Ellen Foster

Ellen Foster is a work of great magnitude. Kaye Gibbons has a real talent for telling this story through the eyes for poor Ellen Foster. Nothing is said very deliberately, however, the message is received. Ellen's life is a sad twist of one tragedy to the next. This is definitely not a light-hearted Southern novel. It is a gritty, tough read, but it is so well done, it is worthwhile.

You will be unable to put this book down, however difficult it may be to read.

This book definitely deserves your attention, and at the discounted price [it] is selling it for, I would highly recommend it.

While reading this book, I saw a very strong, clear thinking, determined and self sufficient child. Her motto of doing it her 'own self' reminded me of my independence as a child.

Yet, when I saw the movie, I didn't see an empowered child. I saw a sad story of an abused and abandoned child. I laughed through the book because you couldn't tell Ellen that she wasn't in control. The girl had a plan. Yet the movie left me so choked up that I almost felt bad that I hadn't realized how alone this child was before.

I am glad I read the book first. I think the author intended to show this from Ellen's perspective and not the department of children and family services.

Oft times, people write off childrens' spirit's and strength and turn them into mindless/feelingless being who need their lives to be decided upon by not so informed adults.

Yes, Ellen Foster was a tragic story. But it was also a story of great courage a thinking mind.

It was this book that made me a Kaye Gibbons fan !

Eleven-year-old Ellen Foster is an orphan, abused and neglected by her parents and finally abandoned (after her mother's death)to a series of cold or uncaring relatives. With courage, wit, and native intelligence, she finds her own path to salvation.
Sound familiar? - Like lots of other comtemporary books about child abuse? Yes, but there's a difference: the understated, matter-of-fact telling of the story that makes this book so special. In Ellen Foster, Gibbons uses her beautiful language, literary acumen, and attention to detail to craft a clean, small spare portrait, a gift to all readers.

This is a short but engaging book that can easily be read in one sitting. Ellen Foster, the main character and narrator, is an 11 year old girl who has experienced more death and dysfunction than most people do in a lifetime. Her mother dies, her father is terribly abusive, and the remainder of the story chronicles her jostling from one relative's house to another- until she finally finds a home where she is truly cared for.

Kaye Gibbons writes in choppy, incomplete sentences as one can imagine the grounded and brutually-honest Ellen might speak. The book flashes back from past to present, but Ellen's child-like yet suprisingly mature tone remains the same throughout. She is a strong and lovable character. Her relationship with a "colored" girl Starletta is another high point of the book, and Gibbons manages to hit on the subjects of society's "rules" and racial prejudice without seeming redundant. This book alerted me to not only Ellen's plight but the plight of all children who fall subject to the court, social services, and the foster care system.

There is so much written in this short novel. It's a story of a young 5th grade girl that experiences absolutly too much abuse and ridicule in her life. The book, Ellen Foster, portrays a girl that is a survivor of neglect, alcoholism, and poverty. Ellen is a very strong child that witnesses racism and is inadvertantly a victim of the same. She doesn't succomb to selfpity, she is a tough cookie that focuses on her "new mama" and "foster" family.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a story told by Ellen using the language of an 11 year old telling her sad life story as she understands it.
I do recommend this book to all of my friends, it actually reminds me a lot of "White Oleander", another book that I thoroughly enjoyed.