This ARC (advance readers copy) has been sitting on a to-read pile since the beginning of summer, so I decided to start it last night:
Looking at the cover, I wasn't expecting Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk to be historical fiction. But that seems to be Wolk's genre of choice, and the story follows suit, set in Maine during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Ellie's urban life was turned upside down when people no longer had money for her tailor father's exquisitely made clothes and the school where her mother taught music. Destitute, the family of five left the city for a parcel of land in the mountains, within walking distance of five other families who form a network of support. They survived tent living long enough to build a cabin before winter.
Ellie and her father adapted quickly to mountain living. Their needs were met with the resources at hand, until Ellie's father had an accident that put him in a coma. Now Ellie must do the trapping and fishing while her mother and sister tend to Ellie's little brother and home. They don't see what Ellie sees in the natural beauty of the mountain--including wonderfully carved trinkets which seem to be left just for her in her favorite places.
Wolk's storytelling through Ellie's eyes is fresh and full of wonder, despite the backdrop of the Great Depression and the hard work of eking out a living in the wild. I suspect harder times are coming in the story, but I am already certain that Ellie will face them head on and get the job done, her heart echoing the marvels of nature along the way.
It's Monday, and I'm drawn once again to an historical fiction novel for third/fourth grade on up. What are you reading today?
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