Book Review

The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I Loved this book!




As the follow up to her first book "Ellen Foster", Gibbons continues to show us Ellen's life as a teenager. I cheered her on as she struggled to deal with her mother's death and subsequent horrid treatment by other relatives. The characters surrounding her are each experiencing their own challenges and their effect on one another is sweet and thoughtful.




In Laura she finds not only a replacement mother, but also one with great wisdom and skill at living. Ellen is quite intelligent and aspires to attend Harvard and Laura is her encourager along the way. They both find in one another what they need.




What a gift to read passages that give both laughter and a twinge of angst. It is written in the way a young mind thinks and speaks, and I had to re-read some sections to understand the meaning.




Ellen is someone you know will succeed due to her focus and motivation to make more of her life. I can only be inspired by her.




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