Ellie is the hero we’ve all been waiting for! I’m so glad that Leah Johnson has ventured into the middle grade realm! My students need her writing! I can’t Wilson to share this one with them!

I received an electronic ARC from Disney Publishing Worldwide through NetGalley.
Johnson offers a gentle look at middle school students who don't fit in. Ellie wants to be in the background and is content to let her only friend, Abby, shine. When an earthquake occurs on the first day of school, Ellie notices some strange things - she can now hear sounds from all over the house and then all over the school. She thinks it's just temporary from the loudness of the earthquake, but then she brings her dead betta fish back to life by touching it. Readers see how having a superpower actually affects a person and how social media can dramatically change lives. When she accidentally brings a frog back to life in the science lab, her secret is shared with the world by the seventh grade bully. She and her mom's lives change but they find their way back to each other by talking honestly for the first time since her dad left. By the end, Ellie has made major strides to learn how to control her gifts and has found friends who support her as she is. Middle grade readers will understand coping with middle school issues and connect with friend and bully issues.

I looove Ellie and I love the thorny friendship and romantic issues tackled here even more than I love the magic powers subplot. And I think the social media/TikTok plot will really resonate with tween readers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel!!

This was just precious. I will admit that going into this book, I didn't really know what it was about, but I listened to a reading by the author and fell in love. It was interesting to see a middle grade book addressing the power of influencers, but in a charming and hilarious way. HIGHLY recommend this!

“Ellie Engle Saves Herself” is a middle grade novel written by Leah Johnson.

I am honored to have received an eARC from Net Galley and Disney Hyperion.

“Ellie Engle Saves Herself” will be released on May 2, 2023.

I really enjoyed this story about Ellie, starting middle school, friendship, superhero powers, and family. I wondered how it was going to end from the moment I started the book and was not disappointed. I recommend this book starting at middle school.

Ellie is a 7th grade girl who has always been content to live in the shadow of her best friend. Before she can even get comfortable in junior high school, and earthquake hits her town and leaves her with super powers. Ellie discovers she has the ability to bring things back from the dead. Soon the powers cause a rift between Ellie and her best friend, and draws all kinds of unwanted attention to her within her community. Ellie has to learn to be her own person and learn to love herself exactly the way she is. This was a sweet story with some good messages for tween girls. I will say that it felt like the author was overcompensating when it came to representation. It seemed like there were token characters sprinkled throughout that were not important to the plot, but definitely felt like they were put there to make a statement. Besides that, this is a great middle grade read that is uplifting and magical!

Ellie is just a regular middle school aged student with a best friend Abby and a mom who works way too hard to provide for the two of them until an earthquake that shouldn’t happen in her town leaves her with super powers! Figuring out how to navigate those powers is a major plot line, but an equally important one revolves around Ellie’s struggle with her feelings of being different and to find friends who care for her whether she is super, likes girls instead of boys, is in advanced classes, or enjoys comic books. Themes of friendship, forgiveness and fitting in will resound with readers in grades 4-7 and the bit of super hero fantasy gives the book an extra zing. Main characters are Hispanic, Black and Caucasian and family configurations range from two parent heterosexual, to single parent, and two moms. Text is free of profanity, sexual content, and violence.

Middle school is a notorious time of change, but for Ellie Engle, the changes she faces are unlike any she ever expected. Growing up next door to her best friend Abby has been like having a second family–especially since her father moved out and her Poppy passed away, leaving Ellie and her mother working together to get by. But things are beginning to change in Ellie and Abby’s relationship as they pursue their separate passions and Ellie starts to realize the feelings she truly has for Abby. Then, when an unexpected earthquake rocks their small Indiana town, Ellie wakes up with inexplicable skills that separate her even more from the life she used to know.

This middle grade novel is a curious blend of superhero origin story and magic realism, focusing on a girl who already feels distanced from those around her. Characters from all over the spectrum color Ellie’s world, which helps her feel somewhat more comfortable with herself even though she is not prepared to reveal her true feelings to her best friend. Good storytelling and an intriguing premise keep readers engaged with this novel, and the overall design of the book makes it accessible even to more reluctant readers.

While this book includes several positive and notable elements, there are some pieces that do not flow as smoothly. Written in a colloquial style, there are many instances in which Ellie misuses “me” and “I,” which not only throws off the reader but also may confuse those who are not yet fully confident in correct English usage. Additionally, the superhero element draws readers in, but it does not blossom as it could as the story progresses.

Despite these elements, however, Ellie is a character with whom readers will quickly connect, and anyone who has survived middle school will recognize many of the challenges she faces. The story flows well overall, and Ellie’s personality jumps off the page. This is a unique and inclusive novel that is a good fit for middle grade readers with an interest in both superheroes and in the potential that comes from making the impossible a reality.

I love this MC! She is thoughtful and confident and a great role model for young readers. I think this does a good job of showing how to be mindful of yourself and others while also discussing the drawbacks of what happens if you don't find a balance between those two things.

After an earthquake hits her town, seventh grader Ellie wakes up with supersonic hearing and the ability to bring anything back to life. Ellie not only has to deal with her new powers but also with her growing feelings about her best friend Abby. This is a heartwarming story with many laugh-out-loud moments. When a video goes viral of Ellie bringing a frog back to life, Ellie struggles with her friendships and ultimately learns that it is important to know and be yourself. I received an ARC of this story by Leah Johnson from Netgalley. My opinions are my own.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ellie is a brilliant pre-teen who is facing struggles in life in this coming of age novel. Her dad left the family, her mother has to work a couple of jobs, and her best friend betrays her. Add to these heartbreaking issues, Ellie discovers she has a gift that also presents as a curse.

Well this is just adorable! I adored You Should See Me in a Crown, so I had this in my Baker & Taylor cart immediately. I actually had no idea what it was about, so the supernatural twist took me by complete surprise. (I guess it’s not so much a twist as…the premise)

Ellie Engle is utterly unremarkable, and she’s fine with that. She prefers to be in the shadow of her outgoing best friend Abby. But they’re about to start seventh grade, and junior high brings all sorts of growing pains. It’s bad enough that they’re starting new classes, dealing with new teachers, and forging new friendships (including one very inconvenient crush). But an earthquake the night before the first day of school seems to have given Ellie superpowers, and she is SO not prepared!

Ellie soon discovers she has the power to bring things back to life by touching them (she’s also got super hearing, but that’s sort of glossed over). She manages to bring back her pet Betta fish, and some plants in the school’s garden, but when a video of her resurrecting a frog during dissection goes viral, life gets much harder. In some ways, this is a very typical story about starting a new grade, growing pains, and outgrowing old friendships. The superhero angle puts an interesting spin on things – Ellie herself is also obsessed with comic books, and I’m certain there are SO many references that are going completely over my head.

I enjoyed this, but I can’t decide if I would have preferred a more straightforward approach. There’s just a lot happening. I get that we need some kind of catalyst for Ellie and Abby to have a friend breakup - Abby making the cheer squad isn’t quite enough, and Ellie’s viral frog moment turns her into the school freak show (a real “find out who your true friends are” moment). But I almost would have rather followed Ellie’s growing friendship with her new pals, and how she deals with her relationship with her mother (who is raising Ellie by herself since her father walked out - something else that’s sort of just glossed over). The superhero part felt almost beside the point.

But I did love this quote:
People think they want to believe in superheroes. That’s why the Avengers movies make a zillion dollars apiece and why they've had, like, seven hundred different versions of Superman over the past fifty years. Because losing yourself in the fantasy of the all-good and all-powerful is reassuring. But they don’t want superheroes. Not in real life. They want cardboard cutouts.

And to Johnson’s credit, she’s making Ellie more than just a cardboard cutout. She’s human and she makes all kinds of mistakes. But she also has Johnson’s trademark wit - which is really what I loved the most about this book. The line “Every boy in the seventh grade looks like a toe” had me rolling.

There's a lot going on in this book. BFFs splitting up, single parent family, Supernatural powers, character who might possibly be LGBTQ, Mean girl cliques, Missing father, dead beloved grandfather, classmate who has two moms, classmate who uses "them" as pronoun, POC issues, hippie teacher, and family money troubles. The characters are great and the story line is good, but too many "contemporary issues" are included. All we missed here was the mother dying of cancer! Should have edited this down. I realize the author is trying to include aspects of Ellie's life that possibly mirror her own middle grades experience but choose one "extra" issue to include with the main story line. Not every issue on the news and then some! It would have been a much more successful read.

<I>"There's nothing here to resurrect, but there is something I can save: myself. I've met one of the most famous people in the world, I've brought dead things back to life, I've been a good person with a big heart even when people weren't kind to me and my best friend traded me in for high ponytails and big bullies
I did all of that. Me. Elliot Leigh Engle. I've faced Big Bad bigger and badder than Marley Keilor and made it to the other side. I can do it again.
[...]
I might not be cut out to be the kind of superhero Wonder Woman is, who runs directly into danger with a shield and a uniform and near-limitless strength. But I can be a different kind of hero. A quieter kin. The Ellie Engle kind."</I>

TL;DR: A quick, fun, empowering read from Leah Johnson, about the importance of learning to love yourself and know your own worth & power -- and also about navigating middle-school friendships.
If you're a reader who doesn't enjoy pop-culture references peppered throughout your story, you might not like this one because <I>Ellie Engle</I> is chock full of them. But I love them, personally, and more than that, they work here.
<b><I>I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. </b></I>

Vibes: <b>Pushing Daisies</b> + Mean Girls + the MCU's Ms. Marvel

Genre: Middle-Grade Coming-of-Age w/a Magical Realism elements

Romance Meter: 🖤 🖤 🖤 🖤 ♡
If by "romance," we mean "self-love". If not, more like 1/5 hearts; there's some standard teenage-girl-crushing-on-popular-boy things and Ellie herself has a crush for the first half of the book, but it's not the focus.

Character MVP: Mr. Walker. Y'all know I'm a sucker for a grandparent character, and the fact that Mr. Walker was GIVING Ned the Piemaker just about sealed it for me.

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Verdict: 5 stars. This, for me, is a perfect example of why I see red when people use "juvenile" as an insult. Because, yes, this book is intended for Middle-Grade audiences. Does that make it juvenile?

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No it does not. I think Leah Johnson is doing a lot of things in this book -- but she's doing them in a way that never feels (1) clunky or awkward or (2) bloated and overstuffed. It's a tightly written story that deftly moves among some really important messages, and does so in a way that isn't overly didactic but still really clear, as Ellie has these very natural moments of self-realization.

What I Loved:

✔️ -- ITS BASICALLY PUSHING DAISIES
To know me, is to know that I love the criminally underrated and ended-too-soon Pushing Daisies. It's where I was first introduced to Lee Pace (*swoons*) and magical realism, and it has Kristin Chenoweth and vintage noir vibes and I just love it. Basic premise? Ned has a gift where he can bring dead things back to life: but after 60 seconds, if it's not returned to death, something dies in its place to preserve the balance.
And that's basically what happens here. And if Leah Johnson isn't a Pushing Daisies fan...I mean, she's gotta be! There's a line where Ellie says, <I>"Maybe I can become a kid detective who brings people back to life just to find out who killed them!"</I> Which is exactly what Ned does. And there's a scene with a strawberry being brought back to life -- it screams Pushing Daisies, and I am here for it.

✔️ -- We all know an Abby.
Ugh, do we know them. In my friend group, "Abby" was 2 friends, who decided that they too wanted to "leave their mark on the world" -- a.k.a. by becoming popular -- when we transitioned to high school. The breaking up of a friend group is just...awful. It makes you question a lot of things about yourself, because obviously we know that you can't control people, but what we don't always know (especially in adolescence) is that you may not always be able to understand people. You can't always know why people do what they do, if they even know themselves. And that sucks. And it can be lonely, and it can be really hard to open up your world, as Ellie learns to do here.
One of the reasons I loved <I>Ralph Breaks The Internet</I> so much is because I felt like it dealt with the really important idea of growing-with-friendships and how to navigate those situations when friends change and you want different things. It doesn't necessarily mean the friendship is over -- although that's the way it's often portrayed in media, especially for the sake of conflict/drama -- but you do have to learn to adapt. And I love, love, love that Leah Johnson tackles that here.

✔️ -- The Empowerment & Self-Worth Messaging
Adolescence is, TBH, a shit time for (mostly) everyone. That being said, I wish there had been stories like these around when I was in middle-school, because the messages that Ellie realizes and internalizes are such incredibly valuable ones.
A lot of Ellie's journey is about (1) learning to live outside the shadows of others and/or stop making yourself smaller so others around you can shine; (2) realizing your own self-worth; and (3) learning to let others in and expand your world. And, again, I think that's so valuable because especially as a tween/teen girl, when your friend group fractures, that "want" to go back to the way things were, or change yourself if only to get that friend group back is really, really strong. And not always the best move. So I love and appreciate that Ellie Engle models how to navigate that -- hell, I think it's a valuable lesson even for people who have grown out of adolescence (but sometimes act like they're still stuck in it...)

Will definitely be buying a copy for the home library and gifting to nieces.

I have read other books by this author I have loved. I really enjoyed the fantasy element, and also the theme of friendship. I think many girls will find this appealing.

I absolutely adored this book! What a great story especially for LGBTQ+ youth who need to see someone like them represented in an amazing story. I love how Ellie evolves through the story and ends up with a strong sense of self and pride in herself with a whole new set of friends that she never imagined she would have!

A sweet, much-needed addition to middle grade fiction. It's funny and heartwarming and the friendships feel realistic. I'll definitely keep watching for everything Leah Johnson does next!

Absolutely loved Ellie Engle Saves Herself! A wonderfully written middle grade novel! I really hope that there is a sequel.

Leah Johnson's move into middle grade novels was a success, and one that I hope will be followed by sequels as I am not ready to give up reading the story of Ellie Engle! In the beginning, this book seems like it will be a "crush on a best friend" romance, but it is not that. It is so much more than that. It is about finding out who you are, who your friends are, and who you can rely on. Ellie's struggles with her magical powers and the balance of the universe were paths for her to explore all of those things. Highly recommend.

Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson is an AMAZING book and without question deserves a 5 star rating.

I felt that Leah Johnson did an amazing job creating realistic and relatable characters. Ellie Engle is a character that readers can love from the very beginning. She’s a middle schooler that faces her fair share of struggles such as adjusting to middle school, dealing with friend drama, and navigating her first crush. When a random earthquake strikes, Ellie soon realizes that life has suddenly become more complicated because now she has a super power! As Ellie learns more about her power and what it means, she also learns more about herself and those around her.

I loved the writing and digitally highlighted so many quotes that I felt were real words of wisdom. I feel like certain parts of the story are fun (and even humorous), but there are also underlying message about empowerment and being yourself no matter what. I expected to enjoy this book, but even after finishing it I’m surprised by how much it’s staying with me! This is a book that I would happily recommend to upper elementary and middle school students.

Thank you to NetGalley and Disney Hyperion for the opportunity to review and eARC of this title.