Ellen & Otis Books in Order

The Ellen & Otis books are short, lively novels about school friendships, grudges, and the small humiliations that loom large in third and fourth grade. Set on another Portland street not far from Klickitat, they follow conscientious Ellen Tebbits and her classmate Otis Spofford, a boy who seems to have been born to cause trouble.

In Ellen Tebbits, Ellen is a third‑grader with a terrible secret: her mother insists she wear thick woolen underwear, and she’s sure the other girls will laugh if they find out. At dance class she discovers that the new girl, Austine, has the same problem. Their shared embarrassment sparks a fast friendship built on whispered confessions, horseback‑riding adventures, and a united front against Otis, who delights in teasing them.

The book captures the intense swings of feeling that define this age. Ellen adores Austine, then feels deeply betrayed when a misunderstanding at school leads to a slap in the lunch line. For weeks she’s convinced everyone is judging her. The story takes its time with the awkward silence, the wrong guesses about what really happened, and the slow, satisfying repair of the friendship once the truth comes out.

Otis Spofford shifts the spotlight to the boy who was mostly a tormentor in the first book. Otis lives with his busy dance‑teacher mother and spends a lot of time fending for himself. His idea of fun is “stirring up a little excitement,” whether that means firing spitballs, sneaking classroom pets home, or daring himself into outrageous pranks. He doesn’t always understand why adults, or Ellen, react so strongly.

Over the course of the story Otis pushes one joke too far when he snips a chunk from Ellen’s carefully grown hair. Suddenly he’s the one on the outside, feeling the sting of deserved consequences as his classmates turn on him and Ellen plots a memorable payback. Cleary doesn’t excuse him, but she does let readers see the loneliness behind the bravado.

Together, the two books offer a rounded picture of life in the middle grades: the thrill of having a best friend, the misery of a quarrel, the smug pleasure of a well‑earned twist of justice, and the moment when you realize that other kids’ lives at home may not be as simple as you assumed. The tone is light and often very funny, but the emotional beats are honest enough that many readers still recognize themselves in Ellen or Otis decades later.