chunk: In the summer of 1972, Vada Sultenfuss is an 11-year-old tomboyish girl and a hypochondriac. Harry Sultenfuss, Vada's father, is an awkward widower who does not understand his daughter, so he constantly ignores her. His profession as a funeral director has led his daughter to develop an obsession with death. Vada regularly tends to her grandmother, âGramooâ, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and whose wandering mind likewise affects Vada. Her Uncle Phil lives near by and frequently stops by to help the family.
  Vada hangs out with her best friend Thomas J. Sennett, an unpopular boy her age who is allergic to "everything." However, other girls tease the two, thinking they are more than just friends. Thomas J. often accompanies Vada when she visits the doctor, who assures her that she is not sick and that she has no chicken bone stuck in her throat.