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Title details for Ella Unleashed by Alison Cherry - Available

Ella Unleashed

by Alison Cherry
ebook
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The Parent Trap meets Best in Show in this charming novel about a girl who must learn to make peace with the unpredictability of life.
Ella Cohen was skeptical when her mom started dating Krishnan just a few months after her parents' divorce. But two years later, she really likes having her new stepfather around. When she decides to enter a junior dog show, Krishnan even lets her start handling his dog, Elvis. She's determined to become an expert handler, even after her first show ends in disaster.

Unfortunately, some things are harder to control—like Ella's dad, who has changed a lot since the divorce. He used to be laid back and fun, but now he hovers over her constantly, terrified she's going to shatter into a million pieces if she so much as hints that everything in her life isn't perfect. Ella is particularly upset that his animosity toward Krishnan keeps him from coming to watch her handle Elvis, especially when she wins a lottery spot in the National Dog Show in Philadelphia.

When Ella's best friends suggest she find her dad a date to the dog show, it seems like the perfect solution. If her dad has a new girlfriend, surely he won't mind so much that Ella's mom has a new husband. So Ella decides to play matchmaker, going so far as to create a fake online dating profile in order to find her dad his one true love.

But it turns out people, much like dogs, aren't always so easy to control, and Ella's plan backfires at the worst possible moment. Can Ella manage to bring her divided life together in time for her moment in the spotlight?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 25, 2018

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781534412149

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781534412149
      • File size: 2414 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • ATOS Level: 5.7
    • Lexile® Measure: 910
    • Interest Level: 4-8(MG)
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • School Library Journal

      July 1, 2018

      Gr 4-7-After winning a lottery to show her dog at the National Dog Show, Ella Cohen is determined to persevere despite severe embarrassment at past shows. Meanwhile, she secretly signs her father up for an online dating site, impersonating him in an attempt to find a perfect match. Readers will laugh and cheer as Ella jumps through hoops to get the perfect date for her father. She compassionately voices quiet observations to readers, focusing on the changes in both her parents' lives since the divorce. VERDICT Recommended for libraries in need of light and funny, coming-of-age tween stories about blended families.-Mary-Brook J. Townsend, The McGillis School, Salt Lake City

      Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      August 1, 2018
      Middle schooler Ella Cohen navigates life with divorced parents. Two years ago, Ella's mother married Krishnan, who lets Ella show his champion dog, Elvis. Ella is close to her stepfather and is happy to share this hobby with him, but she feels pangs of guilt when she thinks of her own father, David, who cannot deign to be in the same room as his ex-wife's new husband. Ella wishes she could share this hobby--and her debut at the National Dog Show in Philadelphia--with her entire family. Conjecturing that if her father had a partner he would be happy and confident around Krishnan and, therefore, would attend the dog show, Ella and her friends set up a fake online-dating profile for her father, and all sorts of hijinks ensue. By the end of this delightful and satisfying novel, Ella gets her comeuppance--she is caught in a barrage of lies and must apologize to her mother, her father, Krishnan, and Beth (a woman whom her father inadvertently falls for). Ultimately, Ella learns she can't control all possible outcomes to create the best of all possible worlds. Cherry presents a realistic portrait of a multicultural, blended family--Ella, her mother, and her father are white and Jewish, and Krishnan is South Asian--and doesn't blunt the challenges of divorce.Realistic and sympathetic, with an appealing protagonist and an interesting hobby for texture. (Fiction. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:5.7
  • Lexile® Measure:910
  • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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