{"id":2563,"date":"2017-11-16T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/2017\/11\/pictures-of-hollis-woods\/"},"modified":"2017-11-16T15:20:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T20:20:00","slug":"pictures-of-hollis-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2017\/11\/pictures-of-hollis-woods\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictures of Hollis Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Reilly Giff<\/span> – Wendy Lamb, 2002. A Newbery Honor Book.<\/em> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hollis Woods is an 11-year-old orphan who loves to draw. She yearns for a real family but has run away from several barren foster homes. Hollis finds a new foster home living with Josie, a retired art teacher who carves statues from tree branches in her Long Island backyard. Alternating chapters move forward and backward from when Hollis meets Josie. Hollis says she wrecked everything with her preceding foster family, the Regans, the summer before. She clearly liked them, so the suspense builds as readers wonder what went wrong.<\/p>\n

Hollis thinks Josie is \u201cmovie-star beautiful\u201d despite her myriad tiny facial wrinkles, and she likes her whimsical style of dress. Josie is kind, matter-of-fact and gently humorous. Her slightly younger cousin and closest friend, Beatrice, is also an artist, and Hollis is fascinated when they coach her in drawing.
\n 
\nHowever, Hollis notices that Josie is somewhat frail and becoming confused. Sometimes Hollis has to \u201cuntangle [Josie\u2019s] words…like balls of knotted string,\u201d but she likes and trusts Josie and knows that the older woman needs her. When a social worker decides that Josie is too forgetful to be a suitable foster parent, Hollis persuades Josie to run away with her so they can stay together. They drive through a snowstorm to the Regans\u2019 empty summer house in upstate New York. Hollis knows it\u2019s an escape that can\u2019t last, that the police are looking for them. Josie enjoys the adventure with childlike innocence but is sometimes sad and bewildered, once asking plaintively, \u201cBut why aren\u2019t we home?\u201d
\n 
\nThis book is a sensitive portrayal of an older woman who is not Superwoman, whose alloy of frailty and wisdom is a catalyst to heal a child\u2019s exaggerated guilt and low self-esteem. Josie may be confused enough to take Hollis to the beach on a school day, but the older woman is perceptive enough to see through the tough-kid defenses and help her believe in her own warm, giving heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hollis Woods is an 11-year-old orphan who loves to draw. She yearns for a real family but has run away from several barren foster homes.<\/p>\n

Read more Pictures of Hollis Woods<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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