Customer Reviews

Fran Ellen's House

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After 9-year-old Fran Ellen's mother was found to be suffering from depression and neglecting her children, she and her four siblings were put in foster homes. Now, it's several years later, and Mama has recovered enough to reclaim her children.

They don't have much money, and it's hard on the children, who have become used to living without Mama. But four-year-old Flora was just a baby, and she thinks of her foster family as her true family, not these strangers whom she's just supposed to love.

Fran Ellen, who loved Flora like her own baby, is desperate to help her adapt. But sometimes, in order to help someone, you have to be willing to let her go.

If you enjoy this book, check out the prequel, "The Bears' House."

This is the sequel to The Bear's House. The Bear's House ended very abruptly and we didn't learn what became of Fran Ellen and her family. Well years later I was in highschool when this sequel came out. I was so excited. Fran Ellen's family flew apart and she and her siblings were distributed among various foster homes. Her father had walked out on them which had started the whole problem. We never learn what happened to him. But Fran Ellen's mother goes crazy and has to go to the hospital. In this book Fran Ellen and her siblings and mother are reunited and begin to reconstruct their broken lives. Fran Ellen's poor beloved doll house was in shambles, however. There were a lot of sad parts. Fran Ellen did a lot of self parenting in The Bear's House (I cannot imagine not having a sane mother to come home to!) and she was a mother to her baby sister Flora, whom she loved best in the world. Flora was sent to a different foster family and so the bond between the two sisters is broken, and Flora doesn't even remember her sister Fran Ellen. SAD! Instead Flora becomes very attatched to her foster folks so she goes to live with them. Poor Fran Ellen is torn up inside! These two books are the perfect example of how devistating it is to live in a broken home without a father and in poverty. It is really very tragic. However there are some humorous parts and a lot of positive changes occour in Fran Ellen's relationships with her mother, and other siblings. All in all, this family rises up and stands tall despite the father's absence...