Book Reviews

Ellen Potter has written more than 20 award-winning novels for children and young adults, including Hither & Nigh, Olivia Kidney, Slob, Big Foot and Little Foot, Piper Green and The Fairy Tree, The Humming Room, Pish Posh, and The Kneebone Boy. Several of her books have been chosen by New York Public Library as a Best 100 Books for Children, and have appeared on numerous State Reading Lists. Spilling Ink, A Young Writer’s Handbook, co-authored with Anne Mazer, was also chosen by New York Public Library as a Best 100 Books for Children.

Check out the glowing reviews on all of these books below!

  • "Cordelia is inquisitive, confused, lovable, and utterly unique. The fantasy elements of her world are imaginative and charming . . . Suspend all disbelief and enjoy being a part of this world."

    Kirkus Reviews

  • "Every bit of this book is a delight."

    Booklist

  • "Balancing the tweens everyday social pressures with... spell casting misfires, anxious close calls, and just-scary-enough monsters."

    Publishers Weekly

  • “A thrilling page turner.”

    Kirkus

  • “One of my favorite books of 2022—and ever.”

    Imagination Soup

  • "A sensitive, touching, and sometimes heartbreakingly funny picture of middle school life."

    School Library Journal

  • "This is a book for everyone: smart, devious, overweight, underweight, shy, courageous and everyone in between."

    The Children’s Book Review

  • "... zany mixture of reality and fantasy…offers many interesting characters for readers to ponder ..."

    Booklist

  • "This warmhearted new series, particularly suited for reluctant readers or chapter-book newbies, promises more laughs and exploits from the entertainingly paired Hugo and Boone."

    Booklist

  • "Potter has once again penned a winner with this sequel to Big Foot and Little Foot. A delightful series about friendship and embracing differences in others."

    School Library Journal

  • "Skillfully blending humor, pathos, and warmth with an atmospheric setting, Potter has created an honest, empathic slice-of-life story, laced with a touch of magic."

    Publishers Weekly

  • "...Ms. Potter revives the story [The Secret Garden] with such grace and sensitivity that readers ages 11-14 will be glad she did."

    Meghan Cox Gurdon, The Wall Street Journal

  • "In a resonant novel inspired by The Secret Garden, Potter pays graceful tribute to the spirit of that classic...it’s a thrilling ghost story, but one that, like the story it’s drawn from, has love and rebirth at its heart."

    Publishers Weekly

  • “Inspired by Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, this noteworthy novel stands wholly on its own…”

    Booklist

  • "I burst into tears when I’d finished reading. Not because it was sad, but because it was over. Like Burnett’s Misselthwaite Manor, Potter’s Cough Rock Island was a place that I didn’t want to leave."

    Leila Roy, Kirkus Reviews

  • “An homage to a cherished classic that can work as a companion piece or stand alone as a solid, modern tale for young readers in the 21st century.”

    Kirkus Reviews

  • "[The Humming Room] replicates the charm of the original, 100 years after it was published."

    The Buffalo News

  • "Hilarious and heartbreaking, wild and down-to-earth..."

    Booklist

  • “A quirky charmer.”

    Kirkus Reviews

  • "Cogent and invaluable."

    Publisher's Weekly

  • "The best of recent volumes on the subject."

    Kirkus Reviews

  • "At once exuberant and poignant, Potter’s cunningly crafted first novel [is] a memorable debut."

    Publishers Weekly

  • "Olivia Kidney is back again in another zany, surreal, and ultimately satisfying adventure...a complex and inventive climax that will keep readers guessing till the last page."

    School Library Journal

  • "Sparkling writing, madcap characters, and serious themes contribute to a read-aloud that adults will enjoy as much as the children."

    Booklist