In The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls, Liz is an exceptionally intelligent and independent child for someone her age, of only fifteen years old. Because of her extreme responsibility and compassion for those around her, she is a great role model for Bean, her little sister. Other than being a role model, Liz's main purpose is to serve as the maternal figure for Bean since their birth mother leaves for weeks at a time, and is not around to support them. Liz shows her role by always taking care of Bean when their mom decides to leave. To begin, Liz achieved her maternal role to Bean, by getting a job of her own, "Liz had been doing some babysitting, but after Mom had been gone a week, she decided to take on extra work, and I got a job delivering Grit, a newspaper with useful stories..." (Walls 15). Liz knows that if she is not independent and got a job then there was no way that her and Bean could survive without their mother. Also it was her idea to leave for Byler so that the bandersnatchers, which is the girls word for the police, would not be able to take them away to Child Protective Services. Liz always knew what to do in these kind of situations, as we are told by Bean, which makes Liz very dependable. Also, Liz is remarkably intelligent, which we know because she is always complimented by teachers, parents and other adults about how outstanding she is. But not only is Liz considered to be smart in school, or "book smart", she also knows how to deal with the world, or has "street smarts". She shows this intelligence on the bus ride to Byler, when the pervert tries to get close to her sister, "Liz led me into the crowd on the sidewalk, the 'Perv' followed up. Then Liz quickly pulled me around, and we jumped back on the trolley. This time, the doors closed before the 'Perv' could get his hand in" (Walls 26). She immediately notices that he is a