This time no camping for Ellie, instead she is moving to a new home!

Well, I kind of wish I just had stopped at book 1. Sure, that one wasn’t too good, but at least it was a two star in the end, this one just gets 1 star, and even that I find very generous.

Yes, I get that moving is scary, it isn’t fun, it is terrible. Yes, I get that making new friends is hard, is difficult. Yes, I get that losing old friends isn’t fun (then again, be thankful these days you have all sorts of way to communicate that are faster than sending a postcard). Yes, bullying is bad (I really hated how everyone in the school treated her like crap, even making a bingo card. Then again, didn’t Ellie learn to talk to someone if she didn’t feel OK? And not crop it all up in her journal?). Yes, a new school is just not fun. But why not look at it in a positive light. New chances. New friends. New environment so you can draw all sorts of new things. New teachers who may just be an inspiration. A new room all for you. And so many other things.

But it takes Ellie the entire book to finally notice that her life is actually pretty OK. Instead of the doomsday stuff she makes of it the whole entire book. Yes, throughout this whole book Ellie is one big gloomy cloud. People are trying their best to be friends with her, and sure they aren’t all a match, but she immediately judges them in her head (poor Glenda for instance). Teachers are there to help her (well with the exception of that art teacher). She has a fantastic library with a wonderful librarian. She has a pretty nice home situation. She has her own room. I could go on. But instead Ellie finds faults everywhere.

And thank heavens that we don’t have lunches here. If I see what those kids eat at lunch (meatloaf, hotdogs, etc.), and then also have to wait so long they can’t eat properly… Here one just takes a sandwiches with them, maybe cookies, some drinks, some fruit, and done. There is time to eat, and then to play.
I did like that Ellie tried to make things better for her school, and also involved her new friends to participate. It was great fun to see how she first started with a letter and then decided to up the game to something bigger and better.

The library was so much fun, it looks like a wonderful place to just curl up and hide for a few hours.

Ah yes, and again, like the previous book. Ellie, put down your damned journal. It is just highly impolite to draw while you are at a friend. (One time they were shopping and guess what Ellie was doing? Yep, drawing.).

I did like that Ellie has a rat as a pet, though I didn’t approve of her taking it to school. Not only didn’t she seem to have any place for the poor critter to get food/water/toilet, but she had it in a ball quite a long time. Rodent balls are fun for a while, but can stress the animal out after a bit. So never keep your rodents in a ball for too long (entire days are a big no-no).

We also learn about a few new games, a few I never heard of before. They do sound fun! Wish I could participate.

Just like the previous book, I loved the art.

But yeah, I won’t be reading this series further, and I am also thankfully I found these books for a bargain price.