Ellen Tebbits

Ellen Tebbits

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Beverly Cleary Published 1951-??-?? Type Fiction Genre Drama Themes Childhood, Drama, Friendship, School Age Group Children

Ellen Tebbits is a children's novel written by Beverly Cleary and published in 1951 and was followed up by Otis Spofford.

The book follows a timid eight-year-old named Ellen Tebbits as she transitions from the third grade to fourth and tries to make new friends while dealing with parents, teachers, and annoying students.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Audiobook read by Andrea Martin.
Finished	2024-04-26.

Wanting to encourage my daughters to read, I began seeking out books written for young girls in the hope of finding something they might like and learn from. Since I was aware of Beverly Cleary from the Ramona series I read in elementary school, I sought out more of her work. I had never heard of this one and tried it out, but I didn't find it very interesting.

Review

Overall:

Good

• The book covers a variety of issues that are important to third grade kids like conforming to the fashion of your peers, how to make friends and keep them through quarrels, how to deal with people who antagonize you, how to be noticed by adults, and the like.

Bad

• Despite all her complaining, nothing bad really ever happens to Ellen. All her problems really are the banal issues of an eight-year-old girl, which, as an adult male, I had a difficult time caring about.
• While the concepts raised in the book are still relevant, the book is now over 70 years old, so it's a bit out of touch.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Ellen and Austine both grow throughout the book.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Most the of the characters in the book are women who talk about all sorts of things.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no people of color.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

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