Ann Dee Ellis

Ann Dee Ellis grew up in a large family in Utah, USA. She lived for a time in Hong Kong, as missionary and English teacher. She now lives in Utah with her husband and plants. She says she likes to go to Hawaii and sunburn on the beach. This Is What I Did is her first published book.

0. This Is What I Did - Paperback £5.99

by Ann Dee Ellis
(Books/All genres) (ISBN:9781842706770)

A boy is racked by guilt. His family have moved house and school to help him come to terms with a violent event at his best friend's house, to no avail. Little do they realise just how much he knows about this unspoken tragedy - and how well-placed he was to prevent it. Keeping dark secrets buried deep down is always a mistake - and when it causes you to become vulnerable to all the petty thuggery of the playground, more tragedy seems inevitable.

Told in the eleven-year-old boy's own idiom, by carefully constructed flashback, this startlingly moving cliffhanger explores every range of bullying, and every response: the ambitious dad, the copy-cat son, the mob rule of the classroom, and the benign blindness of a hapless family. It all boils down to one question: just how guilty are you, when you knew but did not say?

Awards & Reviews

Out of Shadows

by Jason Wallace

'Excellent. [Out of Shadows is] the
latest lacerating addition to the
boarding-school-as-living-hell genre
... read on if you have the courage.
The author attended a similar
establishment at the age of 12,
and gives every indication of knowing
exactly what he is writing about.'

Independent

Elmer's Special Day

by David McKee

'The first Elmer book seemed like a great and original one-off, McKee's extraordinary imagination and colourful art have between them maintained originality and delight over all these years: amazing.' Chris Brown, School Librarian