This is a heart-wrenching and highly engaging historical story with a pre-teen heroine that kept me riveted and far more involved than I expected. I literally sobbed in parts. I picked it up because it was featured in Cubby's reading contest this month and I thought it'd be nice but it was an emotional masterpiece.

From Amazon: "A Newbery Honor Book
New York Times Bestseller

“Wolf Hollow has stayed with me long after I closed the book. It has the feel of an instant classic." —Linda Sue Park, Newbery Medalist and New York Times bestselling author of A Long Walk to Water

“This book matters.” —Sara Pennypacker, New York Times bestselling author of Pax

Despite growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative, and though her bullying seems isolated at first, it quickly escalates. Toby, a reclusive World War I veteran, soon becomes the target of Betty’s attacks. While others see Toby’s strangeness, Annabelle knows only kindness. And as tensions mount in their small community, Annabelle must find the courage to stand as a lone voice for justice.

The brilliantly crafted debut of Newbery Honor– and Scott O'Dell Award–winning author Lauren Wolk (Beyond the Bright Sea, Echo Mountain), Wolf Hollow is a haunting tale of America at a crossroads and a time when one girl’s resilience, strength, and compassion help to illuminate the darkest corners of history."

People who like historic, young adult, mystery, small-town, drama, family, and or psychological stories.

Annabelle, her parents, her grandparents, and Toby's characters. The insights into rural Pennsylvania life in that time frame. Annabelle's love of her family and willingness to do what she felt was right.

I'm more of a happy ending kind of person so there were certain plot twists that I would have preferred go another way personally. Also, this book had way too much violence and mental illness for the age level it's intended. No way would I let an average 11 year old (the age of the heroine) read this book alone.

Pray. So I did. I also saved another one of the author's books to my library wish list.

Like I was Annabelle's diary throughout. It also brought up bad memories of life with a sadistic sociopath that I could have lived without rehashing. And I was unbelievably sad about what happened with Toby. It was a very emotional read.

From Amazon: "People asked when I became a writer. My answer: October 28, 1959. The day I was born. People ask how long it took me to write Wolf Hollow or Beyond the Bright Sea. I say: my whole life. My work is a result of everything I’ve ever experienced. The same is true of my visual art and poetry. Art may be triggered by a moment of inspiration or epiphany, but it arises from a lifetime of observations, ideas, imagination, and skills honed by practice, practice, and more practice.

I’ve had quite a few jobs in my life, all of which involved writing and all of which made me a better writer.

After graduating from Brown University with a degree in English literature, I worked at the St. Paul American Indian Center, writing a book on how best to assist battered women in the Native American community. I then worked as a senior editor with an educational publisher in Toronto before starting a family and a business as a freelance writer and editor in 1988. In 1999, Random House published my first novel, Those Who Favor Fire. In 2000, I became a full-time, certified English teacher at Sturgis Charter School in Hyannis, working there for four years before leaving to become Assistant Director at the Cape Cod Writers Center and to write my second novel, Forgiving Billy, which was twice nominated for the Pushcart Editor’s Book Award and which won the 2006 Hackney Literary Award. I became Associate Director of the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in 2007, which was when I became increasingly involved in creating visual art, eventually receiving invitations to participate in various exhibits and to show my work at the Larkin Gallery in Provincetown and the Post Office Gallery in North Truro. In 2016, Dutton published my novel Wolf Hollow, which I had written for a general audience but which is known primarily as a book for young readers (“ages 10 and up”). It was named a 2016 New England Book Award winner, a 2017 Newbery Honor Book, and a 2017 Jane Addams Honor Book and was shortlisted for the 2017 New York Historical Society Children’s Book Prize, the 2017 Waterstones Book Prize, the 2017 Carnegie Medal, and other awards. In May 2017, Dutton published Beyond the Bright Sea, also for ages 10 and up.

I come from a long line of farmers and love the natural world, which enabled me to write Wolf Hollow, which is about a girl named Annabelle coming of age on a small farm in 1943. Likewise, the decades I’ve spent near the ocean inspired my new book, about a girl growing up on the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Cape Cod, where I live.

I have a wonderful time visiting with children and other readers to talk about my work and to answer their questions. They are all unfailingly smart, perceptive, and supportive."

It's well-written, engaging, and emotionally powerful.

It's violent, cruel at times, and didn't offer redemption for the person I felt most deserved it.

I borrowed a copy of this book from my local library.

This book won a slew of awards and I can see why. It really is a great read.

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Created Jun 20, 2021 at 8:02pm • Submit your own review...