Changing schools, when everyone else is already settled in, is hard for Marcia (for one thing, her teacher calls her Martha), and despite her mother's optimistic prediction it isn't better the second day. Unsurprisingly, it's not many days till it does get better, with small successes (culminating in a birthday party invitation) adding up to a happy adjustment. But Delton's closing note--Marcia beaming because a newer girl has arrived, to suffer her own recent discomforts--is unnecessary and wrong-minded, and threatens to spoil her empathy with Marcia on that first uncomfortable day.