FRAN ELLEN'S HOUSE

In a sequel to the poignant The Bears' House, about a deprived child who finds solace imagining being card for by bears in a dollhouse, two years have elapsed; the family has been separated and given over to foster care. Now, in August, they are reunited: Mama has pills to stave off depression; Fletcher, doing well in school, has a job; Florence, still mean, is into boys and nail polish; Fran Ellen (12) tries to reconstruct the old balance, but baby Flora has forgotten her, prefers Felice (7), and pines for her foster home. The Bears' House, which has been stored at the shelter, is battered; Goldilocks and the furniture are missing. It's a rough beginning. Mama is tense; Fran Ellen spurns the admiration of Felice, thinking her fat and stupid, trying to interest baby Flora in the dollhouse. But Flora is inconsolable; her weeping is too much for fragile Mama to contend with, and it's finally decided that she should return to her loving foster family. Fran Ellen is fiercely protective of the dollhouse, but Felice is the right age for it and persists with good ideas for it. By Christmas, the whole family has shared in its repair and Fran Ellen has warmed to Felice, who has become, with her happy concurrence, the house's prime caretaker. More ordinary than the stunning earlier book, but a worthy sequel nonetheless. Fran Ellen's first-person, present-tense narrative is appealing in its immediacy and unsentimental realism. Standing well alone, the book will surely be welcomed by readers of The Bears' House.