By Stephanie M. White, Grand Rapids Main Library

In her first novel, Kaye Gibbons tells the story of Ellen Foster, a strong, funny, and honest girl. Or rather, she lets Ellen tell us herself. Gibbons brilliantly plays her characters’ voices, allowing each to ring true. But Ellen’s voice is strongest of all as she tells us about her family, her friends, and her search for a place and a life she can call her own.

Ellen begins her story with her mother’s death and continues with the journey of her own life. It is indeed a journey; while Ellen moves  from house to house and family to family,she begins to form her own traditions and ideas of how to survive in this world. She learns to take care of herself, to take care of her friends, and to decide for herself what is right and what is wrong.

Ellen’s story is gripping because she tells it so well. As she talks about living with different families, dealing with death, living with emotional abuse, and finding friends along the way, she convinces the reader to trust her and to be a part of her life. We come to feel sadness for a girl who must develop her own sense of who she is and where she stands in the world, as she gets little help from those around her.

Yet, we also trust Ellen because we can relate to her. We may not have had such tragic childhoods, nor had to address racism, alcoholism, abuse, and death at an early age, but we have all had to come to grips with these and other issues at some point. We may be five or ninety-five but, like Ellen, we will always be making choices about who we will be, what we will stand for, and with whom we will share our lives. Gibbons’ readers will learn something from Ellen, no matter who they are now and who they hope to become.