This is a beautifully written story about Ellie and her family and their life on Echo Mountain. Due to the Great Depression, Ellie’s family relocates from town to the mountain to live off the land. This is not the life that her mother and older sister signed up for. Ellie and her father thrive on the mountain catching fish, hunting, gathering honey, building their cabin, growing their own vegetables, and adapting perfectly.
Unfortunately, their father is felled by a tree and is in a coma making their difficult life even harder. There is also blame and guilt for the accident. Ellie is determined to wake her father from his slumber and not with the lullabies and reading her mother and sister have been doing. As Ellie plots her interventions, she discovers a hag further up the mountain who is also injured and needs her help. Ellie is a natural healer and problem solver--a young woman unusual for the time.
Although I enjoyed the story, I can only think of a few students that this book will appeal to. It feels like it was more of an adult read. I look forward to getting some feedback from my students.
4 Stars
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