Time to Roll

March 15, 2023
A girl with cerebral palsy finds herself in the spotlight. A year after the events of Roll With It (2019), aspiring baker Ellie Cowan's adventures resume just as her mom is marrying Hutch, her gym teacher. Unfortunately, while Mom and Hutch are honeymooning, Ellie will be stuck with her father, rowdy younger stepbrothers, and stepmother for a month. Her father feels like a stranger; he never knows how to act around her or her wheelchair. So when her outspoken best friend Coralee recruits Ellie and her other best friend, �ber-organized Bert, to help her compete in the Oklahoma Little Miss Boots and Bows pageant, Ellie welcomes the distraction. When Coralee begs Ellie to enter as well, Ellie acquiesces despite her distaste for pageants...and to spite her father, who thinks she can't handle it. But when the pageant's coordinator patronizingly fawns over Ellie, Coralee grows jealous. How can Ellie salvage their friendship? Despite some poignant moments and a realistically messy portrayal of family and friendship, this outing feels somewhat rushed. Readers scarcely have time to process some plot threads--including painful revelations--before Sumner wraps them up, and secondary characters, like fellow competitor Maya, feel somewhat underdeveloped. However, Bert remains endearing, and it's heartening to see Ellie establishing boundaries with the occasionally overbearing Coralee. Ellie, her family, and most of her friends read White; Maya is Black. Sweet but uneven. (Fiction. 8-12)

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