The mother of a son with CP, the author portrays Ellie and her mom's loving but fraught relationship with achingly vivid accuracy, bringing the tension between Ellie's craving for independence and her mother's fears to a satisfying resolution. Kids navigating disabilities may find her frank frustration with inaccessibility, illness, and patronization particularly cathartic, but readers with and without disabilities will recognize her desire to belong. * “Her voice equal parts vulnerable, reflective, and deliciously wry, Ellie is refreshingly complex. * "Drawing on her own experiences with her son, who has cerebral palsy, debut author Sumner doesn’t sugarcoat Ellie’s daily challenges-social, emotional, and physical-including navigating showers and crowded classrooms. . Ellie is easy to champion, and her story reminds readers that life’s burdens are always lighter with friends and family-and a good piece of pie-at the ready." I'm reading it a second time now.'"-Deb Perelman, creator of Smitten Kitchen I liked the scenes and I wanted to hang out with Ellie. "My son Jacob says: 'I usually read books about wizards and magic, but I liked this a lot. Filled with heart and spirit-I love this book.” -Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, author of The Story Collector series and A Dog Like Daisy "Ellie is filled with ideas for delicious baked goods, but she can’t quite figure out the recipe to make her family feel whole again. Now she just has to convince her mom that this town might just be the best thing that ever happened to them! It all feels like one challenge too many, until Ellie starts to make her first-ever friends. Except she’s not just the new kid-she’s the new kid in the wheelchair who lives in the trailer park on the wrong side of town. If she’s not writing fan letters to her favorite celebrity chefs, she’s practicing recipes on her well-meaning, if overworked, mother.īut when Ellie and her mom move so they can help take care of her ailing grandpa, Ellie has to start all over again in a new town at a new school. The thing is, Ellie has big dreams: She might be eating Stouffer’s for dinner, but one day she’s going to be a professional baker. That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she’s going to be all sunshine and cuddles. In the tradition of Wonder and Out of My Mind, this big-hearted middle grade debut tells the story of an irrepressible girl with cerebral palsy whose life takes an unexpected turn when she moves to a new town.Įllie’s a girl who tells it like it is. “A big-hearted story that’s as sweet as it is awesome.” -R.J. Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 How do you power through circumstances that you cannot change?īook info: Roll With It / Jamie Sumner. What if Ellie, Mom, and Mema can’t keep Grandpa safe at home?Įllie writes letters to famous bakers after she tries their recipes in search of the perfect one to enter in the town Pie Contest…maybe a little victory could be a big win. What if her distant dad convinces Mom they’re too far from a specialist? Small town, small school, no one cares how far Ellie has progressed medically or that the 12 year old is a great baker, seeing only a kid in a wheelchair, someone from that old-people trailer park.Ĭarpooling with Coralee who loves outrageously bright clothes and Bert who quotes facts instead of making conversation… middle school isn’t kind to any of them.Įllie will stand up for Coralee and Bert, even if her legs won’t due to cerebral palsy, and her new friends will stand up for her. Oklahoma is a lot farther from Nashville than it looks on the map, but Ellie and Mom have to get there and convince Mema to let them help take care of Grandpa whose dementia is getting worse.
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