Echo Mountain

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.