CECH Spotlight highlights recommended books in the the UC College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) Library.
Ellen Outside the Lines / written by AJ Sass / 2022
CW: Queer character being outed
Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass is a contemporary juvenile novel that follows Ellen Katz, a queer, autistic, Jewish girl as she navigates life and friendship. Ellen’s Spanish class is going to Barcelona for two weeks, and she expects it to be a time for her to reconnect with her best friend Laurel. But during this trip, her carefully planned routines and expectations are thrown for a loop when she gets paired with a different group, allowing her to learn not just about herself but those around her.
This novel explores gender identity, queerness, religion, neurodivergence, and what it means to be a friend. It is a heartwarming story of growth and acceptance that makes it a read that you won’t want to put down until you’re done.
This book is available from the CECH Library, as well as the OhioLINK and Search Ohio lending networks.
Review by Alice Somers, CECH Library Student Assistant | Early Childhood Education and Deaf Studies, CECH 2026
Kari Gunter-Seymour is the Poet Laureate of Ohio and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Her poetry collections include Alone in the House of My Heart (Ohio University Swallow Press 2022), and A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen (Sheila Na Gig Editions 2020) winner of the 2020 Ohio Poet of the Year Award. She is an artist in residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts, a Pillars of Prosperity Fellow for the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, the founder/executive director of the Women of Appalachia Project and editor of its anthology series Women Speak. Her work has been featured in Verse Daily, World Literature Today, The New York Times and Poem-a-Day. 






