Pictures of Hollis Woods

Pictures of Hollis Woods was a Hallmark Hall of Fame special last Sunday night, but it couldn't have been as beautiful as Patricia Reilly Giff's book. The juvenile book just breaks your heart.

Hollis Woods has a reputation for trouble with all of the foster families that have taken her in. She never stayed anywhere long before she ran away. When she was sent to Josie Cahill, a retired art teacher, she found someone who understood, and needed her. Josie spoke the same language as the eleven-year-old girl, who poured her heart, and her history, into her drawings. But, as much as she's growing to love Josie, she still has regrets about the Regans, the family she almost joined.

Hollis put on a good face, and tried to be tough. No one longed to belong to a family any more than she did, though. Before she met Josie, Hollis spent the summer in the mountains with the Regans, John, who she called "The Old Man," his wife, Izzy, and their son, Steven. This was a family that welcomed her. She became a new person with them, until she was forced to run away again.

When Josie starts to lose her memory, Hollis runs one more time. This time, she can't escape her own drawings, what she sees of the world.

Pictures of Hollis Woods is the story of a girl who needs love. Only her art can show her the way to the family she longs for. This Newbery Honor book is a treasure.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff. Random House, ©2002, ISBN 0-385-32655-6 (hardcover), 166p.