![]() ![]() Wood, a therapist.Īs she talks with Wood, Ellie learns how to stick up for herself. With the help of her supportive father, Ellie discovers another safe place: the office of Dr. She likes to spread her legs and arms, like a starfish, and take up space. She tries not to take up too much room or draw attention to herself.Įllie finds peace and a sense of safety in one place, though: her family’s pool. Ellie copes by trying to make herself small and quiet. ![]() Kids at school taunt her and suck in their stomachs when she passes. Maybe you can relate to Ellie’s pain and her desire to be accepted for who she is.Įllie’s mother nags and puts her on diets. Perhaps you, too, have been bullied about your weight or a part of your body. So, as an adult, Fipps decided to write such a story. But when she looked for books with characters like her, she found nothing. “Because I was a fat kid, I was bullied – at school, at home and out and about,” she said from her home in Kokomo, Indiana.Ī n avid reader as a kid, Fipps adored “Charlotte’s Web,” “The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes” and her family’s set of encyclopedias. ![]() ![]() “Everything hurtful that happens to Ellie happened to me in some way,” said Fipps about her new novel in verse. Lisa Fipps suffered through such experiences as a child – as does her main character, Ellie, in “Starfish.” A mean prank involving a school desk, a cruel remark at a restaurant. ![]()
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