This book is charming and thought-provoking. Cath Howe has perfectly understood the thoughts and attitudes of young children and this book comes across as very realistic. I think young readers will be able to relate to various characters in the book and become captivated by the mysteries and relationships. Ella On The Outside also touches on some important issues, namely parental responsibility, the influence of prison on families, and mental wellbeing. Howe handles these well, and gracefully; I am increasingly looking for authors who present adults as adults within children's literature, flawed and honest and real and scared, and this is a massive mark in this book's favour. She is left standing in class until the teacher tells her to sit. She tries talking to the other girl that is alone - but Molly doesn't want to talk to Ella. Or share her desk! Suddenly Lydia, the "it girl" in class, decides to be her friend, what does she really want? Why is she so hard on Molly? Ella is confused by this "friendship" but keeps trying to please her - until the night she realises it has gone too far and she can't stop it. Charming, subtle and incredibly - suddenly - moving, Ella On The Outside is one of those delightfully unclassifiable 'thank god it's in the world books that Nosy Crow does so well. It's due out on May 3rd and I think it's something to get on your radar now. Ella is facing some big changes. She's just had to start at a new school, she's moved away from her best friend Grace, her eczema is acting up, and on top of all that, she has a huge secret to keep about her family. So when Lydia, the most popular girl in school, wants to start hanging out, things must be on the up... right?

Pressured by pushy Lydia into investigating into Molly's life and what she herself hides from inside her house. As Ella uses her photography skills to document what she finds, she learns true friendship and helps a woman in need... As Ella also has to protect a secret about her family, she discovers a lesson about trust and true friendship despite first appearances. I think this book is one that every teacher should read. It really gave me an insight into what life could be like for a new child in a class and how as teachers we often miss signs of what children are going through or how they treat each other. Children will also be able to relate to the characters because it is told through the voice of Ella and some of the experiences she has, such as moving to a new school, dealing with bullying/ manipulation from other children, joining existing groups of friends and the feeling of loneliness and being an outsider and not knowing how to fit in. Ella is constantly trying to please and make the right choice but often ends up hurting others in the process. A pattern that is shown in this story is how at the start of each chapter Ella has written a letter to her dad. Her letters are all different asking him different things that relate to her life and what she has been experiencing. We do not see a return letter to Ella until the last chapter where her dad replies to her about her visiting him at Christmas. In the letters that Ella writes, she is coming to terms with her dad being away but still has some questions, like is he allowed to have a break from prison to stay with her? The questions Ella has made me realise that children may not always fully understand their situations. Elle intègre une nouvelle école mais n’a pas encore sa veste d’uniforme. Elle veut se faire des amis. Ho davvero apprezzato l’evoluzione di Ella, durante la narrazione riesce a mettere da parte se stessa per aiutare quella che può davvero reputare un’amica. Ella cresce e matura, capisce la differenza tra essere comandata ed essere parte di un gruppo. Quando si hanno dieci anni non è semplice accorgersi di essere una pedina, tutti ti sembrano amici, non penseresti mai che qualcuno voglia ferire i sentimenti di un altro per il solo gusto di farlo.

LoveReading4Kids Says

Come ogni gruppo che si rispetti deve esserci un leader, in questo caso il leader è Lydia, una ragazzina ricca che veste sempre i vestiti più cool e le scarpe più sbrilluccicanti. I capelli di Lydia sono sempre perfetti, pieni di mollettine e nastrini e, se le vai a genio, le porte di tutte le feste e i pigiama party si spalancano come per magia (ringrazio per non aver mai trovato una Lydia lungo la mia strada).

Ella moves to a new town with her Mum and brother, and starts attending Moor Lane School. It’s stressful for all the family as Ella adjusts to a new environment and her mother to a new job. Ella suffers from eczema which seems to be more severe because of this stress. Ella’s father isn’t mentioned, but many of the chapters start with a letter from Ella to her Dad. Ella’s Mum is adamant that his whereabouts be kept a secret. The most popular girl at school, Lydia, makes friends with Ella, but Lydia is domineering and manipulative. While Ella wonders about Lydia’s motives, she is flatter to be her friend. Another mystery is why Molly is so quiet and why Lydia doesn’t like her? There's a lot of heart in this, and Cath Howe's writing is perfectly pitched. It captures that confusion of trying to do the right thing, trying to fit in, whilst all along not being sure what that right thing is. It's a horribly familiar sentiment whatever age you are, and Howe gets the horrible edge of it so well. She also manages to get those moments of connection perfectly judged, those moments when you meet somebody who might normal and might be nice and might actually just turn out to be a friend after all of the drama has worked itself out.

Ella is the new girl at school and things are going as well as you might expect under the circumstances. She's trying to fit in, not really managing, and there's this big secret that she's not allowed to tell anybody. When she's made friends with by Lydia (and I phrase that most deliberately thus), the school's number one, things seem to work out but they really don't. Lydia wants to know what Ella's secret is and nothing's going to stop her from finding out. And the worst sort of secrets are the ones which, inevitably, make themselves heard. Il segreto di Ella di Cath Howe è un libro sull’amicizia, sui nuovi inizi e sui segreti che rischiano di rovinare una famiglia. In this book we meet Ella whom always feels on the edge of friendship group's at her new school. She falls into a friendship with Queen of attention Lydia whom seems to use Ella to find out more about their classmate, mysterious Molly whom doesn't mix with anyone and sits alone. L’auteur nous montre également qu’il n’est pas facile pour une mère de famille de refaire sa vie après ce qui s’est passé. Elle doit tout changer, quitter l’endroit où elle vivait, trouver un nouveau travail, un nouvel endroit pour vivre et tenter d’élever ses enfants. L’auteur nous montre une petite fille de 10 ans, passionnée de photo, qui prendra des décisions, qui s’en mordra les doigts mais qui, en écoutant les adultes, saura qu’il faut faire le premier pas quand on a fait une bêtise, soit s’excuser. Elle en sortira grandie, elle se trouvera des amis, elle saura se rebeller contre ses condisciples. Elle ne gagnera pas en popularité, mais son grand coeur fera basculer les évènements en sa faveur et en faveur de ceux qui souffrent, qui sont malades ou encore enfermés.