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ECHO MOUNTAIN

Name: ECHO MOUNTAIN
Author: Lauren Wolk
ISBN: 978-0-525-55556-8

by Lauren Wolk ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2020

A luscious, shivery delight.

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After losing almost everything in the Great Depression, Ellie’s family moves to the Maine woods on Echo Mountain to start a farm—then tragedy strikes.

Not long after getting them established in their new life, Ellie’s father is struck on the head by a falling tree and lapses into a monthslong coma, his recovery unlikely. Never feeling threatened by the wilderness the way her mother and older sister, Esther, do, Ellie takes over many of her beloved father’s chores, finding comfort and confidence in the forest. She’s fully mindful of her place in the natural world and her impact on the plants and animals she shares it with. After she becomes determined to use the resources of the woods, however novel and imaginative the application, to save her father, conflict with her mother and Esther increases sharply. Led by a dog, Ellie discovers elderly Cate—called “hag” and shunned as a witch—badly injured, living alone in a cabin on the mountaintop. Cate fully understands the 12-year-old’s slightly supernatural sense. Cate’s grandson, Larkin, Ellie’s age, flits in and out of the tale before finally claiming his place in this magnificently related story of the wide arc of responsibility, acceptance, and, ultimately, connectedness. Carefully paced and told in lyrical prose, characters—all default White—are given plenty of time and room to develop against a well-realized, timeless setting.

A luscious, shivery delight. (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-525-55556-8

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE OUTERMOST MOUSE
by Lauren Wolk ; illustrated by Kristen Adam

- BOOK REVIEW
CANDLE ISLAND
by Lauren Wolk

- BOOK REVIEW
MY OWN LIGHTNING
by Lauren Wolk

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THE SCHOOL FOR THIEVES

From the School for Thieves series , Vol. 1

by Peter Burns ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2025

A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series.

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An orphaned street urchin is recruited into an elite school for thieves.

In an alternate world where France is the dominant world power, 13-year-old Tom Morgan has had to scrimp, starve, and steal on the streets of London to survive. Born into a workhouse, he doesn’t know anything about his father, while his mother may have been from North Africa. One thing he does know is the sort of cruelty that awaits the poor who are sent to the workhouse, and he’s determined not to go back. But when their camp is raided and his friends are captured by workhouse agents, the only thing Tom can think of is how to get them out. Enter the Corsair, a cunning and mysterious man with a proposition: He wants to recruit Tom into Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts. From nabbing treasures to forging identity papers, Beaufort’s promises to teach Tom everything he needs to know to become a Shadow Thief and a member of the Shadow League, the secret global organization that helps keep the world’s political power in balance. But Beaufort’s has its own rules and secrets, and if Tom is to survive long enough to help his friends, he’ll need to figure them out quickly. Clever and gripping, this fast-paced boarding school story will appeal to fans of the Mysterious Benedict Society and Spy School series.

A thrilling first installment in an adventurous new series. (Adventure. 10-14)