| Melanie Ross | |
| |
| illustration by Alton Raible | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Age: | 11 |
| Race: | African-American |
| Nationality: | American |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Appearance: | Slender |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Family | |
| Parents: Brother: |
Mr. and Mrs. Ross Marshall |
| Book Appearances | |
| The Egypt Game, The Gypsy Game | |
Melanie Ross is a main character from the Game Series.
Description[]
Melanie is an African-American girl; her face has pert features and arched eyebrows, and she has a slender body[1]. She lives in a Californian university town, in an apartment on the second floor of Casa Rosada, together with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ross, and her younger brother Marshall. They moved to this apartment four years ago, when Melanie was seven.
She is a sixth-grader and goes to Wilson School, where she has good results and lots of friends[2]. She is especially good at math[3].
Activity[]
Melanie Likes to play the egypt game.She also loves to read and play with April.
The Egypt Game[]
She meets April Hall, the granddaughter of one of the neighbors who moved temporarily to Casa Rosada. At first, she is taken aback by April's appearance and attitude, but the two girls become best friends when they discover that both of them prefer to play imaginative games.
She and April become interested in Ancient Egypt after reading a book in the local library, and they start a game in which they pretend to be Egyptians. They discover an abandoned storage yard behind A-Z Antiques, improvise in a shed using the items they find close by, and visit the place frequently to play their game. Her brother, Marshall, joins in as well. When school starts, Melanie supports April and makes her discard her "Hollywood act", helping her to integrate in the class.
Soon they have a new playmate, Elizabeth Chung, who just moved to Casa Rosada, and they continue developing their game. After a little girl was murdered in the area, the children are not allowed to play outside, and Melanie is forced to stay indoors in the afternoons. She and the other two girls spend the time with making costumes for the game. They are able to revisit "Egypt" only after a month, when they break away from the Halloween trick-or-treating group and enter the storage yard. However, they are spotted by two of their classmates, Toby Alvillar and Ken Kamata, who follow them into the yard. The girls panic, but they reach a compromise: they invite the two boys to join their game, who, in return, promise to not give them away.
Soon, they are allowed to play outdoors again. Toby and Ken are actually interested in the game, they bring several objects to decorate the temple with, and they have lots of good ideas. The six kids make up their own alphabet and give themselves names; Melanie is Aida, named after the main character in Verdi's opera, and her symbol is a bird.
After the attack on April, the murderer is caught and the Professor becomes a good friend of the children, allowing them to continue playing in the yard. They also all like to eat enourmas amounts of pie suddenly and feel that the egypt game is ruined becasue the pie was bad. So they try the Gypsy Game
The Gypsy Game[]
After the six kids get tired of the "Egypt Game", April proposes a similar game involving Gypsies. They consult some books in the library and start organizing their game, re-decorating the storage yard. However, after reading a book, Melanie starts to disapprove of the new game, claiming that Gypsy life is too sad and depressing to make a game out of it. She fights with Melanie, but eventually the other kids agree as well, and they abandon the idea.
When Toby starts to act strange, Melanie and April suspect that he is in some kind of trouble. Soon after, Toby runs away from home and sleeps in the storage yard. When the children go to visit him, they are met by two men who claim to be detectives, asking about Toby. However, Toby escapes in the meanwhile and shelters in an abandoned church with other homeless people. Melanie and April are worried about him; later they are led to the church by Bruno, but the boy refuses to leave. Melanie thinks the best thing would be to tell the adults about his hiding place, and they speak with Toby's father. Eventually, Toby's problems are solved and he returns home
References[]
| Game Series Characters | |
|---|---|
| Main | April • Melanie • Toby • The Professor |
| Supporting | Andre • Bruno • Caroline • Elizabeth • Ken • Marshall • Mr. and Mrs. Ross |
| Minor | Mr. Bodler • Dorothea • Garbo • Mickey • Mr. Schmitt • Vince |