Summary of Characters

"The Homework Machine" takes place in Grand Canyon, Arizona. The story is told through the eyes of Sam Dawkins, Judy Douglas, Kelsey Donnely, and Brenton Damagatchi, four 5th graders at Grand Canyon School. Despite their many differences, the four students, called the D squad, form a friendship as they struggle to keep the homework machine, nicknamed Belch, a secret. Brenton Damagatchi, was the creator and destroyer of the homework machine. Brenton was a genius and invented Belch, so that he would have more time for his other interests. Brenton had no friends and was considered a dork among his classmates. All of this began to change when Brenton accidentally told Sam that he spent no time doing homework because he had a machine to do it for him. Sam Dawkins, called Snik, is the new kid in school. Everyone thinks he was kicked out of his old school because he refused to get a haircut. The truth was, his dad was in the air force and was assigned to a base in Arizona. Sam's dad is sent overseas and is killed in the war. Sam was anti-homework and it was him who convinced Brenton to let all of the D squad use the homework machine. Judy Douglas was known as a teacher's pet. She enjoyed school and even liked doing homework. Judy worked very hard to get good grades, and was in awe of Brenton's intelligence and that it seemed he never had to try. When she overheard Brenton and Sam talking about the homework machine, she decided that if it did exist, she wanted to see it too. Judy told Kelsey about what she had heard. Kelsey Donnely was a slacker with pink hair. She copied Brenton's work in class and only did homework to pass and not have to repeat a grade. According to Kelsey, Brenton was a genius-dork and if anyone could invent a machine to do homework, it would be him. Without the homework machine, the D squad would have never became friends. Nobody thought Brenton was cool enough to hang out with. Good friends help you become a better student by adjusting your education with just a little help after school. Some kids, the D squad, get to use a machine to do their homework for them. Someone or something doing your homework for you won't make you smarter. You may lack on skills that classmates have mastered.