A compelling author, the book is making the assumption that child readers will want to see what happens to its characters, even when the foreshadowing is so thick you’d need a knife to cut through it. In her debut children’s book, Lauren Wolk dives head first into difficult material. So when I flipped to the back of Wolf Hollow mid-way through reading it, I want to tell you that I did so not because I wanted to spoil the ending for myself but because I honestly couldn’t turn another page until I knew precisely how everything was going to fall out. Even so, that doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes have difficulty with books written for, oh say, 10-year-olds. There’s always a undercurrent of hope running through the book, promising that maybe we don’t live in a cold, cruel, calculating universe that cares for us not one jot.
Disturbing elements are kept at a minimum.
I might puff myself up with a defense that lists the many fine aspects of this particular type of writing and believe it too, but sometimes when you catch me in a weak moment I might confess that another reason I like reading books for kids is that the content is so very “safe” in comparison to books for adults. This is probably why I primarily consume children’s literature. I am not what you might call a very brave reader. This book will appeal to readers young and old looking for a mid-20 th century setting.Dutton Children’s Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) The plot, in which I had initial trepidations due to the subject matter, turned out to be a much different tale than I’d realized and the protagonist and her family a lovely set of personalities. Annabelle makes an admirable character, as she’s smart, honest and caring, but also flawed and therefore humanized. This is the story of the residual effects of war, the harmfulness of bullying, and several different types of prejudices. As events escalated, Toby eventually came under Betty’s radar and she shifted her focus to him, knowing Annabelle’s fondness for the gentle wanderer. Betty Glengarry, a mean-spirited bully, came to stay with her grandparents not far from the McBride farm, and immediately chose Annabelle as her target on the walk to and from school. Toby was a quiet and mysterious WWI veteran, and Annabelle’s family took pity on him, leaving him provisions at times in an old crate, and even allowing him to use their camera.Įverything changed for Annabelle the year she was turning twelve. He lived in an old shack behind an abandoned, burned house. There were many old secrets in the woods, and for as long as she could remember, a man named Toby had walked the grounds continually. The name, coined several generations back, originated from the story of a great wolf purge in which Annabelle McBride’s grandfather participated and related to her years later. In western Pennsylvania during WWII, there was an area in between farmlands called Wolf Hollow.
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