I'm grateful this little-known book reached my hands. It's set in the southern U.S. during the depression. The author has a stong sense of place and the book seems both driven by the character of the town and of the individuals depicted. Its told in different voices (1st person) and its greatest strength is the compassion and fullness with which the author has treated even the worst of characters. This is a dark love-story. A good choice for a book club because it addresses (without being overly topical) several issues such as domestic violence and how childhood experience may inform adult choices. This is no "clicheish" southern novel. The author writes the accents with the perfect pitch. Her skill at creating a "voice" reminded me a bit of Zora Neale Hurston, although for the most part the voices are of a white southern dialect.

Bethany is fortunate to have relatives who care for her so much but she fails to appreciate their advice to her as she plunges head-long into a relationship that is doomed from the start. The sad part is that this could be the story of many young girls who are blinded by a love so powerful that they disregard opportunities that seem at the time to be less exciting. If the story had ended a few chapters earlier, I couldn't have stood it but fortunately the reader is left with a feeling of hope for Bethany's future.

This is a wonderful novel. While Bridgers is better known for her young adult literature, this novel reaches many generations. Sara Will is an old woman, set in her ways, who finds herself when she takes new people into her life. Bridgers is an excellent character writer with an outstanding talent for detail. A large portion of this book takes place in winter, in an ice storm. I was reading it in the heat of summer, but lost track of the month and felt like I was there, in the North Carolina mountains, with Sara Will, Swannee Hope, and the others. Great book by a great author!

This book made me think about people and how we think we know them and we really don't. I liked this book because it told how people aren't always what they seem. Sue Ellen Bridgers makes Christina seem like a real person and her actions seem to real, like they're really happening to you. I suggest ths book to anyone who has been hurt by a friend or is the one who does the hurting.

Keeping Christina is a book once you get to the middle of the book you dont want to put it down. The book is about a girl that meets a girl named Christina. First Annie thinks that she is normal but after awhile Christina becomes very suspicious. At the end of the book Annie finds alot of stuff about Christina. This book has romance, mystery, and suspence. I dont read many books but this one book I couldnt put it down until I got to the end.

My review is on the book,KEEPING CHRISTINA by Sue Ellen Bridgers. The book is basicly about Annie and her new friend Christina.They then become best of friends and also are a big role in each other's lifes.Then suddenly Annie's old friends are suspicious that Christina isn't all that she appears to be .Then close to the end Annie finds out that being Christina's friend is way more than what she had bargined for.

In Home Before Dark, by Sue Ellen Bridgers, the main character Stella, is a fourteen-year-old, is looking for some roots to hold onto. Stella's family has been living out of their battered station wagon. Her family has a very difficult life; they are migrant workers. Stella's father, James Earl, decides to go to his childhood home. Stella and her father are very happy about this, but her mother, Mae, isn't. When they get to the family farm, James Earl tells everyone to stay in the car because his brother, Newton, does not know that James Earl is coming to visit, let alone live with him for a while. Finally Stella has a place she can call home, somewhere she can explore all the exciting things going on in her life, like boys and friends. Stella's excitement turns to confusion when she finds herself between two very different boys, Toby, the farmhand, and Rodney, the awkward rich boy. Meanwhile Stella's mother dies, and Stella takes this hard. After a while, James Earl decides to get married again. Stella does not want to move again, after finally getting some roots established. I thought that this book was great. I really do not like to read that much, but this book really kept my attention This book was very well written and had a great plot. I thought that the story did not seem like much like a real story. I can almost picture Stella going through this time in her life. While I was reading the book, I felt that Stella was my friend, and we were going through this time together. I think that I will read more of Sue Ellen Bridgers's books in the future.

This novel is a heart warming tale about the importance of putting down roots and finding acceptance. Stella has lived the difficult life of a migrant worker but when her family returns to her father's boyhood home, she is anxious to start living a "normal" life. She weathers the anguish of losing her mother through the support of her newly extended family and the friends she has made in her new home town. When her father decides to remarry, she is upset. She does not want to leave the first real home she has had to move into the new house her stepmother is providing. Although it takes Stella some time, she eventually realizes that the most important roots of all do not belong to places but to the people who love you. This book was very well written and highly entertaining.

I first discovered this author over 10 years ago in graduate course in Appalachian children's literature. Ms. Bridgers is wonderful. This book captures so many emotions and evokes such realistic images. She truly writes of her region and deserves more praise than she recieves. In fact, I was so engrossed in this work, I wrote my master's thesis on her novels.

This book combines the images of the strong southern family, family secrets, and the tragedies of poverty in a wonderful way

All Together Now, by Sue Ellen Bridgers, is a good book that'll teach you something as you keep reading. The minute Casey stepped off the bus, she new that summer would be very different. She meets Dwayne, who thinks she is a boy, and they become very good friends. She helps Hazard and Pansy work through their "newlywed problems." Casey also helps Taylor and Gwen get back together with many trail and errors. Throughout the story there are many things that test their relationships and show in the end, how much friendship is really valued. This is a good novel that you'll want to share with a friend.

I did not like this book. It was too loose in some parts. I checked it out thinking it would be an okay book, but it wasn't. Some people will like it but it isn't my style. How Rob is always after Ellery is stupid. Trust me, unless you like books with no morals and loose desriptions, you will not like it either.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found Rob's struggle against himself and his family very realistic. His use of alcohol and drugs does raise touchy subjects, but provides an excellent opportunity for discussion between parents and kids. Self-resepect and family relaions are the overriding themes.

This book has to be one of the best that I have ever read. Sue Ellen Bridgers has a wonderful skill at writing young adult litertaure. As I read the novel, I found myself almost being there with the characters and truly understanding what was happening. This is a novel that I would recommend to anyone!