Zoobreak

Griffin is the main point-of-view character and protagonist of Zoobreak. He is also the leader of the team and the one who makes the plans. The other children rely on him to organize the various operations they undertake, and the general consensus among them is that “You didn’t argue with Griffin when there was a plan involved” (7). Griffin’s character arc revolves around his changing opinion of how plans must be formed in order to work. At the story’s outset, Griffin is meticulous about his planning, creating contingencies for anything he can think of that could go wrong and becoming agitated when any part of his plan is thwarted by factors he didn’t anticipate. When the children manage to break the animals out of the zoo and effectively complete Operation Zoobreak even with things not going to plan, Griffin begins to realize that plans are fluid and need room to grow. This attitude is cemented by Operation Houseguest, forcing Griffin to relax his stance on plans because there are too many things he can’t account for.

Griffin struggles with feeling ignored and belittled by adults, and his character arc represents Power and Agency in Children.