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.©2006 Kaye Gibbons; (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Read by the Author

The author reads this book. It is difficult to discern the voice of one character over another. It would be better enjoyed on paper.

amazing story telling

this continues the charming story of Ellen Foster. you see how her life with her new mama has been. we learn her new mama is named Laura. Ellen is extremely smart and has worked hard to keep the few connections she had left in her life.

Avoid author-read books

After only 30 minutes, I had to turn this book off. Maybe it's a great book, but I will not find out. An audio book needs to be "performed" - not simply read. This is the second time I have been burned by an author-read book, and I will avoid them in the future.