Gr 4 Up—When Ellie and her family move to the mountains of Maine after suffering significant losses during the
Great Depression, Ellie's father is injured in an accident and becomes comatose. With natural skill, the protagonist
steps up to help her family, but conflict boils. Ellie tries myriad cures for her father to no avail, until she meets Cate,
a "hag" who is herself gravely injured. Subtle supernatural elements tint this rich, historical novel about family
relationships, friendships, and finding your own power.

This book is written by Lauren Wolk who won a Newbery Award for Wolf Hollow. I actually picked this up because the bookstore did not have Wolf Hollow.

Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. This book takes place in 1934. It tells the story of a family who lost almost everything in the Great Depression. Basically, that is how Ellie, and her family came to Echo Mountain's wilderness. Ellie is free to run wild and she loves nature/outdoors. When her father has a terrible accident, Ellie is blamed for his coma. She searches the mountain to find a cure/help heal her father. In doing so she befriends a wild woman "the hag" and finds healing magic. The ending is truly magical.

I don't usually read books that are traumatic. This story has such a rich soul, and mesmerizing magic. Ellie is truly heroic and her love for her father and their shared love of music is what saves him and the family.

I recommend this as a read aloud for fourth or fifth grade. I think the teacher should read it first though as the father getting hurt could be a trigger for some children/families. It would be a great story of resilience, persistence and friendship.

I can't wait to read another book by Lauren Wolk. ( )

Lauren Wolk. Oh how I fell in love with her starting with her debut book "Wolf Hollow." Every book she writes I read voraciously. I feel her books continue to be strong efforts of writing, character development, and the storyline.

This is the story of Ellie who holds herself responsible for her father being in a coma. Only thing is......there is so much more to it than that. Regardless of the specifics, Ellie's father is in a coma and the rest of the family is struggling on Echo Mountain. They are there due to the Great Depression and Ellie's mom and sister really hate it. Ellie just thinks about a puppy and waking her father up.

She will do this by whatever means necessary--putting honey on his head, stinging him with bees, putting a snake in the bed.......or she will reach out to "The Hag." The Hag lives on the other side of the mountain. Everyone believes she is a witch when really, her methods of healing are just more natural than most.

This book is about compassion, resilience, and determination. Ellie is a fantastic heroine who I think both girls AND boys would like to learn more about it. I could picture the mountain setting. The pain of longing for a father to wake up. The desire for friendship with the mysterious person leaving wood carvings.s

Oh I will continue to keep recommending her books! ( )

Digital audiobook narrated by Holly Linneman
3.5***

Set during the Great Depression, Wolk’s novel shows the effects on one family when they lose their home in town and are forced to start over in a cabin on Echo Mountain. Life is tough on the mountain, but the family is managing; and then twelve-year-old Ellie’s father has an accident and while he’s confined to bed, the girls and women have to shoulder the burden. Ellie’s mother and older sister take on all the household chores, but it is up to Ellie, who grew to love the woods alongside her father, to fish and hunt game for their food. In this way she comes to really know the mountain, and meets the “hag” (Cate) who lives in a cabin and whom some claim is a witch. But Ellie believes Cate knows the secrets of healing and she’s determined to help her father anyway she can.

This is a lovely adventure story, focused on family, prejudice and discovery. Ellie is a great character – brave, tender, intelligent, resilient, eager to learn, open to new possibilities, and determined. I loved how she conquered her fears and argued in favor of Cate, and how determined she was to help her father heal from the accident. I also loved how nurturing she was … not just with Cate and her father, but also in the way she cared for her little brother, and for her puppy, Quiet.

Holly Linneman does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. I’d give her 5 stars for her performance. She was completely believable as six-year-old Samuel, as Ellie and as Cate. ( )

I really liked the characters....well, how they were written, not so much the sister, but even so, I loved how it embraced the tragedy of what happened, both in reality and what was believed, and showed not only the strength to claiming it as her own to spare others, but also the kindness that was missed BY sparing them. I appreciated the strong female characters in both their minds, and hearts, as well as the gumption they found to follow through the hardships that occurred. I LOVED the "hag" and how everything with her, the sisters, the parents, etc., came full circle. I loved Quiet, Maisie, and Captan (no "i"). I think it provided messages of how just because it might not be done, doesn't mean it can't be done...no one can keep us down but ourselves...and family isn't just about blood.


Read for Cybil's Middle Grade Fiction, Round two; copy from my home library. ( )