Bri+-+Ellen+Foster

 Ellen Foster By: Kaye Gibbons //"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy."// - Ellen (Gibbons 1)

// About the Author:  // Kaye Gibbons was born in Nash County, North Carolina in 1960. Like Ellen Foster in __Ellen Foster__, her mother, too, committed suicide. She graduated at Rocky Mount High School in North Carolina. Gibbons continued her education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to become a teacher. There, she wrote a poem from a young girl named Starletta's point of view. That soon turned into __Ellen Foster__. She gave up becoming a teacher when she realized __Ellen Foster__ would be a success. Gibbons won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She also went on to winning a citation from the Ernest Hemmingway Foundation. She won both of these for __Ellen Foster__. She has also written __a Virtuous Woman,__ a __Cure for Dreams__, and __Charms for the Easy Life__. Gibbons recieved Knighthood from the French Minister of Culture for her contributions to French literature in 1997. Gibbons now lives with her husband and five children in Raleigh, North Carolina.

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 //Plot Synopsis:// __Ellen Foster__ tells the story of Ellen, a smart, young girl with a rough childhood. Ellen tells her story from her eleven year old eyes as she explains how she came to be the person she is today. Ellen lived with her father and mother in a small, southern town. Her father was an abusive alcoholic who abused Ellen’s mother. Her mother got bruises and injuries but stayed with Ellen’s father. Ellen’s mother committed suicide with a drug overdose and when she was found dead, she was on the bed with Ellen sleeping silently by. Life went on as Ellen hides from her father. She spends plenty of time with her neighbor, Starletta, who was also her age. Starletta was a great friend but Ellen found herself feeling better because Starletta is black. Ellen found refuge hiding in her closet or at Starletta’s family’s house. Her parents treated Ellen as if she were their own, even buying her a Christmas gift. Later on, Ellen’s father abused her and she gets found at school with a bruise. She explained everything to her teachers and she stayed with her art teacher, Julia and her husband, Roy. She stayed with them for awhile. Her birthday was coming up and Julia said she should have a party. Ellen had a party of two – her and Starletta. They saw a movie and went back to the house and ate cake. Ellen was happy at Julia and Roy’s house but that was ruined when her father came to her school and tried to get her. He got kicked out, but matters were in the court’s hand. The judge decided for Ellen to stay with her mother’s mother. Ellen’s grandmother was wealthy and widowed. She was cruel and racist. She blamed Ellen’s mother’s death on Ellen and told her never to cry again. Ellen felt her grandmother had confused her with her abusive father. While Ellen lived at her grandmother’s, she was forced to work at her grandmother’s cotton fields. Ellen befriended an older black woman named Mavis. Mavis used to work with Ellen’s own mother in the cotton fields when they were younger. Mavis helped Ellen pick cotton and Ellen realized she could pass as ‘colored’ because she had been working so much. She feels like she was supposed to be black but her skin got bleached. As life at her grandmother’s moved on, her father died and her grandmother got ill. Ellen took care of her even though she was very mean to her. Eventually, her grandmother died. Humor is found when Ellen took her grandmother’s dead body, put it in the kitchen, placed a Sunday hat on her and then put articicial flowers around her grandmother like a picture frame. Ellen called it a ‘still life’. Ellen then called her aunts, Betsy and Nadine to break the news of their mother’s death. Ellen was appointed to stay with her aunt Nadine and her daughter Dora. They were completely vain and cared about looking good and being spoiled. Ellen hated staying with them and on Christmas day, she got mad after Nadine and Dora made fun of her painting she made for them. Ellen lied to them saying she had a boyfriend to get Dora jealous. They got into an argument and Nadine cut in. Ellen got mad and she packed up her things and walked to a lady who already had some foster daughters. Ellen had noticed this wonderful, foster woman when she went to church with Nadine and Dora. And she was certain to have her as her own mother. //The Making of Ellen Foster, the movie: // media type="youtube" key="TCjH9kPkHG8" height="344" width="425"

//Criticism://
 * WHAT WORKED:**

__Ellen Foster__ shows great depth and perspective from the narrator - Ellen. The author, Kaye Gibbons, wrote the book so it would come full circle. Gibbons connects everything well and adds humor to a not so humours story. Gibbons ties everything together and shows the little heroine in Ellen. She writes Ellen's past as well as her present.

Gibbons also writes with the language of an eleven year old which shows even more character to Ellen. She


 * WHAT DID NOT WORK:**

The book was an enjoyable read. The only thing I have to complain about it is that it is dry at times and when there is dialogue, it is hard to tell the difference from Ellen's narration and the conversations.

//Why read __Ellen Foster__? //

__Ellen Foster__ takes readers back to their childhood and teaches us to find hope in the worst of terms. Gibbons writes well and shows Ellen in a genuine, honest way. __Ellen Foster__ makes readers want to keep moving on the way Ellen did.

This book was obviously on the Outstanding Books for the College Bound list because it shows the genuity of childhood and the eleven year old mind. It shows life in a very honest way. The book makes readers want to cry and laugh. The story of just wanting to get out of a situation strikes a chord with everyone. Gibbons also shows readers that sometimes people need to change for the better.

//Literary Information:// __Ellen Foster__ is a coming of age story (Randomhouse). It was published in 1987 in the United States of America (Gibbons).

//Other Outstanding books:// A Death in the Family I Never Promised You a Rose Garden A Seperate Peace The Member of the Wedding

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 * WORKS CITED:**

Gibbons, Kaye. __Ellen Foster.__ Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. 1987

__Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons.__ 2009. Random House Inc. <[]>