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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
Awesome. That’s what Orry said when we finished this beautiful book. Wonderful character development and the setting was so real. Annabelle’s internal struggles were so universal in nature- how to deal with a bully on your own, how to speak truth to power, how to be true to what you know is right. I loved everything about this novel. Highly recommended. It was a great read aloud.
Other than not totally buying into the maturity this young girl exhibited, I really enjoyed this story. Maybe young girls were that much more mature back then.
i think i read this in 6/7th and i remember it was pretty good for historical fiction
This is very well written and intriguing, but very dark for a kid's book. It concerns a person who is mean because she can be, but it's not a story about redemption and it doesn't have a happy ending. It's probably best for a young teen rather than an elementary schooler.
I got about half way through this book and lost interest. The story line was okay, but I quickly tired of the main character's struggles with Betty the Bully. I might try to re-read it someday...
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It’s the Autumn of 1943 and Annabelle is almost twelve. This will be the year that divides her childhood from her coming of age. She lives with her entire extended family in a farmhouse in rural Appalachian Pennsylvania where she attends school in a one room schoolhouse. Nearby, in the woods in a rundown smokehouse turned shack lives Toby, an oddly quiet mountain man and shell shocked WW1 veteran. Annabelle’s family looks out for him from a distance sending him kind offerings on occasion and loaning him the family’s Kodak camera. Annabelle’s quiet and idyllic life soon turns upside down when Betty, an older girl with a penchant for extreme bullying, moves to town. As Annabelle tries to deal with the bullying in her own, the situation soon escalates beyond her and sets into motion a series of events that will leave everyone in the neighborhood changed.
I adore Lauren Wolk. I made no secret about a middle grade book called Echo Mountain being one of my top ten reads of 2023 and made it a point to grab some of her backlist. With a grownup cover and a few adult details added in her books could stand on their own in the adult fiction section, but she has chosen to use her tremendous gift to bring quality literature to young readers, and I love her for it. After Echo Mountain, I compared her to Harper Lee, and after Wolf Hollow, I’m doubling down on that comparison. This beautiful book was once again an immersive dive into her exceptional storytelling. Her writing had me engrossed in Annabelle’s story and the natural settings of rural Pennsylvania farmland, and I definitely shed a few tears as it came to its conclusion. Wolk doesn’t tiptoe around the emotions of children, she doesn’t speak of children in a patronizing tone, nor does she tie everything into neat bows. Instead, like real life, her stories have difficult themes such as grief, prejudices, guilt and shame, trust, and forgiveness. This book moved me and I am so happy to have such a meaningful piece of youth fiction to recommend to my friends with young readers. Wolf Hollow gets 4.5 stars from me.
👉🏼 I recommend this book for middle grade readers who may enjoy historical fiction, adult readers who enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird or who enjoyed Echo Mountain, and just about anyone else who finds to content interesting.
⚠️TW: Extreme forms of physical bullying, grief, loss; brief references to guns, violence, war and PTSD
REVIEW TO COME LATER. But it was good and meaningful, you should read it.
This is an emotionally heavy book. It is told so beautifully that I still keep thinking about the characters even after I’ve finished. I felt all sorts of feelings reading this, mostly sadness and anger, but in a good way. It’s eye opening to the real nastiness in the world today and how one small lie can ruin or even end lives.
Grabbed this book at my daughters book fair, she’s in 4th grade and although this is some very heavy reading, I think it’s a very good book for teens and tweens.
Grabbed this book at my daughters book fair, she’s in 4th grade and although this is some very heavy reading, I think it’s a very good book for teens and tweens.