Ellen Foster

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully moving
Review: This is a fantastic experience. I thought I had a hard year with one parent dying, but Ellen has three relatives die in a year, and that's mostly the good news. She's amazingly innocent and carries the world on her shoulders. Don't let the short length fool you--there's many layers to this book which will make you think for a long time about growing up and reacting to life's consequences.

Rating:
Summary: Speaks from the heart about abuse and survival
Review: Kaye Gibbons has written a novel that captures the essence of how some children survive lives of abuse, neglect and deprivation. An 11 year old heroine, Ellen Foster has much to teach adults about living.

Rating:
Summary: A heart-warming tale!
Review: You love and admire Ellen Foster even though she entertains thoughts of killing her father, " I would figure out this or that way and run it down through my head until it got easy." The author, Kaye Gibbons, writes a heart-warming tale about a spunky, 11-year-old foster child named Ellen who survives the loss of her mother, abuse and the uncertainty of life. Early in the story, her mother takes an overdose of heart pills and slowly dies in her sleep while Ellen naps beside her. Unfortunately, Ellen is blamed for taking part in her mother's death. So her most difficult task is not finding a permanent home but to make peace with God and her family. Life gets tougher as she is abused by her alcoholic father, neglected by her relatives, and taken from foster home to foster home. Her street smarts & courage make her a memorable character. Ellen's father receives an allowance from his mother-in-law and Ellen steals a part of it and saves it for herself. She buys a microscope and studies the euglenas, diatoms, and parameciums and one of her favorite places is the bookmobile. She knows how to buy clothes and she stocks up on frozen dinners, "...but I found the best deal was the plate froze with food already on it. A meat, two vegetables and a dab of desert." Through her distinct, vivid and fluid writing, Kaye Gibbons reveals a young heroin. Ellen's last name, Foster, not only describes her family situation, but the strength that she develops within herself. --Edna Nerona, San Diego, CA, USA

Rating:
Summary: Excellant portrayal of a Foster child
Review: I was very impressed with Kaye Gibbons' ELLEN FOSTER. This book identifies what foster children face each and every day---not knowing where they will be living tomorrow. Iwould recommend this book to everyone. I was happy to see to Oprah chose this as her Book Club selection of the month.

Rating:
Summary: Ellen Foster is a heartrending masterpiece!
Review: Kaye Gibbons has truly wrought a masterpiece in the young girl known as Ellen Foster. Ellen, an 11 year old girl, has been raped, abused, neglected, and turned into a field hand, and all by her own family. She has witnessed the death of mother and grandmother, and been shuttled from home to home as if she was the potato in a game of 'Hot Potato.' Yet through it all, Ellen has maintained a sense of true self worth, and an uncanny maturity for someone her own age.

Rating:
Summary: A child's heart is resilient.
Review: Ellen Foster is old for her age. But she is the only one who knows it. This gut-turning story makes you thankful for a happy ending. Just when you think there is no hope, Kaye Gibbons delivers, like a miracle, a beautiful savior into this tortured child's life. The story speaks volumes to the resiliency and purity of a child's heart to see beyond the "rules" of her society. After a life of abuses and neglect, old Ellen's little heart embraces her good fortune and leaves her bitterness for another day.

Rating:
Summary: What Can I say: I couldn't put it down!!!
Review: This book touched my heart, as I read about the emotions that Ellen felt towards her father. How could one child have such hatred towards a family member. It was quite apparent to me that there must be serious problems with her to cause her to feel this way. I normally do not like to read when I am given a deadline, but I did not look at this book in that same manner. I simply could just not put it down. This is a book that made me think about my parents in a new aspect, and begin to appreciate them more. This is trully a book that I would recommend to everybody boy or girl, who may feel like their parents are the worst people in the world

Rating:
Summary: A book to hang on to
Review: Ms. Gibbons has the kind of raw and unfettered talent that can make a writer/reader feel intimidated. Her people are real, her stories are important and her delivery is dead on. This is my favorite of all her masterpieces. Ellen cracked me in two and at the same time threw me a splint and said "Get over it." It's a flare in the dark sky that illuminates the soul of a true survivor. This is the kind of story you'll think about and draw upon forever.

Rating:
Summary: Recommended to all ages...
Review: Ellen Foster is wonderful. Easy reading that hooks you and keeps you there from the first line. Working with high school kids, I would recommend this book to them, especially. On road trips, we read this book aloud to each other... time and time again

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to take Ellen Foster home with me!
Review: Ellen Foster stole my heart with her first words. She made me laugh, made me cry, made we want to take her in my arms and protect her from the the world, and yet made me want her to walk along beside me to help me see the simple pleasure in life that I take for granted. I have never been so touched by a character in a book...her words followed me around for weeks after I turned the last page. I recommended the book to all of my reading and non-reading friends with the words, "Read Ellen Foster--she'll become a part of who you are!"