Everything Is Fine.

by Ann Dee Ellis

Overview

Stuck at home caring for her severely depressed mother and abandoned by her father, Mazzy has only the day-to-day dramas of her neighborhood to keep her busy. But between flirting with the boy next door and worrying about the fact that she's flat-chested, Mazzy has to face the fact that her mom is emotionally paralyzed by a family tragedy. As readers delve into the story, they'll eventually discover what it was that tore Mazzy's family apart, and they'll see what it takes to put it back together.

Despite its serious subject matter, Mazzy brings humor to the trying age of adolescence and gives readers just the kind of awkward, troubled, and endearing character they will gladly embrace.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316040631
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/01/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	496 KB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Ann Dee Ellis received her MA from Brigham Young University. Reviewers called her debut novel, This is What I Did:, "haunting," "well-told," "intense," and "original."

Editorial Reviews

Impressionistic, elliptical and full of feeling, this story about an overwhelmed youngster valiantly trying to cope with her mother's deep depression unfolds slowly, until readers finally grasp the terrible truth of the event that caused the breakdown of her once-functional family. Mazzy is trapped in a nightmare of guilt and helplessness. Her sportscaster father is off pursuing fame and fortune, leaving Mazzy stranded in the family's increasingly disorganized home with her nearly catatonic mother. Neighbors make sporadic efforts to help, but Mazzy, who is fiercely protective of her wounded-bird mom, once a talented artist and art teacher, does her best to hide the increasingly dire situation. Narrated in the first person, this tough but tender story gives a skewed child's-eye view of the situation. Although readers understand more than Mazzy, who begins creating her own artwork as an emotional release, much is left ambiguous, particularly the motivations of her otherwise engaged father. What Ellis makes crystal-clear is how the tsunami of mental illness can devastate everybody in its wake. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews