Everything is Fine.

I had this book recommended at the UVU conference last year, and praised by some Utah authors as a book they wished they had written but didn't, but I forgot about my list until I saw this book in our school's library. The picture of the girl stuck with me from the conference and this author is friends with Carol Lynch Williams so I figured she had to be decent. I was pleasantly surprised.

This is the story about a girl who is living with her mom while her dad is working. Her parents aren't separated, but they might as well be. She is in charge of her mom, who apparently has something very wrong, but it isn't known immediately what that is. This young girl deals with the frustration of people who are supposed to help her, but don't, and people (the government) who want to help her but she doesn't want their help. As the story progresses, the reader gets to learn about her family, what has happened, what's wrong with her mother and understand (remember) what it is like being a girl who wants to be woman, but just isn't yet.

This story was addicting. It is a short book - took me maybe an hour-ish to read, but I was blown away by the narrative skills. I loved the way this was told, that the reader doesn't know immediately what is going on in this house. I know that Ann Dee Ellis is a new author, but I hope to find some more of her writing. If it is this good, I know I won't be disappointed.