Neil Swidey: Adele steps on her scooter and glides down her flat dead-end street of neat single-family homes. Kids emerge from their backyards and through their front doors, following her lead with the bouncy instincts of wedding guests joining a conga line. The younger kids on this block in the Roslindale section of Boston love Adele. That's partly because she doesn't look much older than they are. Although she has a strikingly beautiful face that could belong to a teenager, Adele is short for her 11 years and still has a young girl's physique. But mostly it's because she doesn't feel the need to put distance between herself and them, at least not yet. She's fun to be around, she still likes spending time with her stuffed-animal Webkinz on the computer and playing tag on the street, and she loves to laugh at silly things.
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