Hollis is a foster child. Her foster parents seem to always find the bad in her and she ends up running away. Now she’s been sent to stay with an elderly woman, Josie, who loves her and gives her room. But Josie is slowly growing forgetful. How long will Hollis be able to stay with her? Newbery Honor ( )

A story of a twelve year old foster girl who has a tendency to run away from her current home whenever there is tension and arguing. She sees herself as a mountain of trouble. Her pictures are a diary of her life and tell her story. After leaving the family that wants her to become a member of their family Hollis goes to the quirky artistic Josie. Something happens where Hollis needs to run again and this time take Josie with her to a special place. ( )

Hollis Woods is afraid, so she runs. She is afraid of abandonment, she is afraid of feeling and she is afraid of commitment. Hollis has suffered tremendously, but has also been loved, but her suffering would not allow her to feel deeply enough to allow that love in, until someone needed her. Through the frailty of Josie, who has a common interest (art) and an authentic need (she is loosing her memory), Hollis learns that each day holds special moments that create pictures worth holding onto for a lifetime. She learns to love, and as importantly, to allow herself to be loved.

When children confuse us, rejecting even the kindest invitations, we would be wise to consider that perhaps there are parts of them and their histories that we simply do not understand. Perhaps the need is not to be invited, but rather to be needed. Hollis Woods can serve to remind us of the power of being needed. ( )

Pictures of Hollis Woods is a book about a young girl who is an orphan but whenever she is put into a home she runs. She is a runaway. She does not stay in any home for a long period of time. Until, she was put into a home with an elderly lady who is an artist and relates to Hollis, because she too is an artist. Staying with this lady she thinks back when she stayed at another home that she enjoyed. She just did not stay.

This book was not my favorite. It did have explicit details it just felt as if I could not get into the book as well as others.

In a classroom, we could read the book aloud in class and have a class discussion over what we read that day. Also, we could have the children make up their own questions and talk over it in class.

Hollis is an orphaned girl with an ability to draw and run away. After an incident occurs with a family where she finally feels like she belongs, she runs away unable to deal with the fact that they might not want her anymore. She finds a home with an elderly women who is slowly loosing her memory but has a great artistic talent like Hollis. When social care workers want to take Hollis away to a better suited care giver, Hollis devises a plan to escape. In the end she finds the family that wanted her all along and she finds her family. The authors language is descriptive and paints a picture with it. All while I read I was imagining the story with the authors cues. I think that this would be great to point out to students and encourage them to use their imagination while reading and also to write to encourage imagination. I think it would be great to have students draw scenes from the book which will make a connection with Hollis and also have them remember memorable scenes. ( )