All About Ella

Ella is the younger sibling of Sam. Sam has a serious through unspecified medical problem which necessitates periods in hospital and blood transfusion. Ella’s teacher recites the poem Solomon Grundy (born on a Monday) and asks the children to find out on which day of the week they were born. Ella asks her mother, her father and her grandma. All the attention of the family is on Sam and his needs, they can’t be bothered with Ella’s stupid question. So Ella develops a strong sibling resentment.

The book tells the story of how Ella struggles to establish her own place within the family. She eventually finds that having a brother, even one with serious health problems, can be useful.

The role and preoccupations of siblings to children with serious health or disability issues have been studied and reported by professional academic authorities. The child with the problem necessarily receives so much time and attention from parents, grandparents and carers that other children feel neglected and disregarded. They feel punished for not having a problem.

The merit of this Barrington Stoke book is that it presents the issue in a lively fictional context with helpful full-colour illustrations and that it does so without demonising the child with the health problem.