LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
Shortlisted for CILIP Carnegie Medal 2021
Lauren Wolk’s Echo Mountain shimmers with timeless lyricism and rhythm. The story sings with empathy and a spirit of bravery. Its world is one young readers will be enraptured by and long to return to, making it perfect for fans of classic Eva Ibbotson novels and contemporary books by Katherine Rundell.
In the wake of The Great Depression, Ellie’s fine tailor father and music teacher mother lose work, then their house, “and then the life we’d always known” when they’re compelled to leave town for Echo Mountain. While her mother and sister find mountain life especially tough (they “lived in a brew of fear and exhaustion”), Ellie and her father loved the woods, loved the mountain and “what it kindled in me.”
Ellie is mystified when her dog returns home with a little wooden lamb attached to its collar, and then more objects appear, including a carving of Ellie herself left in the stump of the tree that almost killed her father. With her family reeling from his accident, Ellie’s determination to find a cure leads her to Cate, a skilled healer who’s disparaged as a witch, and wild Larkin, her young apprentice. Through Cate, Ellie too learns how to heal, and also how to see beyond appearances, and how to persevere. What a wonderfully immersive read.
Joanne Owen
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About
Echo Mountain Synopsis
? "Historical fiction at its finest." -The Horn Book
"There has never been a better time to read about healing, of both the body and the heart." -The New York Times Book Review
Echo Mountain is an acclaimed best book of 2020!
An NPR Best Book of the Year A Horn Book Fanfare Selection A Kirkus Best Book of the Year A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year
After losing almost everything in the Great Depression, Ellie's family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed wilderness 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 after a terrible accident leaves her father in a coma. An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie.
Ellie is a girl who takes matters into her own hands, and determined to help her father she 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.
Historical fiction at its finest, 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.
"Soothing and exquisitely written." -People
"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
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9780525555568 |
Publication date: |
21st April 2020 |
Author: |
Lauren Wolk |
Publisher: |
Dutton Books for Young Readers an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group |
Format: |
Hardback |
Pagination: |
356 pages |
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Press Reviews
Lauren Wolk Press Reviews
Lyrical, timeless . . . A luscious, shivery delight - Kirkus
It is a magical thing to step into a world created by Wolk . . . Captivating - Booklist
Exquisitely layered . . . Powerful - Publishers Weekly
Lyrical and affecting - Wall Street Journal
Historical fiction at its finest - The Horn Book
Evokes the mountain environment in language so lovely that long passages read like a novel in verse . . . Ellie is a deeply appealing character, and her story feels right for this moment. A reader who wants to make a difference will appreciate the way she rolls up her sleeves and gets things done. And surely there has never been a better time to read about healing, of both the body and the heart - New York Times
Soothing and exquisitely written - People
Evocative and touching . . . In this complex, memorable novel, Wolk explores themes of social responsibility, modern versus traditional medicine, biological versus chosen family and more - Bookpage
Author
About Lauren Wolk
After graduating from Brown University in 1981 with a degree in English literature, Lauren Wolk spent a year as a writer with the Battered Women's Project of the St. Paul American Indian Center, and then worked as both an editor and an English teacher. Since 2007, she has been the Associate Director of the Cultural Center of Cape Cod. She is an award-winning poet and also a visual artist. Wolf Hollow is set in western Pennsylvania where her family roots run deep. Both of her parents were raised in that area, her mother on a farm and in a family that served as the inspiration for the novel.
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