Nicole Pelina

Book Review #1

Period 4

31 October 2016

           

 Pictures of Hollis Woods

Patricia Reilly Giff

Fiction

166 pages

Newberry Honor Award

            The novel, Pictures of Hollis Woods, is about a main character named Hollis Woods. Hollis is a 12 year old orphan, who usually pushes people away. Hollis drew pictures, and it explained the story behind it, why she drew it, and what she drew. Since Hollis was an orphan, a lady she called the "mustard woman" brought her to a person named Josie Cahill. In her pictures, they would describe each memory that she had with the Regan family. The Regan family had a brother, Steven Regan, a father, the "Old Man", and Izzy, the mother. Hollis had stayed with the Regan family for the summer. Soon, the summer ended, and she had to go. Remembering the Old Man saying the house was all to hers, Josie and Hollis left at night to drive to the house to spend Christmas there. Towards the end of the book, it slowly explained why Hollis left the Regan family. On Christmas, Hollis had reunited with Steven, and Josie had reunited with Beatrice. Hollis became a part of the Regan family.

            What I liked about this book was its creativity. Each picture explained the story and her memories. For example, one of her pictures talked about Steven Regan, her foster brother. One major think that I liked about this book is that it represented family. In the book, it showed exactly how a family behaved and how it had its ups and downs. It showed Hollis what a family was, and how it feels to have one. However, I dislike that the book is slightly confusing at first. Each chapter would jump back and forth. One chapter would explain what is happening to her currently, then the next chapter would explain her pictures. I liked the ending very much because Hollis and finally reunited with her foster family again. I would definitely recommend this book to others because this book is a little different from other books. It is a very interesting read, and I would love to read it again.