Roll With It, by Jamie Sumner

 

Sumner, J. (2020). Roll with it. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 

Roll With It, by Jamie Sumner, centers on a young girl named Ellie, who has Cerebral Palsy and uses a wheelchair. After an incident of her grandfather’s Alzheimer's putting him in danger, Ellie moves from Tennessee with her mother to live with her grandmother and grandfather in Oklahoma. The themes of this book are friendship, disability, classism, differences, and family. Ellie’s story takes place in the modern day, as reflected by the fact that the characters have cell phones, watch the great british baking show, and live in a world in which Ellie and her mother reasonably expect a level of equity of access that isn’t always delivered by her new school. The plot and action, which involve Ellie’s effort to win a baking competition, fit in at school, and help her grandfather as his Alzheimer's progresses. 

As a significant portion of this story involves moving a decent distance away from home, there is a fair amount of discussion of the settings of this story. Ellie’s first home is described in detail, as is the trailer that she moves into with her grandparents. Their accessibility is also highlighted, though the accessibility of her friends’ homes is left undescribed. Her school, on the other hand, is described in terms of it’s accessibility frequently, with Ellie encountering everything from backpacks in her way to an inaccessible school bus. As such, the setting is a major part of the plot. 

Ellie is a generally upbeat and determined child, though, like anyone, certain things get her down throughout the story. While not every child has Cerebral Palsy or uses a wheelchair, child readers will be able to relate to Ellie regardless of their ability. She’s passionate about baking, makes friends with other children in her class and neighborhood, and the author provides amusing narration through Ellie throughout. While Ellie is sometimes idealistic or naive, she is an incredibly believable character, from her arguments with her mother about her accommodations, to her frustrations with friends at school, to her dreams of winning a baking competition. 

A consideration of the various disabilities that we see in Roll With It reveals some slightly problematic aspects. While the author is a parent to a child with Cerebral Palsy, she does not have Cerebral Palsy or use a wheelchair at all, and as this story is told from the perspective of a child with Cerebral Palsy and not through the perspective of her mother, it cannot be considered to be Ownvoices. Then again, Ellie rejects stereotypes throughout, never appearing helpless or to be “all sunshine and cuddles”. Ellie is resilient, determined, and upbeat for the most part. One of Ellie’s friends, Bert, has autism, and while he is somewhat stereotypical, he, like Ellie, rejects many of these stereotypes. Ellie and her friends are different by their own admission, but are all the stronger as characters for their differences.