Roll with It

Jamie Sumner — 2019

A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 “A big-hearted story that’s as sweet as it is awesome.” —R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder 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. Ellie’s a girl who tells it like it is. That surprises some people, who see a kid in a wheelchair and think she’s going to be all sunshine and cuddles. 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. If she’s not writing fan letters to her favorite celebrity chefs, she’s practicing recipes on her well-meaning, if overworked, mother. But 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. 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. It all feels like one challenge too many, until Ellie starts to make her first-ever friends. Now she just has to convince her mom that this town might just be the best thing that ever happened to them!

Reviews

Sarah Sammis@pussreboots

Apr 4, 2024

Roll with It by Jamie Sumner is a middle grade novel about a mother and daughter moving to Eufaula, OK to help care for a grandfather with Alzheimers. Ellie, the daughter, is wheelchair bound because of cerebral palsy. Her passion is baking and she's hoping the move will be a chance at greater freedom. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

Nadine @intlnadine

Feb 18, 2022

Nicely realistically portrayed story of a young girl with CP. She's real and not saintly and the story is told compassionately but without sugar-coating issues like bathing and going to the bathroom and issues with aides. Great for the beginning middle grade classes

Katy B@katybauml

Sep 11, 2021

This is a sweet story. Ellie was born with Cerebral Palsy and uses a wheelchair. She's used to being different, not having any friends, and that her dad moved out when she was young. Ellie is okay with this because she loves her mom and immerses herself into baking (and mini golf). When Ellie's grandfather finds out his Alzheimer's is progressing faster than expected, Ellie and her mom move to Oklahoma to be closer to him. Ellie and her mom don't just move to OK, they also move into her grandparent's trailer in a town that is very small and not very wheelchair accessible. Not long after Ellie starts school she finds that for the first time in her life she has friends, real actual friends. Their group may be known as the Trailer Park Kids, but Ellie loves Coralee (who spends her time entering beauty pageants so her beautiful singing voice will be noticed and help her with a singing career) and Bert (the youngest of 13 kids who also happens to have ASD and be exceptionally gifted at facts, statistics, creating beautiful miniatures). For once in her life Ellie feels like she belongs and that her classmates and town will see past her wheelchair, especially after she enters the pie baking contest at the fish fry. This book offered a lot of different types of diversity. Skin color wasn't mentioned, but their are the kids who live in the poorer part of town, Ellie with CP, Bert with ASD, Coralee who lives with her grandpa, his girlfriend, and their cockatoos, a wide range of non-traditional hobbies, and accepting differences in people.

Andrea Pozo@andrepora

Dec 18, 2023

Lauren hughes @lmhughes3

Aug 12, 2022

Callie Anna@callieanna

Aug 12, 2022

Roz@irasobrietate

Mar 27, 2022