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Here Today
Newbery Honor medalist Ann M. Martin's "unforgettable" (Booklist, starred) family story, now in paperback "In 1963, Ellie's mother, Doris Day Dingman, was crowned the Bosetti Beauty at Mr. Bosetti's supermarket, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the Dingmans began to fall apart." So begins 11-yr-old Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman's story. Ellie, who is about to start 6th grade in the small town of Spectacle, NY, is the oldest child in her off-center family. Her father works construction jobs, while her mother, Doris, has only one dream - to become a rich and famous actress. But when that dream leads to Doris's abandonment of the family, it is Ellie who is called upon to take charge.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
28 people are currently reading
776 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,123 books3,085 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 200 reviews
June 17, 2019
god, i couldn’t remember the name of this book and trawled dozens of goodreads lists to finally find it. it’s a story that i loved a lot in elementary school, really holds up.
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November 29, 2021I didn't read this but I needed somewhere to say THAT IS JENA MALONE ON THE COVER
September 18, 2011
Everything that I love most about reading is embodied in the novels of Ann M. Martin. She has become the master of the simple story, the type of tale made beautiful not by flashy language and shocking twists, but by the way it mimics the rhythms of real life with such haunting and undeniable truth. You're never going to see a pat ending to any of Ann M. Martin's novels, no feel-good finish contrived as a way of slapping on a happy end just to set the reader's mind at ease. I don't believe that Ann M. Martin would ever cheat her readers by fashioning such a plastic conclusion to any of her stand-alone books. Anything can happen in those final pages as we learn the fate of the characters in whom we have become so invested, and therefore any happiness that they gain by the end of the story feels more real and more valuable than any pleasure attainable through a happy ending that just doesn't feel authentic.
In America of 1963, our nation was poised to run up against another major tragedy, in the same mold as those we endured when presidents Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley were assassinated during their respective administrations. On November 22 of '63, president John F. Kennedy, like those three predecessors to his office, would take a bullet to his head, and it would be the end of a legendary era in U.S. politics. Before that day, though, no one knew that anything was wrong. The tragedy headed our way was still not even a thought in the minds of most Americans.
And so it is for Ellie Dingman, living with her parents and younger siblings in the quiet suburban town of Spectacle, New York in 1963. Her neighbors are the most real, most average, yet most wonderful people you would ever want to meet and spend your time getting to know better. Honestly, I felt twinges of envy for Ellie's position among them, centered as she was with such genuine people living around her, people that I would love to grow up around and have as my neighbors and friends in times good and bad. As is the case for the story itself, I believe it is how real these people are that makes reading about them an experience capable of stirring up those kinds of lingering feelings. It's that they are flawed and they get in arguments (even between Ellie and her best friend, Holly) and bad things happen to them in varying shades of awful and not everyone on the block is even a good person, but that again simply shows the way that real life goes. Not everyone in any community will ever be good, but that doesn't mean one should dispose of the community. Even as an imperfect thing, broken around the edges and not whole in many respects, harboring some broken hearts and broken minds in its midst, that community can still be a wonderful, beautiful thing, worth saving and worth holding onto because its people are still capable of so much good, even considering their brokenness.
And so Ellie enters sixth grade alongside her friend Holly, and the trouble begins for her both in school and at home. The Sparrows, a group of three (now four) popular girls who have always banded together to ridicule Ellie, Holly and anyone else less socially inclined than themselves, are at it worse than ever. Ellie's teacher may look like Jimmie Dodd of Mouseketeers fame (Yay! How can you not like Jimmie Dodd?), but unfortunately he can't keep the Sparrows from branching out into crueler tricks than ever, and with the addition of the new Sparrow leader, Ellie and Holly are more at risk than they've ever been in years past. The new girl's horrible games to get at Ellie and Holly make going to school a nightmarish experience for them, until the national tragedy strikes like a blasting comet of white heat and cosmic fallout; however, even the sudden shock of the president's death can't permanently change the hearts of four girls who haven't learned what it means to really care about a person and respect their humanity. And so the hurting continues for Ellie and Holly, with no end to the Sparrows' attacks in sight.
While Ellie's school situation is deteriorating, it turns out that so is her family life, though no one yet has any cause to suspect such a thing. Ellie's mother has been infatuated with the idea of fame for most of her life, either earned on the Broadway stage or as a star of the screen, but her taste for the limelight really begins to grow as she has a few modest success in the show business arena, and starts to believe that perhaps she really does have what it takes to hit it big. Her penchant for the life of a star leads her to begin drifting away from her family, and Ellie and her young siblings grow increasingly confused about what is happening in their lives. It's not too long before their mother is inaccessible to them entirely, and Ellie is left as the closest thing to a mother figure that her brothers and sisters have left to soothe for them the sting of the bleeding wound. Oh, that she would not have to be both sister and mother to children in need of more than just a stopgap substitute, earnest in her efforts as she may be...
Everything in her life seems to be going wrong, but this is the life Ellie has been given, and despite her own deep sadness there is nothing for her but to move forward anyway and learn again how to cope as things change rapidly and people come and go in her life, and perhaps come back again. It's like a flickering switchboard of colored lights popping up and around at seeming random, all shifting so quickly that it's hard to get a read on what it all really means, but Ellie has a better handle on it than most. After all, she fits in well with the other people on her street who all live life with love and enthusiasm and patience for their families even when it's not easy to fill any of those traits, and Ellie can do the same as she waits for the bad things that have happened to maybe take a turn for the better. And as she does, she sees that though she can't control the behavior of people around her who make bad choices and travel down paths that ultimately will lead to nowhere, she can control her response to the challenges created by those bad choices, and help her family and everyone she loves to adjust, as well. Real love seems to have the power to tie up loose ends, albeit imperfectly.
Simply to say that I loved this book would be an understatement. Here Today is a story that got inside of me much deeper than that. It got under my soul and into so many of the hidden emotional places that I'd temporarily forgotten, reaffirming in my mind lessons of life that I may have already understood, but hadn't felt this deeply in a long while. When you take a copy of this book in your hands, you're holding a piece of real life, as real as if Ellie and its other characters had lived just as their lives are written in the story. Because while the details may be fiction, every ounce of emotion and thought that the book offers is completely real, and it's that honest emotion that affects us so deeply through the characters as we read, giving us the gift of seeing these lessons as if for the first time because we are experiencing them anew through the lives of such genuine people, people as real and nuanced as anyone we come in contact with in our own lives. And their story relights hope within us that we don't have to hit the mark of perfection in order to be happy; maybe, as Ellie observes, we can still be happy being a little bit broken from the ordeals we've survived.
These days, I'm really coming to see the writing of Ann M. Martin for the incredible gift to the world of literature that it is. She has written some enduring book series (The Baby-Sitters Club, Baby-Sitters Little Sister, The Kids in Ms. Coleman's Class, etc.) that have charmed the imaginations of readers for decades, but it is in her novels that her ability as an author has truly found its zenith, and Here Today may be her best one yet. It is a masterful contribution to the genre of children's stories, and I give it at least three and a half stars.
In America of 1963, our nation was poised to run up against another major tragedy, in the same mold as those we endured when presidents Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley were assassinated during their respective administrations. On November 22 of '63, president John F. Kennedy, like those three predecessors to his office, would take a bullet to his head, and it would be the end of a legendary era in U.S. politics. Before that day, though, no one knew that anything was wrong. The tragedy headed our way was still not even a thought in the minds of most Americans.
And so it is for Ellie Dingman, living with her parents and younger siblings in the quiet suburban town of Spectacle, New York in 1963. Her neighbors are the most real, most average, yet most wonderful people you would ever want to meet and spend your time getting to know better. Honestly, I felt twinges of envy for Ellie's position among them, centered as she was with such genuine people living around her, people that I would love to grow up around and have as my neighbors and friends in times good and bad. As is the case for the story itself, I believe it is how real these people are that makes reading about them an experience capable of stirring up those kinds of lingering feelings. It's that they are flawed and they get in arguments (even between Ellie and her best friend, Holly) and bad things happen to them in varying shades of awful and not everyone on the block is even a good person, but that again simply shows the way that real life goes. Not everyone in any community will ever be good, but that doesn't mean one should dispose of the community. Even as an imperfect thing, broken around the edges and not whole in many respects, harboring some broken hearts and broken minds in its midst, that community can still be a wonderful, beautiful thing, worth saving and worth holding onto because its people are still capable of so much good, even considering their brokenness.
And so Ellie enters sixth grade alongside her friend Holly, and the trouble begins for her both in school and at home. The Sparrows, a group of three (now four) popular girls who have always banded together to ridicule Ellie, Holly and anyone else less socially inclined than themselves, are at it worse than ever. Ellie's teacher may look like Jimmie Dodd of Mouseketeers fame (Yay! How can you not like Jimmie Dodd?), but unfortunately he can't keep the Sparrows from branching out into crueler tricks than ever, and with the addition of the new Sparrow leader, Ellie and Holly are more at risk than they've ever been in years past. The new girl's horrible games to get at Ellie and Holly make going to school a nightmarish experience for them, until the national tragedy strikes like a blasting comet of white heat and cosmic fallout; however, even the sudden shock of the president's death can't permanently change the hearts of four girls who haven't learned what it means to really care about a person and respect their humanity. And so the hurting continues for Ellie and Holly, with no end to the Sparrows' attacks in sight.
While Ellie's school situation is deteriorating, it turns out that so is her family life, though no one yet has any cause to suspect such a thing. Ellie's mother has been infatuated with the idea of fame for most of her life, either earned on the Broadway stage or as a star of the screen, but her taste for the limelight really begins to grow as she has a few modest success in the show business arena, and starts to believe that perhaps she really does have what it takes to hit it big. Her penchant for the life of a star leads her to begin drifting away from her family, and Ellie and her young siblings grow increasingly confused about what is happening in their lives. It's not too long before their mother is inaccessible to them entirely, and Ellie is left as the closest thing to a mother figure that her brothers and sisters have left to soothe for them the sting of the bleeding wound. Oh, that she would not have to be both sister and mother to children in need of more than just a stopgap substitute, earnest in her efforts as she may be...
Everything in her life seems to be going wrong, but this is the life Ellie has been given, and despite her own deep sadness there is nothing for her but to move forward anyway and learn again how to cope as things change rapidly and people come and go in her life, and perhaps come back again. It's like a flickering switchboard of colored lights popping up and around at seeming random, all shifting so quickly that it's hard to get a read on what it all really means, but Ellie has a better handle on it than most. After all, she fits in well with the other people on her street who all live life with love and enthusiasm and patience for their families even when it's not easy to fill any of those traits, and Ellie can do the same as she waits for the bad things that have happened to maybe take a turn for the better. And as she does, she sees that though she can't control the behavior of people around her who make bad choices and travel down paths that ultimately will lead to nowhere, she can control her response to the challenges created by those bad choices, and help her family and everyone she loves to adjust, as well. Real love seems to have the power to tie up loose ends, albeit imperfectly.
Simply to say that I loved this book would be an understatement. Here Today is a story that got inside of me much deeper than that. It got under my soul and into so many of the hidden emotional places that I'd temporarily forgotten, reaffirming in my mind lessons of life that I may have already understood, but hadn't felt this deeply in a long while. When you take a copy of this book in your hands, you're holding a piece of real life, as real as if Ellie and its other characters had lived just as their lives are written in the story. Because while the details may be fiction, every ounce of emotion and thought that the book offers is completely real, and it's that honest emotion that affects us so deeply through the characters as we read, giving us the gift of seeing these lessons as if for the first time because we are experiencing them anew through the lives of such genuine people, people as real and nuanced as anyone we come in contact with in our own lives. And their story relights hope within us that we don't have to hit the mark of perfection in order to be happy; maybe, as Ellie observes, we can still be happy being a little bit broken from the ordeals we've survived.
These days, I'm really coming to see the writing of Ann M. Martin for the incredible gift to the world of literature that it is. She has written some enduring book series (The Baby-Sitters Club, Baby-Sitters Little Sister, The Kids in Ms. Coleman's Class, etc.) that have charmed the imaginations of readers for decades, but it is in her novels that her ability as an author has truly found its zenith, and Here Today may be her best one yet. It is a masterful contribution to the genre of children's stories, and I give it at least three and a half stars.
November 10, 2016
I read this book years ago when I was younger and it was my favorite book for a while. I identified with Ellie as I had a mother who did not live with me and a younger sibling who I cared for. It will always be in a special place in my heart, I will never forget it.
April 1, 2015
I wasn't a fan of the mother in this book and couldn't completely connect with Ellie although I did pity her. So it was just OK for me.
November 29, 2017
I give it a four because the beginning is not that interesting, but at the end it gradually became more interesting.
July 5, 2021
I . . . didn't really enjoy this one? It was a coming-of-age summer in the 60s kind of book, except there wasn't really a coming of age, nor was it particularly powerful?
The story was told in a third person POV while also being told from one person's POV, which really did not tell the story well in my opinion. There wasn't really a plot line, really? The main plot line that was there was masked by a TON of outside story and overall the story wasn't super powerful or memorable.
The main character, Ellie, was a really well-written main character: she had a lot of flaws and she definitely had character development as the book went on. It was really difficult picturing Ellie as an 11-year-old: while in some parts she seemed young, in most of the book she seemed to be closer to 14, with the responsibilities and of someone older. The only place where she appears young is when she is at school (which I suppose is some of the point: she had to grow up faster because her environment forced her to, but I think it could have been done better.
On the other hand, Doris, her mother, seemed to get more and more batsh*t crazy as the book went on: it seemed like Ellie was already mothering her at the start of the book, and it just got worse and worse as the book went along. I never related to Doris whatsoever, and often I found myself wondering if she had some undiagnosed mental illness (because again, it was the 60s).
Thankfully, Ellie's dad was really reasonable (and not abusive, which honestly doesn't appear in books a lot) and I really enjoyed the parts where he was in the story.
My favorite part of the book was the old lesbian couple who mothered all of the kids in the community and were responsible for keeping everyone stable. That was so much fun (and also not something I would have expected from a book written in the early 2000's).
Overall, this was an okay book. The characters could have been better portrayed, and a lot of the book talks about pretty heavy subjects without really going into it. The narration could have been pretty realistic, but it really didn't click with me.
The story was told in a third person POV while also being told from one person's POV, which really did not tell the story well in my opinion. There wasn't really a plot line, really? The main plot line that was there was masked by a TON of outside story and overall the story wasn't super powerful or memorable.
The main character, Ellie, was a really well-written main character: she had a lot of flaws and she definitely had character development as the book went on. It was really difficult picturing Ellie as an 11-year-old: while in some parts she seemed young, in most of the book she seemed to be closer to 14, with the responsibilities and of someone older. The only place where she appears young is when she is at school (which I suppose is some of the point: she had to grow up faster because her environment forced her to, but I think it could have been done better.
On the other hand, Doris, her mother, seemed to get more and more batsh*t crazy as the book went on: it seemed like Ellie was already mothering her at the start of the book, and it just got worse and worse as the book went along. I never related to Doris whatsoever, and often I found myself wondering if she had some undiagnosed mental illness (because again, it was the 60s).
Thankfully, Ellie's dad was really reasonable (and not abusive, which honestly doesn't appear in books a lot) and I really enjoyed the parts where he was in the story.
My favorite part of the book was the old lesbian couple who mothered all of the kids in the community and were responsible for keeping everyone stable. That was so much fun (and also not something I would have expected from a book written in the early 2000's).
Overall, this was an okay book. The characters could have been better portrayed, and a lot of the book talks about pretty heavy subjects without really going into it. The narration could have been pretty realistic, but it really didn't click with me.
June 24, 2016
In my opinion, Ann M. Martin of baby-sitter's club fame, fares better with her other works. Here Today is such an example. Set in upstate New York over the course of the 1963-1964 school year, this is one of many books that have been written about the impact of the Kennedy assassination. In fact, at times, it is highly reminiscent of both Marly Swick's Paper Wings and Elizabeth Berg's What We Keep. Eleven-year-old Eleanor "Ellie" Dingman is a likable character and her pre-teen experience is easy to relate to. Ellie takes on stuck-up school bullies, cares for her younger siblings, and faces a selfish neglectful mother. Doris, as her mother likes to be called, places her pursuit of fame and fortune above parenting and the toll it takes on her three young children and husband is chronicled throughout this story. Following the book several writers have contributed their personal stories about the their experience on Friday, November 22, 1963.
Certainly I enjoy coming-of-age novels as well as reading about this time period so I admit to being a bit biased. nonetheless, I do think most children this age would benefit from reading Here Today. It could be used in the classroom as an alternative to the usual novels and as a history lesson tie-in.
Certainly I enjoy coming-of-age novels as well as reading about this time period so I admit to being a bit biased. nonetheless, I do think most children this age would benefit from reading Here Today. It could be used in the classroom as an alternative to the usual novels and as a history lesson tie-in.
January 3, 2011
I thought that this book was almost like Women of The Silk, by Gail Tsukiyama. Ellie learns how to go through life with only the help of herself, and so does Pei, in Women of the Silk. They both learn how to adapt to changes in their life and they both hold courageous chracter traits. In this book, Ellie's mother leaves and leaves Ellie behind, but Ellie manages to keep her head up even with many devastations, like being treated differently in school. It makes me want to be more brave like her and when something badly goes wrong in your life, you just need to be like Ellie and just try to make the best of your life. She looks back at the end of the story on how much she has accomplished on her own.
January 13, 2015
Ann M. Martin did an exemplary job capturing the essence of life in the United States during the 1960s considering the recent assassination of John F. Kennedy. Ellie is a captivating character who is motivated to better both her and her family's lives. Unless you've experienced dramatic family issues, you probably won't be able to relate to the current situational side of Ellie's life. However, she is a curious girl and does care a lot about taking matters into her own hands; she is willing to go out of her way to make her life better. The beginning is quite slow, but give it some time. This is a hopeful read, sad but uplifting. I rate it three stars.
May 5, 2014
Surprisingly unputdownable. I was reading this book on the subway when a first grader I know from the school across the street from my library plopped down next to me and asked, "whatcha reading?" I hope I gave a memorable book talk that makes her pick up Here Today in about five years from now. The little girl then proceeded to pull out a picture book from her backpack and mimic my reading on the subway, while I chatted with her mom. Making a positive impact feels so warm & fuzzy.
June 2, 2023
I’ve owned this book since I was in 6th grade, and I just now read it at the age of 25. While it is an earlier reading level read, that does not mean it is lacking in depth and interest. This book was wholly enjoyable with brilliantly written characters that feel like true, real people and a story that matches that authentic feeling. I’m glad this book somehow stayed in my possession after 10+ years and I finally got around to reading it.
June 5, 2007
always wanted to read and still have only been half way. i tried i failed. i wish i could have liked it but it just couldnt do it. i hade so many expectations and i was so ready to love it but i jsut couldnt.
February 16, 2015
I didn't really enjoy the book very much. I couldn't find any character to "connect" with.
August 3, 2015
Resonant to and reminiscent of many people's childhoods, I think.
November 16, 2017
Here Today was written by Ann. M Martin. It is a historical fiction book with 308 pages. The main characters are Ellie, Holly, and Doris. Ellie is a sixth grader. She is bright and active. Holly, Ellie’s best friend, is also a sixth grader. They go to school together and always stick together because they both are bullied. They are bullied by the Sparrows, as Ellie calls them. Doris is Ellie’s mom. When Ellie was little Doris demanded that Ellie called her Doris rather than Mom. Doris has dreams of being a famous actor and celebrity and believes she is bigger than their little town. Ellie Dingman was my favorite character because I can relate to her. I can relate to Ellie because she has her struggles, as I do. She is trying to find solutions to these problems, but they don't always work.
This books takes place in 1963 in Spectacle, New York. Ellie and Holly were just beginning sixth grade.Halfway through the year, President Kennedy was assassinated. This event shook families all over the nation, including the Dingman’s. Doris Dingman, Ellie’s mother had been acting strange recently, and the assassination of the president really affected her. Doris would go missing for hours on end. Eventually Doris drifted away from her family so much that she decided to leave them. She decided to leave on a moment’s notice to move to New York to pursue her acting career. Mr. Dingman, Ellie, Albert, and Marie are confused and hurt. Meanwhile at school, Ellie and Holly are being bullied and they refuse to tell anyone about it. Kids would slam into them every time they pass them in the hallway. Sometimes they would ignore them and pretend they weren't even there. Ellie’s life is slowly falling apart and she has no idea how to deal with it.
The lesson that I learned from this book was your life might break into a few pieces sometimes or maybe shatter all over, but there will always be a way to put it back together. For example, Mr. Dingman and Ellie learned how to manage without Doris. My overall impression of the book was good. I learned a lot from this book and really enjoyed reading it. I would recommend it. The plot was excellent and I thought the characters were really interesting. The one thing I did not like about the book is that the plotline got a little slow toward the middle of the book. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.
This books takes place in 1963 in Spectacle, New York. Ellie and Holly were just beginning sixth grade.Halfway through the year, President Kennedy was assassinated. This event shook families all over the nation, including the Dingman’s. Doris Dingman, Ellie’s mother had been acting strange recently, and the assassination of the president really affected her. Doris would go missing for hours on end. Eventually Doris drifted away from her family so much that she decided to leave them. She decided to leave on a moment’s notice to move to New York to pursue her acting career. Mr. Dingman, Ellie, Albert, and Marie are confused and hurt. Meanwhile at school, Ellie and Holly are being bullied and they refuse to tell anyone about it. Kids would slam into them every time they pass them in the hallway. Sometimes they would ignore them and pretend they weren't even there. Ellie’s life is slowly falling apart and she has no idea how to deal with it.
The lesson that I learned from this book was your life might break into a few pieces sometimes or maybe shatter all over, but there will always be a way to put it back together. For example, Mr. Dingman and Ellie learned how to manage without Doris. My overall impression of the book was good. I learned a lot from this book and really enjoyed reading it. I would recommend it. The plot was excellent and I thought the characters were really interesting. The one thing I did not like about the book is that the plotline got a little slow toward the middle of the book. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.
April 28, 2022
Set in 1963, this story follows 6th grader Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman through her daily associations with family, school, and neighborhood. She lives in a neighborhood on Witch Tree Lane where “Bad Things” happen. The close neighbors include a Jewish family, a French family, 2 older women affectionately known as “The Ladies” who live together (and they aren’t even sisters!), the weird messy family run by a single mother, and the Dingmans. Eleanor’s mother, Doris, is a selfish, self-centered character more preoccupied with becoming a star or model in the small town of Spectacular, NY than cooking or taking care of her three children. At school, Eleanor and her best friend Holly, from the neighborhood, are outcasts. Beginning slowly, the first part of the book follows Doris’ adventures as she models for a local department store and arranges to become the Harvest Queen in the local parade. At school, Eleanor and Holly are being harassed by the rest of their class as they are continually slammed into lockers and onto the floor or into desks. The neighborhood, too, is being plagued by “Bad Things”. The Witch Tree is painted, mailboxes are bashed, rocks are thrown through windows, and Pumpkin, the neighborhood cat, is poisoned. Then President Kennedy is assassinated and the school and neighborhood are thrown into a tailspin. Holly and Eleanor wonder if the slamming will now stop since bigger concerns are evident. The book was slow starting but it ended up being a satisfying read. The characters were realistic as were the situations. Middle School girls will identify with Eleanor and Holly as they struggle through school.
October 8, 2017
When I picked up the book, I really wasn't expecting anything all that great. I haven't had great success with historical fiction of the 60s in the US. But here it is, a believable, dynamic, and entertaining book in the 60s, complete with realistic AND interesting characters. While reading, I WAS Ellie. I HAD her life and felt how she felt. Nothing she did was too idealistic, nothing she thought was ridiculous. She had her flaws and had her traits. She was a normal girl. Similarly, the seeming "villain" of the story isn't just a villain. It's a real person with real flaws and real traits.
Some parts were very unlikely and clearly just put there for the sake of storytelling. The setting, for example. But, for the most part, it was all plausible. At no point did I stop and cringe at any forced events. At some points, the plot does move a bit slowly, but overall, the pacing fits the flow of the events. Nothing is too drawn out or cut too short. The story, although it doesn't have any major plot twists, did turn out to be something different than what I had expected.
It also incorporates some real events of the 60's quite nicely with the characters' lives.
I especially like how the ending turned out. I was expecting the typical happily-ever-after tale, but instead got a satisfyingly real ending. Not all loose ends were tied, but enough of them were. Ellie also learns a few life lessons in a non-exaggerated way. Instead of the typical up-down-up plotline, each section of the book had its expected and unexpected events, like real life. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.
Some parts were very unlikely and clearly just put there for the sake of storytelling. The setting, for example. But, for the most part, it was all plausible. At no point did I stop and cringe at any forced events. At some points, the plot does move a bit slowly, but overall, the pacing fits the flow of the events. Nothing is too drawn out or cut too short. The story, although it doesn't have any major plot twists, did turn out to be something different than what I had expected.
It also incorporates some real events of the 60's quite nicely with the characters' lives.
I especially like how the ending turned out. I was expecting the typical happily-ever-after tale, but instead got a satisfyingly real ending. Not all loose ends were tied, but enough of them were. Ellie also learns a few life lessons in a non-exaggerated way. Instead of the typical up-down-up plotline, each section of the book had its expected and unexpected events, like real life. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book.
January 9, 2024
This was a sad story of a mother deciding to live a life away from her children, and Ellie, her oldest, forced to grow up and take care of her family. In my mind, the one redeeming part of this family dynamic was Ellie’s father, and how he stepped up to the plate and became both a father and mother to his children and helped them lead a life that was more functional than they’d ever had with their mother.
Ellie was a great character and I really felt for her, and she struggled to make the best of her life circumstances, take care of her family, and make sense of it all.
This book is marketed as MG, but explores many mature topics including being different, abandonment, and bullying. There are also a few suggestive references.
I enjoyed the glance into a different time in history, as well, and seeing events such as Kennedy’s assassination though the eyes of a child in these times.
Similar:
Content:
Doris, Ellie’s mother, demands her children call her by her first name, and is a neglectful mother for the first half of the book, until she abandons them completely. She wears revealing clothing many times, and lets her children watch her get dressed, from the stage of having her bra, slip and stockings on.
Ellie’s neighbors all have a story. One friend’s mother isn’t married, another family is Jewish and drives to the nearest synagogue every week, which is twelve miles away, and yet another couple is lesbian. There are a few hate crimes done against them, such as finding the words queer scrawled on their driveway.
They watch John F. Kenney’s funeral, and the entire country is in a state of shock.
There are some celebrations for Xmas.
One use of cr*p.
Ellie was a great character and I really felt for her, and she struggled to make the best of her life circumstances, take care of her family, and make sense of it all.
This book is marketed as MG, but explores many mature topics including being different, abandonment, and bullying. There are also a few suggestive references.
I enjoyed the glance into a different time in history, as well, and seeing events such as Kennedy’s assassination though the eyes of a child in these times.
Similar:
Content:
Doris, Ellie’s mother, demands her children call her by her first name, and is a neglectful mother for the first half of the book, until she abandons them completely. She wears revealing clothing many times, and lets her children watch her get dressed, from the stage of having her bra, slip and stockings on.
Ellie’s neighbors all have a story. One friend’s mother isn’t married, another family is Jewish and drives to the nearest synagogue every week, which is twelve miles away, and yet another couple is lesbian. There are a few hate crimes done against them, such as finding the words queer scrawled on their driveway.
They watch John F. Kenney’s funeral, and the entire country is in a state of shock.
There are some celebrations for Xmas.
One use of cr*p.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2017
Several aspects of this novel took me back to my own childhood: hanging out with a gang of kids in safe neighborhood and playing games. The biggest was my own memories of where I was when I heard the news of Kennedy's assassination.
At times, though, Ellie seems too capable and too mature for an 11 year old. She cleans, cooks, and takes herself to New York City. Yet, I could over-look her superkidness as she struggles to deal with a mother who is much more interested in herself than her three children and a father who is far too silent.
I was disturbed by the bullying at school and delighted with the old ladies who watched over all the kids and gave a sense of balance to the street where Ellie lived.
Overall, Here Today is "quiet" novel and thoroughly enjoyable while it deals with real issues.
At times, though, Ellie seems too capable and too mature for an 11 year old. She cleans, cooks, and takes herself to New York City. Yet, I could over-look her superkidness as she struggles to deal with a mother who is much more interested in herself than her three children and a father who is far too silent.
I was disturbed by the bullying at school and delighted with the old ladies who watched over all the kids and gave a sense of balance to the street where Ellie lived.
Overall, Here Today is "quiet" novel and thoroughly enjoyable while it deals with real issues.
May 22, 2020
A well-written historical fiction middle grade novel that takes place in a small town in upstate New York during the 1963-1964 school year. The characters, especially Ellie and her mother Doris, were portrayed with strong details, raw emotion and thoughtfulness. The inclusion of racial, class and sexual orientation discrimination against her neighbors was a subtle, but interesting layer of historical context.
The contrast between Ellie (who so desperately wants to fit in and be liked by her peers) and her mother Doris (who so desperately wants to stand and a be a star) created an emotional conflict that builds through the story until the inevitable ending.
As an adult reader, I really enjoyed this narrative, and I think middle grade readers who enjoy well-written characters and historical fiction will appreciate this book. Recommended for grades 5-8.
The contrast between Ellie (who so desperately wants to fit in and be liked by her peers) and her mother Doris (who so desperately wants to stand and a be a star) created an emotional conflict that builds through the story until the inevitable ending.
As an adult reader, I really enjoyed this narrative, and I think middle grade readers who enjoy well-written characters and historical fiction will appreciate this book. Recommended for grades 5-8.
January 11, 2022
Doris day, a mother that was too small for the small town she started a family in. So she leaves for New York. There, she attempts and fails to start an acting career leaving her 3 children and husband behind with no more than an afterthought.This book made me mad, more than more it mad me sad. Sad in a way I will never understand how a mother can be so selfish.
"Dingmans weren't enough to make Doris happy, and because Doris could never be happy for very long anyway"
I really did enjoy the simplicity of this book. It keep my attention while slowly eating away at my soul. I wanted to hug ellie so many times throughout this book. Thank god for Mr. Dingman, the only good thing to come out this book.
"Dingmans weren't enough to make Doris happy, and because Doris could never be happy for very long anyway"
I really did enjoy the simplicity of this book. It keep my attention while slowly eating away at my soul. I wanted to hug ellie so many times throughout this book. Thank god for Mr. Dingman, the only good thing to come out this book.
March 11, 2018
This is an interesting junior novel set in 1963 in a small town in upstate New York. Kennedy's assassination is a big part of the story. Ellie Dingman is in sixth grade and has to cope with her selfish wannabe celebrity mother, Doris. Doris usually neglects Ellie and her two younger siblings so she can attend auditions and classes, so Ellie often cooks, and finds herself in charge of the younger kids. When President Kennedy dies, Doris decides her small-town life is stifling, and never going to lead to fame and stardom, so she leaves her family to move to New York City. Eventually Ellie runs away to attempt to bring her mother home.
March 26, 2020
This book is so real without it even being real you just feel eleneor's pain, hurt frustration, disappointment you just feel it all and you grow to look at her with such faith that she'll get a good outcome because she deserves it, she worked for it she earnt it ya know after all her hard work and devotion she needs a little break a breather a whiff of fresh air. And you grow to look at Doris as if she was made a mother too young she had hopes and dreams that she wanted to go through with and her becoming a wife and mother got in the way you dont hate her and you dont love her you just kind of accept that shes going to be her
October 4, 2018
I really liked what a strong character Ellie was, and I think it's important that this book shows that not every family in the 1960's was perfect. Many people often try to act like families were better back then than they are now, but really, there were families with problems then too! However, Doris was so annoying that she almost made me dislike the book, and the first half seemed to drag on too long. I knew from the back of the book that she was going to leave, so I couldn't believe that happened so late in the book! I almost felt like that description spoiled the book for me a little.
October 3, 2019
Genre: Realistic fiction
This is one of the best books I have ever read! This is about a girl named Ellie, and she lives on a road that most kids at school don't like because they think that these families who live on this road are different and unworthy. Ellie's mom leaves their house several times, and then she decides to leave for good. At school, Ellie, and her friend Holly get bullied by 4 girls, but then Ellie learns how to stand up for herself, and by middle school, those bullies are just regular girls, and they're not "in charge" anymore. I would really recommend this book to anyone!
This is one of the best books I have ever read! This is about a girl named Ellie, and she lives on a road that most kids at school don't like because they think that these families who live on this road are different and unworthy. Ellie's mom leaves their house several times, and then she decides to leave for good. At school, Ellie, and her friend Holly get bullied by 4 girls, but then Ellie learns how to stand up for herself, and by middle school, those bullies are just regular girls, and they're not "in charge" anymore. I would really recommend this book to anyone!
December 16, 2021
I used to love Ann M. Martin’s Babysitter’s Club series, so I picked up this stand alone novel. It’s a very different vibe, a lot more melancholy. Martin writes about Eleanor Roosevelt Dingman, who lives on Witch Tree Lane and is trying to survive 6th grade bullies in 1963, while taking care of her family in all the ways that Doris (her mother) does not. It’s as much about Doris as it is about Ellie. An interesting read.
January 24, 2024
I absolutely loved and cherished this book in elementary school. The writing style is something that still sticks with me in my 20’s when I think about it. It was such a good story, and as another reviewer said Ann has a refreshing way of writing about realistic stories. I felt immersed when I read this book like I was actually going along with Ellie on her day to day life. This book has a soft spot in my heart.
October 7, 2024
Unexpectedly I liked this book. Although there are a lot of times that I want to cry, slammed the book shut or simply gasp at the horrible things that happened to the main character. It speaks to real life tragedies and I hate how accurate it is. I also took note that after what happened to her, she's still looking at her future with hope and positivity - something I truly admired from her. Truly a great book.
March 5, 2025
I like Ann Martin - I liked this novel as well, but not as much as others by her. It dealt with a negligent mother who has her own dreams. Thank Goodness the kids had the dad. But the issues it dealt with were pretty tough (homophobia, bullying at school, harassment and physical intimidation, etc.), and I felt it was too much for the oldest daughter to be made responsible for the entire family's order and happiness. But she's resilient and finds happiness with what she has.
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