Published: 2023
Series: Roll with It, Book #2
Author: Jamie Sumner
Illustrator: N/A
Genres: Middle Grade, Disability, Realistic Fiction, Juvenile, Fiction, Childrens, Contemporary, Family, Friendship
Audience (Grade Levels): Grades 3-7
Number of Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads Link: Time to Roll
Triggers: Absentee parenting/estrangement strain, physical navigation barriers, and social tokenism
Review By: Kim LeRoy
Publisher’s Summary:
In the eagerly anticipated sequel to Jamie Sumner’s acclaimed and beloved middle grade novel Roll with It, Ellie finds her own way to shine.
Ellie is so not the pageant type. They’re Coralee’s thing, and Ellie is happy to let her talented friend shine in the spotlight. But what’s she supposed to do when Coralee asks her to enter a beauty pageant, and their other best friend, Bert, volunteers to be their manager? Then again, how else is she going to get through this summer with her dad, who barely knows her, while her mom is off on her honeymoon with Ellie’s amazing gym teacher? Ellie decides she has nothing to lose.
There’s only one: the director of the pageant seems determined to put Ellie and her wheelchair front and center. So it’s up to Ellie to figure out a way to do it on her own terms and make sure her friendships don’t fall apart along the way. Through it all, from thrift store deep dives to disastrous dance routines, she begins to form her own definition of beauty and what it means to really be seen.
Review:
Time to Roll by Jamie Sumner is a heartwarming and relatable story that follows Ellie, a girl with cerebral palsy, as she faces the challenges of a summer filled with unexpected events. When her mother gets married and goes on a honeymoon, Ellie is left to spend time with her father, who struggles to connect with her. To add to the chaos, her friend Coralee asks her to enter a beauty pageant, and their other friend, Bert, volunteers to be their manager. Despite her initial reluctance, Ellie decides to take on the challenge, determined to define beauty on her own terms and find her place in the spotlight. Readers of all ages can learn a lot from Ellie’s positive attitude, rage baking (a way to take out her frustrations), and humor injected into even the most awkward situations. The author does these characters justice and provides an entertaining read with many valuable lessons as added bonuses.
Sumner showcases an exceptional writing style and structural organization that handles deep emotional complexity with a breezy, laugh-out-loud charm. The narrative pacing moves effortlessly between humorous, lighthearted moments—like thrift store adventures and chaotic dance rehearsals—and the tender, vulnerable reality of a young girl navigating a changing family dynamic. Ellie is an incredibly memorable protagonist whose internal monologue is sharp, honest, and fiercely independent. Sumner does magnificent justice to her cast, avoiding clichés while addressing the subtle microaggressions Ellie faces, such as being tokenized by a pageant director because of her wheelchair. The book’s jacket art is remarkably warm, colorful, and eye-catching, utilizing charming iconography that will immediately act as a visual magnet for middle-grade readers perusing contemporary realistic shelves.
I give this title a full 5 stars, recognizing its top-tier standing in creativity, prose quality, and profound dedication to authentic representation. This novel is a phenomenal recommendation for intermediate school librarians, classroom teachers, and community youth groups. It delivers extraordinary overall value to secondary library collections, functioning as a vital tool for teaching disability justice, building community empathy, and encouraging self-acceptance among middle-grade students.
Classroom & Curricular Connections:
- ELA / Realistic Fiction: An exceptional mentor text for exploring how to write an effective series sequel, developing character voice through unique quirks (like “rage baking”), and analyzing subplots centered around family changes.
- Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Connects beautifully to units surrounding self-advocacy, setting personal boundaries, maintaining healthy peer group dynamics under stress, and redefining personal concepts of beauty and self-worth.
- Extension Activity / Library Application: This title is an outstanding selection for middle-school book clubs, literature circles, or independent reading incentives. For a library extension activity, students can step into Ellie’s shoes by researching and pitching their own “accessible event blueprint”—designing a school dance, talent show, or neighborhood function with Universal Design principles to guarantee every participant has an equitable chance to shine.
- Diversity & Representation: Time to Roll provides magnificent, essential representation for students with physical disabilities by centering a main character with cerebral palsy who commands her own agency. Rather than treating disability as a tragedy to overcome, it supports equity and inclusion by highlighting Ellie’s normal adolescent desires, her boundaries, and her fight against tokenism, opening an invaluable literary window into lived neurodivergent experiences.
Readalikes:
- Roll with It by Jamie Sumner
- Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
- Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
