A review by stacisantefort
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

4.0

Grade level 4-12

Summary
Hollis Woods is in foster care. She is described as a “mountain of trouble,” by the fostering system. She always runs away from her foster families and never really feels like she belongs. All’s Hollis wants is a family to call her own where she belongs. Hollis’ thought she found the perfect family, but she runs away. She is finally placed with Josie, a retired art teacher. Hollis, an artist herself, feels at home with Josie. Josie is getting old and Hollis is worried that due to her forgetful memory, the state will take her away from Josie.
Hollis comes up with a plan for her and Josie to run away before they can come get her. They go stay in Hollis’ former foster family’s summer house and hide. While they’re hiding, we find out just why Hollis left her last family. The family is doing whatever it takes to find Hollis, and when they find out she ran away with her new foster mom, they come to her rescue.

Response
I gave this book 4 stars, mostly because there was not much I could relate to. Overall, it was a great story and it meets the guides for qualities of children’s literature. (TMY, 2010, p. 8):

A child protagonist and an issue that involves children: Hollis is the child protagonist. This would be a good book for children to read who are in foster care.

A straightforward storyline with a linear and limited time sequence in a confined setting: The story was very straight forward. Although, there are a few flashbacks where Hollis is remembering what happened with her past foster families and the tragedy that made her want to leave what she finally thought was her family.

Language that is concrete and vivid and not overly simplistic: The language is very easy to read. There are a few more difficult words, but nothing that would restrain a child from enjoying this book.

Classroom connect
I really liked one of the activities that I found on http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/sort-it-out-senses. Hollis Woods is an artist, and it’s easier for her to draw something than to talk about it. This lesson says to bring in various portraits from magazines. Talk to the students about what a portrait is and have them come up with qualities of a good portrait. Then, have the students draw a portrait of someone they know.

Grade equivalent 4.5
Lexile 650
Guided reading V