Echo Mountain

Great book, if a bit slow-moving. Loved the emphasis on doing for yourself with what you have, and love for the natural world. I also loved the theme of mental health that is wound throughout -- Ellie is just as concerned about the two mothers' grief as she is about the physical injuries she is trying to heal. As a portrait of a time and a space, it is a beautiful work. I particularly enjoyed the exploration of poverty and the way it changes each member of the family. Loved the importance of music and particularly the shout-out to the mandolin. I think Ellie's voice and healing abilities feel a bit advanced for a 12 year old. By the end of the book I felt embedded in the small mountain community and close to each of the characters, show more which is a remarkable gift. show less

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, show more 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) show less

This was my first book by Lauren Wolk and I highly enjoyed it! A depression-era historical YA set in 1934 Maine, it centers around Ellie, a young girl who is struggling to help hold her family together after they’ve moved to the mountains after having lived in town all their lives and recently having lost their home like many others. Ellie and her father are adapting fairly well. Ellie’s sister and mother—not so much.

When her father is in a terrible accident, the family struggles even more to survive. This was a lovely book, full of small, tender moments of herbalism, families isolated back in the 1930’s, a girl who loves dogs, music and woodcarving, poverty, sisters and brothers who don’t always get along, and a heroine I show more quite enjoyed. I rather loved in and would eagerly read another book by this author.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

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 show more 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. show less

After the financial crash, Ellie and her family have lost nearly everything--including their home in town. They have started over, carving out a new life in the unforgiving terrain of Echo Mountain. Though her sister Esther, especially, resents everything about the mountain, Ellie has found more freedom, a new strength, and a love of the natural world that now surrounds them. But there is little joy, even for Ellie, as they all struggle with the sorrow and aftermath of an accident that left her father in a coma. An accident for which Ellie has accepted the unearned weight of blame.

Urgent for a cure to bring her father back, Ellie is determined to try anything. Following her heart, and the lead of a scruffy mutt, Ellie will make her way show more to the top of the mountain, in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as "the hag." But the mountain still has many untold stories left to reveal to Ellie, as she finds her way forward among a complex constellation of strong women spanning generations. show less

Digital audiobook narrated by Holly Linneman
3.5***

Set during the Great Depression, Wolk’s novel shows the effects on one family when they lose their home in town and are forced to start over in a cabin on Echo Mountain. Life is tough on the mountain, but the family is managing; and then twelve-year-old Ellie’s father has an accident and while he’s confined to bed, the girls and women have to shoulder the burden. Ellie’s mother and older sister take on all the household chores, but it is up to Ellie, who grew to love the woods alongside her father, to fish and hunt game for their food. In this way she comes to really know the mountain, and meets the “hag” (Cate) who lives in a cabin and whom some claim is a witch. But Ellie show more believes Cate knows the secrets of healing and she’s determined to help her father anyway she can.

This is a lovely adventure story, focused on family, prejudice and discovery. Ellie is a great character – brave, tender, intelligent, resilient, eager to learn, open to new possibilities, and determined. I loved how she conquered her fears and argued in favor of Cate, and how determined she was to help her father heal from the accident. I also loved how nurturing she was … not just with Cate and her father, but also in the way she cared for her little brother, and for her puppy, Quiet.

Holly Linneman does a fine job of narrating the audiobook. I’d give her 5 stars for her performance. She was completely believable as six-year-old Samuel, as Ellie and as Cate. show less

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 show more meets injured Cate. show less