Sam@WLABB
Written on Sep 10, 2019
Though Ellie was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth, she was fiercely independent. However, after her grandfather's dementia progressed, she and her mother moved to Oklahoma, in order to care for him. As if being the new kid wasn't hard enough, she was also the only one in a wheelchair in a town lacking accessibility. Despite those drawbacks, Ellie began to settle in, and was thinking this could be her new home. All she had to do was convince her mother.
What a wonderful and heartwarming story! I adored Ellie, her wry personality, and her passion for baking. After the move, she could have opted to have a pity party, but instead, she found things to be positive about. She was making friends, she was getting stronger with the help of her very capable gym teacher (Hutch), and she was looking forward to winning the annual pie baking contest. I loved Ellie's attitude, and respected, that her biggest qualm was not that she had CP, but that she had lost a lot of her independence, due to the lack of accessibility.
Ellie was by far the star of this story, but she had a great supporting cast of characters. Her friends, Cora Lee and Bert were wonderfully unique and interesting, but I really loved them, because of what incredible friends they were to her. They embraced Ellie and accepted her, when she had previously spent most of her school life on the outside looking in. It was exciting to see her form these bonds, and I loved their plan to help her "stay forever".
I also thought Ellie and her mom shared a special relationship. Her father had left, when she was young, so it was really only her and her mom. Mom was a bit overprotective, but it came from a place of love, and I think Sumner did a beautiful job showing how difficult it was for her mother to strike that right balance of mothering with the autonomy a child Ellie's age craved.
I can promise you, that at the end of this book, you will have a warm heart, a smile on your face, and a craving for baked goods.
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.
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