Rolling On offers a heartfelt continuation of Ellie Cowan’s journey, but it doesn’t quite hit the highs of its predecessors. While Ellie’s grappling with first love and her desire to hold on to the past is relatable, the pacing feels uneven. Ellie’s relationship with Bert has its sweet moments, but the shift from friendship to potential romance feels rushed and underexplored.

Grandpa’s declining health adds emotional weight, but the narrative at times feels overcrowded with multiple issues that aren't given enough space to develop fully. Still, Ellie’s voice remains authentic, and readers will appreciate her growth, even if the story doesn't fully deliver the emotional punch it promises.

Fans of Roll with It and Time to Roll will likely enjoy this conclusion, but it doesn’t leave as lasting an impact as the earlier books.

My students fly through graphic novels. They are going to love this one. It is beautiful book that associated has a great message.

5 stars

This is a wonderful finale to an exceptional trilogy, but what would be even BETTER is if this series continued on indefinitely. I'm not willing to let Ellie or the rest of her friends and family go, and that is an obvious testament to the power of these books!

Ellie is BACK, and we're with her now at the end of middle school. Change is afoot! In some ways, this is very sweet and exciting, and in others, it's devastating. On the devastating front, readers become aware immediately that everyone's beloved grandfather is declining. He is in a care facility, and it's painful to watch him interact with his family and participate in behaviors that are so out of character. While this plotline is tough to read, like everything else in this series, it's handled in an honest but age-appropriate manner. The other major throughline is Ellie's changing relationship to her long-time pal, Bert. She is right at that age, and she now has to grapple with a friendship that may turn into something more or be altered (perhaps not for the better) for the long run. Like the events relating to Ellie's grandfather, this is yet another life scenario that the vast majority of the target audience will not only enjoy reading about but will also benefit dramatically from knowing of in general.

Ellie is an outstanding character whose gumption, love of baking, and devotion to her friends and family make her shine. She - and this whole series - are a combined bright light in recent middle grade efforts, and I look forward to recommending this work to my students (and in an ideal world, learning soon that this is not, in fact, the end of this series)!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the middle-grade book, Rolling On. This is the last book in the trilogy about Ellie, a now 13-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. Ellie loves to bake and is finishing up her 8th grade and will be headed to high school in the next school year. Jamie Sumner does a wonderful job of writing from the viewpoint of Ellie, who has a disability but the focus of the book is not on Ellie's disability. This series is one of my favorite middle-grade series. I would recommend it to all.

Thank you to Atheneum Books & Net galley for this ARC! I loved Ellie and her creative and stubborn personality. She loves to bake and spend time with her adorable family that includes her mom, stepdad, Mema, and grandpa.

Their story of support and love through her grandpa’s struggle with Alzheimer’s is heartwarming and moving. Throughout the story, I also loved her friendships, though few, as they depicted what true friends do for each other, even in hard moments.

There is a bit of a romance as she and her friend Bert both have feelings that evolve into more than a friendship. His support, along with her friend Coralee, is steadfast and unwavering through a couple of hard life changes.

I would recommend this book for 4th grade and up.

Eighth grade has almost come to an end for Ellie and her friends and Ellie just wants everything to stay the same. Bert is her best friend, but she is beginning to have these butterfly like feelings toward him. Also, Bert is noticeably different after he went to camp and made a bunch of smart new friends and is now considering applying to the boarding school. And Grandpa's dementia may be getting worse, but Ellie knows that her Grandpa is still in there. Ellie and her friends are all facing many changes but are hopeful that they will face them together. This book is written from the POV of a character with a disability, but the disability is definitely not the focus of the story. A great middle grades book that those facing life changes may enjoy.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGally. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

A sweet story about Ellie as she realizes she has feelings for her best friend and her grandfather's Alzheimer's progresses. Ellie and her friends Coralee and Bert are in 8th grade and going through normal 8th grade things when Ellie discovers an application for Bert to go to a special high school where he had gone to summer camp. At the same time, Ellie goes to her grandparents' condo at the retirement community and sees her grandfather have an episode.

Well written and the third book in a series. Though I haven't read the first two books, I liked the fact that Ellie was in a wheelchair but it wasn't an overwhelming part of the book.

Loved the third book, Rolling On! I loved how the characters are maturing with this book. The author did a great job with Ellie's emotions. I found it very realistic. A must-read and a must-have for all libraries.





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Reading the author's note at the end of the book sounds like this is the end of the road for Ellie and her friends. NNNNOOOOOO!
I need more books! I need to know how Bert does at the school. I need to know how they all do!!

Jamie Sumner's "Rolling On (Roll With It)" is a middle-grade novel that closes out a trilogy of books inspired by her son with cerebral palsy yet centered around a young girl, Ellie, whose adventures first began with 2019's acclaimed "Roll With It" followed by "Time to Roll." In "Rolling On," Ellie is a now 13-year-old wrapping up the final days of middle school and hesitantly moving toward high school with a BFF, Bert, who's suddenly become really attractive and a grandfather whose health seems to be rapidly declining.

In other words, life is changing for Ellie.

The real shame here is that "Rolling On" is my introduction to Ellie, though there's little doubt I'll journey my way back and catch the other two books in the trilogy. Sumner's writing is often fueled by her life as a parent of child with a disability, though she has a wonderful knack for weaving a tapestry of normalcy rather than the usual maudlin, cutesie storytelling that far too often accompanies disability themes.

I am a writer myself, and yes with significant disabilities, and I sometimes approach these types of stories with more than a little hesitation. However, accepting that this is a middle-grade novel and not really targeting adults life myself, "Rolling On" is an absolute charmer and Ellie's winning presence makes it clear that while being a wheelchair user is a huge part of her life it's not the only thing that defines her.

There's baking.

There's family.

There's Bert.

There's Coralee.

There's a whole lot more. Ellie's a refreshingly fleshed out character who is also a very real, very authentic wheelchair user.

Sumner has written for adults and children. Sumner has written both fiction and non-fiction. While I'm in my early stages of following her writing, it's clear that she writes with candor and compassion and dignity for her characters. In an interview I read with her, she talked about the importance of making sure she had her family's permission when she writes about them, acknowledging that there are family stories that are off-limits and more universal experiences that often end up in her writing.

The same is very true with "Rolling On," a breezy and enjoyable novel that features appealing characters and familiar, relatable storytelling. As noted, Sumner avoids unnecessary histrionics and instead grounds her writing in identifiable experiences that will likely resonate with children with and without disabilities.

If there's a side benefit here, it may very well be that "Rolling On" makes disability a lot less scary and makes it clear that those of us with disabilities aren't really that much different from everyone else in our big feelings and common life experiences.

There's an awful lot to love about "Rolling On" and for those seeking disability-centered storytelling for the middle-grade crowd, this is an absolutely wonderful place to start.

Okay. Okay. Start with the first book. Or the second. Or maybe this one? Ah, whatever. Just read all three.

So many changes are happening to Ellie as she begins 8th grade. Could she be having feelings for her best friend, Bert? What happens when she finds out a secret of his? Grandpa, who has Alzheimer’s, has been having some difficulties lately, and Ellie hopes they don’t put him into a full time care facility. Ellie still loves baking until something happens that makes her stop for good. Will she find her love for baking again?

I am definitely a fan of anything Jamie Sumner writes! I so enjoyed this chapter of Ellie’s story. I love how she faces challenges like any kid, but the way that Sumner shows how Ellie handles them is truly what I want for all kids- talking it out, apologize, making amends, trying again.. all things that kids need experience with! We all do!

E ARC provided by Netgalley

**Spoilers**

It's now January of Ellie's 8th grade year, and things are changing as she and her classmates prepare for high school in their small town of Eufala, Oklahoma. Her best friend, Bert, has just returned from a Kentucky Young Environmentalists camp at Brighton Academy, and Ellie is surprised that she is starting to think that he is... cute. Bert, whose family runs the local Food and Co. grocery and has thirteen children, is very engaged with environmental issues, especially those concerning vegan diets and organic crops and excited to tell others about it. Coralee is still in the picture, and enjoying Ellie's baked goods, since Susie is always on a diet. Ellie still gets to visit her grandmother and grandfather at the Autumn Leaves senior living facility, although they have had to move up several levels of care as her grandfather's dementia has worsened. Hutch is still a supportive stepdad, and Ellie has made peace with her father, stepmother, and their new family. When she finds out that Bert is applying to go to high school at Brighton Academy, she is angry, and wishes that life would just stay as it always has been. After her grandfather has an incident in the kitchen where he threw things out of cabinets and injured himself slightly, the facility meets with the grandmother, mother, and Ellie to explain that it would be better for him to go into the secure health unit where he can have constant care. Ellie is very upset, and the grandmother demands that he be kept with her, since they haven't spent a night apart in 60 years. When Ellie's grandfather runs away and calls her from the lake, demanding to know who has stolen his boat, he has to be retrieved, and ends up in the hospital with slight hyperthermia. When he dies, Ellie is devastated. Her grandmother faces her new situation with stoicism, and Hutch offers to build a mother-in-law suite onto the trailer. Ellie has to come to terms with the fact that many things in her life will change, and there is nothing that she can do about it but to keep going.
Strengths: This wraps up Ellie's story (Roll With It and Time to Roll) nicely, and I appreciated that the covers were all similar in style, with different colors to differentiate them. Ellie continues writing letters to famous cooks and food companies (her letter to the Campbell company about green bean casserole is especially nice), and faces a lot of challenges that will resonate with middle school readers. I also liked the fact that while she had different feelings for Bert, she also realized that he was very passionate about his new interests, and that going to Brighton Academy would be the best thing for him.
Weaknesses: I wish that Ellie and the grandmother had not been so dead set against the grandfather going into nursing care, even if he couldn't take his favorite chair and have instant coffee whenever he wanted. The fact that he wandered off did, in fact, kill him, which is a good lesson that sometimes being in a nursing home insures a person's safety.
What I really think: This is a good conclusion for fans of the series, or for readers who enjoyed other books about a variety of middle school issues like Messner's The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

I was so excited when I found out that Jaime Sumner has continued sharing Ellie's journey with Rolling On! I love how we get glimpses to how Ellie is feeling through her letters to food bloggers. Bert and Coralee are supportive and fun as usual, and her family dynamic is unique while still be relatable. I think students will be able to connect with so many aspects of this story, from a first crush to aging grandparents. I loved it and can’t wait to share with students in the fall!

I loved the third book is this awesome trilogy. Ellie, Bert, and Coralee are three very memorable characters. This book tackles dementia and first loves. I love the way food is at the center of everything and is Ellie’s love language. It’s a very emotion-packed story with sprinkles of humor. I can’t wait to add it to my Jamie Sumner basket!