast the dancing spell on Nancy.
Nancy then becomes Ivy’s antagonist due to Ivy’s association with Bean. Nancy also becomes Ivy’s antagonist as Nancy specifically ridicules Ivy’s witch identity. Concerning the wand and the robe, Nancy says, “You guys are complete and total dweebs” (97). Nancy doesn’t take their witchcraft seriously and makes this clear through her actions.
Nancy stays the same throughout the book. She remains spiteful and self-centered, but she’s not completely irredeemable. Barrows hints at her compassionate traits. In Chapter 4, Bean tells Nancy she sprained her ankle, and Nancy demonstrates genuine concern by inspecting it. In Chapter 8, Bean reveals Nancy’s tender side, listing the kind moments they had together: Nancy let Bean snuggle in her bed when Bean had nightmares, she let Bean play with her glass animals, and she gave Bean a fairy coloring book. Nancy can be nice to Bean, but in the first book, Nancy and Bean are predominately rivals.
The Mothers
The mothers of Bean and Ivy don’t have names, and only Bean’s mother has an extended presence. Nevertheless, they play a critical role in the story as they plant the idea in their daughters’ heads that they should play with one another. About Ivy, Bean’s mother tells her, “[S]he seems like such a nice girl. You could be friends” (7). Ivy’s mother replicates the rhetoric of Bean’s mother. Concerning her mother, Ivy tells Bean, “She's always telling me I should play with you” (49). The mothers give the girls something to rebel against and showcase their independence. As autonomous characters, the girls don’t follow their mothers’ instructions. Instead, Barrows brings the girls together incidentally, with Bean trying to scare her sister, growing impatient, and then attempting to frighten Ivy.
Conversely, the mothers’ advice reveals their sharp intuition. They wanted their daughters to play together, sensing they weren’t opposites and could have a powerful bond. As Bean tells her mother after Nancy falls in the worm pit and the day is almost done, “Weren't you the one who was always telling me to play with her? Wasn't this all your idea in the first place?" (112).
Although not named characters, Barrows gives the mothers some small traits. Ivy’s mother has a job and works from home. When Ivy asks for a banana, her mother shouts, “I'm on the phone. Get your own banana” (55). Ivy’s mother doesn’t know Ivy is trying to distract her from Bean; nevertheless, the dialogue reveals that she encourages Ivy’s independence and wants her to be responsible for the things a seven-year-old can access, like a banana. Bean’s mother reveals complexity when she gets a “little, teeny smile on her face” from pulling Nancy out of the worm pit (106). The smile suggests Bean’s mother’s awareness of the ongoing conflict between her daughters and an ability to empathize with Bean and Nancy’s sisterly quarreling.
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