Echo Mountain
by Lauren Wolk (Author)
"Soothing and exquisitely written." -People
"A supple tale of struggle, ingenuity and the restorative power of generosity even in bitter times. This is a book that will soothe readers like a healing balm." -The Wall Street Journal
"Brilliant." -Lynda Mullaly Hunt, bestselling author of Fish in a Tree
When the Great Depression takes almost everything they own, Ellie's family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed forests of nearby Echo Mountain. Ellie has found a welcome freedom, and a love of the natural world, in her new life on the mountain. But there is little joy, even for Ellie, as her family struggles with the aftermath of an accident that has left her father in a coma. An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie.
Determined to help her father, Ellie will make her way to the top of the mountain in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as "the hag." But the hag, and the mountain, still have many untold stories left to reveal and, with them, a fresh chance at happiness.
Echo Mountain is celebration of finding your own path and becoming your truest self. Lauren Wolk, the Newbery Honor- and Scott O'Dell Award-winning author of Wolf Hollow and Beyond the Bright Sea weaves a stunning tale of resilience, persistence, and friendship across three generations of families, set against the rough and ragged beauty of the mountain they all call home.
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Publishers Weekly
A girl realizes her standout gifts as a healer in this exquisitely layered historical novel set in Depression-era Maine. After the financial crash forces a tight-knit family of five to move from town to build a cabin on Echo Mountain, a tree-felling accident puts 12-year-old narrator Ellie's father into a coma. The family's struggle to survive intensifies, made worse by fears about whether their beloved father--a tailor turned woodsman who, like Ellie, loves the wild--will ever awaken. Complex family dynamics loom large amid day-to-day matters: Ellie's mother and sister long for their former life and blame Ellie for her father's state; Ellie, who discovers a gift for healing, further upsets them by trying to startle her father awake. When a dog leads Ellie to "the hag," a woman who knows about cures and is herself suffering, the girl lends a hand, resulting in further tensions, this time within the interconnected mountain community. Via strongly sketched cabin-life cadences and memorable, empathic characterizations--including, perhaps most vividly, of the wilderness itself--Newbery Honoree Wolk (Wolf Hollow) builds a powerful, well-paced portrait of interconnectedness, work and learning, and strength in a time of crisis. Ages 10-up. (Apr.)
Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 4 Up—The Great Depression took many things from Ellie's family-her parent's jobs, their house, and their comfortable lives. They moved to property on Echo Mountain to start over and rebuild. And what the Great Depression didn't take, the mountain did. Ellie lost the family that she once knew. Her mother and her sister, Esther, weren't meant for life on the mountains, they said. And her father has spent the last several months in a coma due to an accident from a felled tree. Ellie carries the emotional burden of taking the blame for it and the physical burden of handling the manual tasks in his absence. But while the mountain takes, it also gives-carved trinkets, plants for healing, and friendships found in unexpected places. Wolk crafts an uplifting story of resilience and determination during a time when morale is incredibly low. She illustrates how people are multifaceted, and not always what they seem. In this novel, family can take many forms—the one you're born into, and the one that finds you when and where you least expect it. The narrative does contain subtle but direct details involving maggots, blood, and wounds that will intrigue the most reluctant of readers but may be too much for those with a weak stomach. VERDICT A heartfelt read and recommended first purchase for all collections. You can tell readers that the dog doesn't die at the end.—Alicia Kalan, The Northwest School, Seattle
Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
★ "A girl realizes her standout gifts as a healer in this exquisitely layered historical novel set in Depression-era Maine.... Via strongly sketched cabin-life cadences and memorable, empathic characterizations—including, perhaps most vividly, of the wilderness itself—Newbery Honoree Wolk builds a powerful, well-paced portrait of interconnectedness, work and learning, and strength in a time of crisis." -Publishers Weekly, starred review "A timely novel about surviving economic crisis but not today's: Wolk's tale is set in the Maine woods during the Great Depression. Soothing and exquisitely written." -People "Every child learns at school about the dislocation of families during the Great Depression. Novelist Lauren Wolk brings readers into one such stricken household in Echo Mountain, a lyrical and affecting story.... Amid our own dislocations with the coronavirus, this is a book that will soothe readers like a healing balm." -The Wall Street Journal
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV024000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | Country Life
20th century
Family life
Maine
Depressions
1929
Neighborliness
