The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster (Random House Large Print)

This sequel to Gibbons' beloved classic Ellen Foster, stands on its own as an unforgettable portrait of a redoubtable adolescent making herself up out of whole cloth. Now fifteen, Ellen 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 in the world. Her sole surviving ritual --a visit to the county fair --takes on totemic importance. While she holds fast to the shreds of her childhood --humoring her best friend Stuart who is determined to marry her, protecting her old neighbor, slow-witted Starletta, she negotiates her way into a larger world --selling her poetry for money to pay her way to a camp for gifted students. With a singular mix of perspicacity, naiveté and compassion, Ellen draws us into her life and makes us fall in love with her all over again.