Study Guide

The House of Dies Drear Characters

By Virginia Hamilton

Life is one big adventure for Thomas. He's moving to a new house in a new town on the day of his...

Mr. Small loves history. That's the first thing you need to know about him. Actually, he has...

Mrs. Small is the strong-silent type. Like the other female character we meet in the story,...

Billy and Buster are Thomas's twin brothers, and they're only toddlers. They are never seen...

Talk about a mystery. Mr. Pluto, the caretaker of the Dies Drear property, is one of the biggest...

Mayhew is a professional actor, and the grown son of Mr. Pluto (Mr. Skinner). He's adventurous,...

Pesty is a special character. We don't meet many like her. Like Thomas, Mac, and Mayhew, she has...

Mac is a talented piano player, about Thomas's age. Thomas mistrusts him at first, but the more...

It's easy to see the Darrows as "the bad guys." They do some awful things – coming into the...

Mr. Carr lives on land connected to both the Drear land, and the Darrow land. He was friends with...

Dies Drear has been long dead by the time the book starts, but his memory – and maybe even...

This is Thomas's great-grandmother. He had a great relationship with her and wishes she had come...

Reverend Breckenridge is the preacher of the church the Smalls have joined in Ohio. He has a...