The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster

In this sequel to Gibbons's beloved classic Ellen Foster, Ellen, now fifteen, is settled into a permanent home with a new mother. Strengthened by adversity and blessed with enough intelligence to design a salvation for herself, she still feels ill at ease. But while she holds fast to the shreds of her child­hood?humoring her best friend, Stuart, who is determined to marry her; and protecting her old neighbor, slow-witted Starletta?she begins to negotiate her way into a larger world. With a singular mix of perspicacity, naïveté, and compas­sion, Ellen draws us into her life and makes us fall in love with her all over again.