Float

Murphy, a 12-year-old boy in the Red Maple cabin with Emerson, is thin, has red hair, and wears ill-fitting hand-me-downs because his family has very little money. Murphy’s RISK factor is time travel: he will often vanish for minutes or hours at a time while he involuntarily visits another time and place. Sometimes, versions of Murphy from other points in his life will appear at Camp Outlier. Martin’s novel suggests that time travel is a particularly difficult RISK factor to live with, both physically and emotionally taxing and subject to heavy government oversight. Murphy has to make regular reports to the Time Travel Bureau of Investigation (TTBI), and he is strictly forbidden from telling anyone about the future. The nature of Murphy’s RISK factor makes him feel trapped, lacking any real agency in his own life—bound by both government regulations and the future, which he believes to be set in stone and out of his control. This is a big burden for him to bear, as he has seen his future funeral and knows that he will not survive the summer. Over the course of his arc, Murphy experiences a profound shift in his understanding of the world. He discovers that the future can be changed, allowing him to embrace a renewed sense of autonomy in his own life.

Through the life and death stakes of Murphy’s arc, he embodies the novel’s thematic interest in Living Life Fully, symbolized by his life list—things he wants to do before he dies to make sure he lives his life to the fullest. Martin lays the groundwork for Murphy’s ideological shift by establishing his tendency to break rules. On several occasions, Murphy breaks the rules of time travel established for him by the TTBI. He tells Emerson about his impending death, and he travels back in time and saves Emerson’s life during the initiation ritual. At the end of the book, his future self warns Emerson not to tell the TTBI about meeting the hunters. Although he is afraid of the TTBI, Murphy understands that his responsibilities to himself, his friends, and the future outweigh his legal responsibilities. Like Emerson, Murphy’s character growth is set in motion by The Power of Friendship and the other boys’ refusal to let him accept his impending death without a fight.

Hank is a Red Maple camper who soon becomes Emerson’s best friend. He has blond hair and green eyes, and parts of his body turn invisible involuntarily. Sometimes, he vanishes entirely. He is not a danger to himself or others, but he is considered a criminal liability because he could break into buildings with relative ease. Hank is a jokester who does not mind looking silly. He’s obsessed with girls and flirts shamelessly with any girl he meets, even quoting Romeo and Juliet to get their attention. When Hank turns invisible, his clothes remain visible, so he often gets naked so that he can walk around without being seen. His lack of self-consciousness means that when he does suddenly reappear, he is never embarrassed. Martin positions Hank as a kind of foil to Emerson—confident where Emerson is timid and adventurous where Emerson is painfully cautious.

Hank is the one who first introduces the idea of a life list to his cabin mates, emphasizing the novel’s thematic interest in Living Life Fully. He’s been keeping his list since he was very young and has already crossed off nearly a hundred items by the time he gets to camp—a practice the rest of the Red Maple boys eventually adopt. He updates the list continuously so that there are always 100 new things to experience. Hank firmly believes that Living Life Fully is much better than being afraid all of the time. He refuses to take no for an answer, continuing to look for ways to save Murphy despite his lack of success and Murphy’s insistence that he give up. In the end, Hank’s efforts pay off and Murphy survives. Hank plays a critical role in Emerson’s arc, pushing him out of his comfort zone and encouraging him to become more confident. Hank’s flirting even earns him a kiss from Kirsty, which pleases him even though he gets blisters on his lips from the heat of her RISK factor. Martin’s second book in the Float series, Vanishing Act, positions Hank as the protagonist, centering on his experiences.

Eli is the counselor of the Red Maple cabin. He’s in his early 20s, and his RISK factor is shape-shifting. His appearance changes throughout the day, and sometimes parts of his body will grow or shrink. In one scene, his arms are half of their usual length. As a character, Eli embodies a liminal state between childhood and adulthood. He’s torn between his sense of responsibility, wanting to keep his campers safe and obeying the rules, and a desire to encourage them to break rules, have fun, and play pranks. On several occasions, the campers manage to sneak out without him noticing. When they misbehave, Eli is prepared to dole out punishments like scrubbing the bathroom with toothbrushes, while secretly loving that the boys are pushing boundaries and experiencing more freedom. Eli has a romantic connection with the counselor in charge of the Monarch cabin.

Gary is a Red Maple camper whose RISK factor is stickiness. His hands involuntarily stick to things, and it’s impossible to remove them without using caustic acid. They might stick for minutes, hours, or even days. Through Gary’s arc, Martin highlights The Negative Impact of Ableism in the world of the story. In addition to his RISK factor, Gary has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). He has spent his life being told that he is unpleasant to be around because of his behavioral issues, and he has internalized that ableist rhetoric. He initially pushes his fellow campers away and refuses to make friends with them, seeing RISK factors as nothing more than dangerous burdens. Eventually, Emerson helps Gary see that his stickiness, while often inconvenient, can be a life-saving asset. He saves both Emerson and Murphy’s lives over the course of the summer, empowering him and making him feel pride and a sense of belonging among his friends, underscoring The Power of Friendship.

The last two Red Maple campers are Anthony and Zeke—both fairly minor characters in Float—through whom Martin provides examples of various accommodations kids with RISK factors adopt in order to manage their abilities. Anthony has the ability to spontaneously combust, so parts of his body are always catching on fire. Everything he wears and many things he touches have to be flame-resistant, and he is always nervous about getting too close to people in case he injures them. Zeke is a short, Black boy whose RISK factor is X-ray vision. His normal vision is very poor at the best of times, and occasionally he loses regular sight completely and is only able to see through solid objects to the other side. Zeke has a skunk called Mr. Stink as a service animal. Mr. Stink alerts Zeke when he is about to have an X-ray vision attack so that he can sit down somewhere safe until his regular vision returns.

Molly and Kirsty are two 12-year-old girls in the Monarch cabin. Kirsty’s skin is hot enough to burn anyone who touches her. Hank eventually develops a crush on Kirsty after she responds well when he quotes Shakespeare. The two share a kiss at the end of the book, although it is not the French kiss that Hank had on his life list. Emerson’s crush, Molly, is a pretty girl with big brown eyes who sometimes involuntarily turns into a spaniel. Emerson is initially very nervous about the prospect of speaking to Molly, but she turns out to be nice, funny, and less intimidating than he expected. They hold hands during the fireworks at the end of the book, and Molly gives Emerson a kiss on the cheek before they leave camp. Molly and Kirsty (and the rest of the Monarch cabin), who appear in only a few chapters each, are static characters whose function in the narrative is to serve as love interests and catalysts for the growth and validation of the male characters. At the time of its publication, Float received criticism for the lack of interiority given to its female characters.