Hollis is a rebellious foster child who secretly longs for a loving family. She does however have an amazing gift of being able to draw extremely realistic pictures. She draws her experiences in great detail and later learns to find hidden messages in her art. Hollis is most recently placed with an elderly woman named Josie who she becomes very attached to emotionally. We soon learn about Hollis's past though vivid descriptions of her pictures.
There were many parts of this story that touched me but the slow advancement of Josie's Alzheimer's was what hit me the hardest. It was a progression I have seen in the past few years with my grandma before she passed away. Much like Josie, my grandma did not remember who I was but knew that I was an important person to her.
Reading a novel like this also opened my eyes to what some children go though. It's easy to assume everyone has a great home life with the mom, dad, brother, sister and dog but nothing is ever that black and white. Some children, like Hollis, believe that acting out or running away are the only ways to cope with pain. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her to jump from house to house, always being known as the "bad kid".
Some things I noticed to keep in mind before introducing this book to a classroom:
-The flashbacks can cause challenges in terms of story structure.
- There are references to Hollis's neglect and abuse which can be a touchy subject for some students.
- I found the fact that Hollis was able to run away with Josie, break into a house and hide there (all against the law) and get away with these actions can teach a damaging lesson.
Overall, I personally could not put this book down. I loved taking a break from my text books to escape my real life for a little while. Also after some research I found out there is a movie based on this book. This film could serve as an excellent secondary resource to see how the producer interpreted the book.
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