Roll With It sneaks up on any middle school reader

For some reason the cover to the book and its title didn’t connect with me. The cover of Roll With It has a teenage girl in her wheel chair, balancing on her back wheels whilst holding a pie with finger like she’s spinning a basketball. The cover image and the title imply the vibe that the book puts forth perfectly. So much so that after reading it I realized I had brought my expectations to a book that I expected to be one that I couldn’t relate to and dour. 

Ellie is the girl in the wheelchair. She’s also just a girl, a typical teen girl with the same problems kids her age have. She thinks that she doesn’t fit in anywhere. It’s hard to find her groove. Her grandfather has Alzheimer’s disease and her family has just moved to a trailer park.  OK, that is a lot to pack in on one person, regardless of their age or support structure.  

Even though Ellie has all of these things going on in her life, she manages to keep it together as much as a teenager can. It all starts when she makes her first friend at the trailer park. Coralee wants to be a singer and dancer, but for now she’s eternally optimistic and excels at making the mundane seem well above average. It’s just the breath of fresh air that Ellie needs.

One friend turns into two friends and her life is looking positively upbeat. She starts daydreaming about cooking again, has an outing that’s planned on her behalf and loving every minute of it. However, just like the rest of us, we may self-sabotage those efforts that seem to be working in our favor.

What Ellie thinks is best for her plays out against her new friends and her own family issues in a way that’s surprising and real. It’s real, but not dramatic. I know that ‘drama’ isn’t exactly a key word that middle grade boys look for in their books and I’m like that personally to an extent. That is where Roll With It sneaks up on you.

Once Ellie is established in her surroundings the book is hard to put down. This is a middle school book that those who are normally more attracted to humor, action or science-fiction will enjoy. While the book is very real, it’s not depressing and will address at least one area a teen also has. That could be an elderly grandparent, moving to a new place or something as common as being different.

The age level for Roll With It is those in fifth through eighth grade. There aren’t any inappropriate things and the dose of reality is one that many parents will also welcome.

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