Echo Mountain (utgåvan 2020)

When the Great Depression hit, Ellie's family moved from town to the mountain, where they built themselves a cabin and learned to live off the land. But then Ellie's father was injured felling a tree, and he lies in a coma while the rest of the family - Ellie, her older sister Esther, her younger brother Samuel, and their mother - makes do and waits for him to wake up.

Unlike her mother and sister, who long for their old life in town, Ellie loves the mountain, and is curious about the mystery person who leaves beautiful wooden carvings for her to find, and the "hag" who lives up the mountain. She also comes to believe that "lullabies" are not the way to bring their father back to them, and tries a variety of things to startle him awake, leading to punishment from her mother.

As Ellie follows her instincts, explores, and meets new people (and dogs), she discovers that they are already connected in surprising ways.

See also: The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean, Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Quotes

But this bond with my father and the wilderness itself made a rift between me and my mother - and my sister especially - who both seemed to think I had somehow betrayed them by being happy when they were not. (13)

Being a middle child had made me good at turning the other cheek. But being good at something didn't make it easy. (27)

...I knew that it vexed her if anyone shook what she tried so hard to make calm. (34)

"Doing something is more right than doing nothing." (Ellie to her mother, 149)

'For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.' (Cate quoting Aristotle, 176)

"I'm stronger now because I have to be, and I suppose I should find some satisfaction in that...And I do, Ellie. But satisfaction doesn't hold a candle to what I had before." (Ellie's mother, 220)

...but I knew that it was easier to teach a thing to someone who wants to know it. (235)

"Blame comes from the Greek word for 'curse.' That's the root of it. A curse." (Cate to Ellie and Esther, 240)

One more thing I would have to do in order to learn how to do it. (254)

"Step by step. That's the way out of something hard." (Cate, 291)

...life is a matter of moments, strung together like rain. To try to touch just one drop at a time, to try to count them or order them or reckon their worth...was impossible. (296)

"Sometimes things seem to happen out of order, or in an order of their own, but they make perfect sense if you don't worry too much about how they ought to line up." (Cate to Ellie, 307)

"We're all more than one thing." (Ellie's mother, 330)

"The things we need to do, we learn by doing." (342) ( )

Ellie's family have moved to the mountain after the Great Depression took almost all they have. Her father has been in a coma months after a tree fell on him, and the family tends to him daily. While coming up with ideas to bring her father back (locking a snake in his room to make her sister scream), she meets Cate, the hag of the mountain, who is in a bad way herself after an attack by a fisher cat. Ellie won't realize the importance of the hag until later, but in tending care to Cate and her father, she discovers strengths she didn't know she had until she needed them. Or as her father always told her "The things we need to learn to do, we learn to do by doing." A quiet and eloquent book; the pace picks up about page 100 after Ellie meets injured Cate. ( )

Ellie and her family are forced to move to a remote mountainside during the great depression. Ellie and her father are scrappy survivors learning to make-do with less while other members of her family are less adaptable to a new life. When an accident causes Ellie's father to become unconscious, Ellie alone must find the resources to save him. ( )

This is the wonderful story of a spunky, persevering and brave twelve year old girl named Ellie. The setting is the wild woods of Maine in the 1930’s. Her parents lost their home in the Great Depression and were forced to move, along with many neighbors, to the woods, where Ellie has learned to hunt, fish and start a fire. Now, Ellie’s skills and confidence put her at odds with her resentful mother and older sister, who miss their former life in town.

The story is told vividly contrasting life in town where folks walked on sidewalks instead of for pine-needle paths. Instead of paper currency the family must now for barter for things they need such as, eggs and medical care. Life takes a drastic turn after the accident that put Ellie’s dad in a coma and left his family in a state of suspended grief and the backbreaking work of survival for a family of five in the wild.

Despite these hardships, Ellie uses her skills to keep her family safe and fed and to find a way to wake up her father. Her unconventional yet logical efforts on this front are humorous and heartbreaking. Yet just maybe, hopeful. Ellie’s life contains some big mysteries, as well. Who is leaving her beautifully carved miniature figurines? Might the “hag” who lives up the mountain know how to heal her father.

I felt I was right on the mountain with the families. I hurt, I was shocked, scared, on edge and just about any other emotion I could experience.

Wolk is an amazing writer and Echo Mountain is my Newbery pick so far this year. ( )

Wondrous! Glorious! I need to read it again right away and savor it all over again. ( )