Saturday, November 08, 2008

Ellie McDoodle: New Kid In School


Barshaw, Ruth McNally. 2008. Ellie McDoodle: New Kid In School.

I enjoyed this one. I think I enjoyed it even more than the first Ellie McDoodle adventure. In the second book, our little heroine, Ellie, is getting ready to move. And she is not happy one little bit. New home. New neighborhood. New school. Here's how the book begins,
The End.
Seriously. This is the end. I'm doing this new journal to keep track of my family's move to a new house (new city, new schools, new everything.) There won't be much to keep track of, though, because this is the END of everything good.
But of course this is just the beginning. The transition may not be completely smooth--nor painless for that matter--but Ellie does eventually come around to the move.

Ellie is as lovable as ever. And I definitely recommend this to fans of the first. But I hope as well that this one brings new readers. Ellie McDoodle relies heavily on drawings or sketches. Ellie is an artist you see. And these sketches make the novel fun--they're a charming asset to the whole. It's a quick read with a lot of heart.

One of my favorite parts? Soon after the move--I think the very day of the move unless time has clouded things up--Ellie goes off on her own exploring the neighborhood. She's not liking anything she sees...until she spots the library. "Finally! Signs of life. It's a library. This place is humongous! The kids' books are upstairs. So far, so good...I find the books I like and get cozy. It's not too quiet, not too noisy. Lots to look at. And MILLIONS of books. Icould live here." (19-20). She even makes her first friend, the librarian Miss Claire.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

3 comments:

Shelley said...

Sounds like one both my daughter and I would love!

Mary Lee said...

I also liked this one better than the first. The first seemed like an owner's manual on how to be a kid. The second one had a great plot.

Anonymous said...

I liked this second book, though I think that the first one was good too! I wanted to be in Ellie's place badly when I finished reading "New kid in school".