Pictures of Hollis Woods

feluka - Pictures Of Hollis Woods: written by Patricia Reilly Giff My opinion on this book would be an okay book it wasn't the worst but it wasn't the best. I'm gonna say that multiple people could relate to this, mostly children and young adults can relate. The book is about a little girl named Hollis Woods, she was a little bit on the different side of things, I would say she's more creative. Hollis has been to so many foster homes she can't even remember them all, she had one family that took her in and treated her right they were the best. But her habit got in the way; she ran away she was to blind to see she had a great home, this all means she needs to be picked up by social services. Hollis called the woman mustard lady, the one who brought her to her new home with Josie the former artist with a cat named Henry. Hollis just wanted to go back to her old ways and up and leave or at least try to run away, as much as she didn't want to admit it she loved it there. Through out the book Hollis misses Steven her old foster brother he was the best to her and she couldn't see that behind all the stubbornness. Hollis is kind of a quiet girl but she speaks through her drawings, the drawings and everything is the way that her and Josie get along seeing as Josie was an artist. Josie is very creative as well as Hollis so they got along fine, Josie is more of a go with the flow and nicer laid back foster parent. Hollis is very unique because how many kids these days bringing around a sketch pad all day drawing every little detail that stands out to her. The book is a good one and it's not like your regular basic relation between the author and the reader it's more of a inside and special one because kids that don't have homes or even adopted kids could feel this way so I think it's great. I recommend this book to 6th grade and up, for a person that can relate but also people that don't it's a kinda slow at first but it gets better.

July 15, 2002
Giff (Lily's Crossing; All the Way Home) again introduces a carefully delineated and sympathetic heroine in this quiet contemporary novel. Artistically talented Hollis Woods, age 12, has made a habit of running away from foster homes, but she's found a place on Long Island where she wants to "stay for a while." She immediately bonds with Josie, her new guardian, who is a slightly eccentric, retired art teacher. Yet Hollis is far from content. She worries about Josie's increasing forgetfulness, and she sorely misses her last foster family, the Regans, whom she left under tense circumstances that are only gradually made clear. Giff intersperses tender scenes demonstrating Hollis's growing affection for Josie with memories of the Regans, whose images Hollis preserves in her sketchbook. Pictures of motherly Izzy Regan, her architect husband and their mischievous yet compassionate son, Steven, sensitively express the young artist's conception of a perfect family. As readers become intimately acquainted with Hollis, they will come to understand her fears, regrets and longings, and will root for her as she pursues her dream of finding a home where she belongs. Ages 8-13.

Starred review from November 11, 2002
Adult actors/narrators frequently face the challenge of making a child protagonist seem fully realized. Davis (Next Stop Wonderland)
handles the situation with great aplomb, becoming 12-year-old Hollis Woods, an orphan in the foster care system with a heartbreaking and quietly triumphant story to tell. With an appropriately youthful, but not affected, voice, Davis (as Hollis) immediately invites listeners to follow an emotional and physical journey. Abandoned as an infant in a place called Hollis Woods, young Hollis dreams of having a true family—a wish that is the theme of many of the accomplished drawings she creates. Instead, she has been shuffled to various foster homes that don't quite fit. All that changes when she meets the Regans—a kind and friendly mother, father and son who are eager to welcome and love her. But Hollis's skewed image of herself (reinforced by some caretakers) as a tough "mountain of trouble" clouds her judgment and nearly destroys her chance for happiness. Throughout, Hollis shows her sensitive heart (made all the more poignant by Davis's interpretation), especially when she lives with Josie, an elderly foster parent who comes to depend on her. Giff's fine novel, told in alternating flashback chapters, is easier than expected to follow on audio, thanks to Davis's memorable performance. Simultaneous release with the Random/Lamb hardcover.
Ages 8-up.