Ella Has a Plan is a charming story about a girl named Ella that can't wait to celebrate her mother's birthday with her family but is worried that the party will be ruined by her quarreling cousins Jade and Taye. She is determined to come up with a plan to ensure the party is a success. She receives encouragement from many family members along the way and eventually thinks of an ingenious scheme to bring everyone together.

Once I realized the book was written in couplet form, it read much smoother, but there are a few places where it feels a bit forced. The length of the story allows for the plot to drag in places. I wonder if cutting the sections hinting about how Great Granddad Frank tricked Grandad Glen and Aunt Glory would trim the story and allow for the plot to be more connected to the resolution.

The premise of the plot and the illustrations are the key elements of this book. Elena Reinoso captured the diversity of African American hairstyles in a way that I rarely see in children's books. The wall art also adds to the messages of self-love and joy that helps us understand why having harmony is so essential to Ella.

I wanted to enjoy this book more than I actually did. I think with a few tweaks to the length, and it could be a hit.

I received an electronic ARC from The Ella Riley Group through NetGalley.
2.5 stars
Ella is excited for the whole family to come over and celebrate her mom's birthday but she dreads her two cousins coming as they always fight. Her mom tells her she has confidence in her abilities to solve the problem. Ella does figure it out and the party goes well.
Told in rhyme. Practice the rhyme scheme if you'll be reading out loud as it does not flow smoothly in a few places. The text is long on several pages as well and very small print.
The illustrations are cute and draw readers in.
The concept is great about problem solving but I feel the adults don't offer enough help and expect a child to solve the family dynamics on her own. I appreciate kids working together but the book reads like Ella has to do it by herself. She does come up with a plan that works, and she does get assistance from her uncle and encouragement from her mom.
The book works to talk about families with elementary level readers.

Ella is worried about her mum's upcoming party. Her cousins are invited but they always end up arguing. So Ella devises a plan to stop them from falling out. Poetic text with lovely illustrations.

Ella is super excited about her mom’s birthday celebration, but she’s less excited about the aruging her cousins always seem to do when the family gets together. Her mom suggests she get her great-grandfather to tell Ella how he managed to get his kids to get along. The party arrives, and Ella asks but with all the festivities, she gets sidetracked. She comes up with a plan on her own, though, to show her cousins about the things they share instead of theif differences. Her plan works, but as she’s getting into bed that night, she realizes she forgot all about the story and needs to hatch a new plan to find out what happened.

This book was cute and delightful. I loved the big family gathering, Ella’s creativity in getting her cousins to get along, and the artwork is on point. It teaches kids about the importance of celebrating differences instead of nitpicking them, and also about finding those qualities that we share in the face of all of our differences. I lvoed all the generations of family gathering, because there is so much wisdom to be shared among family members. The ultimate message of being kind is a really good one.

This one’s not out until October, so keep an eye out for it at your local bookstore or request a purchase from your library.

I love books that rhyme, I love getting into the rhythm of reading them to my children, this one was a lovely rhyming one, however didnt think the story was amazing. I like the idea but it didnt grip me or make me laugh like childrens books usually do!

‘Ella Has A Plan’ is a charming and insightful children’s book that teaches children about the importance of family and working together.

The illustrations, characters and plot of this story all complimented each other very well. I loved how many members of Ella’s family we met and how each of them encouraged Ella’s creative thinking. The story tackles conflict resolution in such a fun and creative way, which is great for children. The story highlights that despite everyone being different, we all have our similarities too and that is what makes us so individualistic. I adored the focus on family tradition and relationships.

The rhyming made the book more fun to read and it is an element I think will appeal to children greatly. As a children’s book, it is a little on the longer side, but the rhyming element does help to balance out the length.

Overall, ‘Ella Has A Plan’ was a very sweet, very enjoyable read with stunning illustrations.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to read and providing me with the opportunity to give my own, honest opinion

Ella has a Plan was such a sweet book and I loved that it teaches kids how to solve problems. I loved the rhyming throughout the book and think that it will be such a fun read for many children.

'Ella Has A Plan' is a really sweet children's book that teaches agency in children and about the importance of family and harmony. I loved how many characters we got to meet and see and that Ella's family encouraged her to think creatively about how to find a solution to her problem. The text was a little awkward at times, but the message was fantastic. A great book for young children!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Told completely in rhyming couplets, this fun book tells the tale of how Ella managed to resolve a conflict between her cousins.

This is a great book that children are sure to love.

Joyful book of big family bustle, helping and learning to make a good time, told in delightful rhyme, two stanzas per page, about 30 pages.

Wonderful! Can be read, or sung, or chanted as rap, lovely !

5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and to The Ella Riley Group for an ARC for review. Honest opinion given.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

A sweet simple story. I think the rhyming text will appeal to children and make it a joy to read aloud.

This was a charming and insightful picture book about a girl helping her family get along.

The illustrations, characters, and plot of this story all work well together. It also offers great conflict resolutions skills for children, reminding them that despite our differences we are also similar. I particularly appreciated the focus on family tradition and relationships. At times the rhyming interrupts the story slightly, but on the whole it is well done.

Overall a great addition to a picture book collection, particularly because of the peacemaking focus it takes.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ella has a plan to have her cousins get along. This was such a good book that left me wanting more. I really want to know Great Grandad Frank's trick! Maybe the perfect opportunity for a sequel.

"Ella Has A Plan" by Davina Hamilton is a children's book telling the story of Ella and how she plans on solving conflict between two of her cousins. The story opens with our main character, Ella telling her Mom how worried she is about her two cousins that always fight when they are together. A longer story ensues about how the cousins come over for a family party, and Ella along with various family members teach the two cousins about how similar they are to prevent fighting.

The story felt a little long to me as a reader. The content and the rhyming format suggested a book that would be geared towards a younger audience around 4-5 years old. However, the book seemed to drag on a bit and was longer than necessary. The story also felt a bit choppy in the middle portion. The reader expects to hear a story within the story and then nothing is delivered. It seemed a little off balance and odd.

Overall it was a cute idea for a story, but not the best delivery. It would need to be shortened and more concise in order to be read more easily.

Ella doesn't like her cousins fighting and she especially doesn't want them to do it during her mother's birthday party. But how can she stop them?

The Ella Riley Group and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published on May 14th.

Her mother tells her her Grandfather stopped his kids from fighting but before she can find out what he did, the cousins are there fighting. She tries to stop them but they won't listen to her.

So she comes up with a new plan and gets her uncle to help. That plan works and her mother is proud of her.

Can you guess what her plan was?

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own - and well - that of my 5 year old daughters'.

Ella has a plan tells the story of Ella, who has to come up with a plan to keep her cousins from arguing with each other. Her plan helped her cousins to see that although they are different, they can have things in common too.

Ella has a plan was a great book. It was fun to read - especially since it was a rhyming book! The pictures were fun and colourful and my daughter enjoyed pointing out Ella in each picture.

She told me afterwards that the story was a bit long. However, the fact that she didn't stop me from reading the book, tells me that she really enjoyed it, regardless of it being long. She enjoyed the whole story from beginning to end.

I would highly recommend this book for young children.

This is a delightful story about a kind young girl who identifies a recurring problem and wants to solve it. The rhyming story carries the reader along at a steady pace and there is sufficient depth to read and re-read. It could become a family favourite. Not all the questions are answered, lending scope for reader engagement. The illustrations capture a vibrant family life that is perfect in its imperfections. Although the illustrative style is quite particular, there is sufficient detail to afford each character their own identity. The limited colour palette and clean illustrative lines provide a clear backdrop for the text which looks quite dense on the page. The simplicity of the text makes it easily readable however. There is warmth, urgency, growth and each family member is named. This is a lovely book for young readers who, listening, will pick up on the cadence of the language and will be helped by the rhyme and rhythm of the spoken word in their journey to becoming readers of a familiar text for themselves..

I loved the illustrations in this book, and I liked the rhyming nature of it. However, I do think there are a lot of words, which would make it difficult for me as an educator to use with an entire classroom. Students tend to get a little stir crazy when it takes a bit longer to turn the page. I also am not sure how I could make it work into my own curriculum as a school counselor. I could see, though, sharing this with students one-on-one who may be having issues with conflict resolution or who are frustrated with their friends.

Overall, I think this is a cute story, but it may not be best for my needs as an educator.

Thankyou Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read this story!

I am glad that I have read this book.This book teaches you the value of family and kindness.It is quite intriguing that we don't get such themes in books which are most important for nurturing children.

I had a great time reading this

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

We have enjoyed this book. The story was cute and family centered. I like that it focuses on being kind. We need all the kindness in the world right now. The rhyming words was fun too and it will be a great way for kids to learn.