Ellie Ever - Hardcover

Patterson, Nancy Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374321086 ISBN 13: 9780374321086

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2010

Synopsis

Ellie and her mother lost everything in the hurricane: their home, their family business, and, tragically, Ellie's dad. They get a chance at a new life when Ellie's mom gets a job apprenticing as a farrier and managing a horse farm in Virginia. Ellie has a scholarship to Twin Creeks Preparatory School, where her snobby classmates aren't friendly at all--until a rumor begins that Ellie is actually a princess! Suddenly Ellie is the school's most popular girl. But what will happen when the truth comes out?

About this title

About the Author

NANCY RUTH PATTERSON is the author of several novels for children, including The Winner's Walk, which appeared on the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List as well as four other state lists. She lives in Roanoke, Virginia.

PATTY WEISE is an artist who lives in northwestern Connecticut.

Reviews

Gr 3-5–After losing both her father and her home in a hurricane, nine-year-old Ellie is grateful for a new start in life. She and her mother move to Virginia horse country, where her mother trains as a farrier to take over the family business and Ellie has a scholarship to an exclusive private school. At first she finds her new classmates snobbish and unfriendly, until a rumor starts that she is a princess. Suddenly everyone wants to be Ellie's friend, and she has a difficult time being honest about her modest background. This old-fashioned story has a hopeful tone and contains several supportive adult characters. Thematically it is similar to Patricia Reilly Giff's Wild Girl (Random, 2009), though for a slightly younger audience. Information about horses is well integrated into the novel. Full-page illustrations are scattered throughout. Though Ellie and her mother sometimes talk about their hearts being "wrinkled," the focus is more on being the new girl than about recovering from grief. By the end of the story she has made the right choices and is on her way to becoming the "best Ellie ever," just as her father had always wished her to be.Jackie Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Since the hurricane that took her father’s life, Ellie and her mother have lived in a homeless shelter. When her mother accepts a job caring for horses on a country estate in Virginia, they move into a small house near the stables, and Ellie is enrolled as a scholarship student at a nearby private school. Her classmates initially make fun of Ellie, but they become friendly after a rumor identifies her as a princess in disguise. Then, an autobiography assignment forces her to decide how much of her past to reveal. This well-paced story has a number of distinctive settings and characters as well as a nicely understated way of acknowledging emotional truths. Each of the 14 chapters includes an appealing full-page, crosshatched drawing. Although there’s no mention of a series, plenty of readers will be wondering what happens next in Ellie’s world. In the crowded and increasingly repetitive field of early chapter books, here’s a breath of fresh air. Grades 3-5. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374321086
• ISBN 13: 9780374321086
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Weise Patty
• Number of pages: 128