"Echo Mountain" by Lauren Wolk - Historical Fiction Book Club - Past Titles

About the Author: Lauren Wolk

Birth: Lauren Wolk was born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Career: Wolk has a background in education and has worked as an editor, teacher, and writer. She has been associated with the independent children's publisher Milkweed Editions.
Literary Works:
- Lauren Wolk gained widespread recognition for her debut middle-grade novel, "Wolf Hollow," which was published in 2016. The book received critical acclaim for its powerful storytelling and exploration of themes such as bullying and the impact of war.
- Following the success of "Wolf Hollow," Wolk continued to contribute to children's literature. "Beyond the Bright Sea" is another novel by Wolk that received positive reviews.
- "Echo Mountain" is another notable work by Lauren Wolk, exploring themes of resilience and family in a historical setting.
Writing Style: Lauren Wolk is known for her evocative and lyrical writing style, which often addresses complex themes and emotions suitable for a young audience.
Awards: "Wolf Hollow" received several awards and nominations, including being a Newbery Honor Book. Wolk's works have been celebrated for their contribution to children's literature.
Advocacy: Lauren Wolk has shown a commitment to encouraging literacy and a love for reading in children. Her works often resonate with readers of various ages due to their depth and relatable themes.

Synopsis

After losing almost everything in the Great Depression, Ellie's family is forced to leave their home in town and start over in the untamed wilderness of nearby Echo Mountain. Ellie has found a welcome freedom, and a love of the natural world, in her new life on the mountain. But there is little joy after a terrible accident leaves her father in a coma. An accident unfairly blamed on Ellie. Ellie is a girl who takes matters into her own hands, and determined to help her father she will make her way to the top of the mountain in search of the healing secrets of a woman known only as "the hag." But the hag, and the mountain, still have many untold stories left to reveal. Historical fiction at its finest, Echo Mountain is celebration of finding your own path and becoming your truest self.

Historical Timeline

The Great Depression was a severe economic downturn that occurred globally during the 1930s. Here is a timeline highlighting key events during this period:

1929: Stock Market Crash (October 29, 1929)
- Black Tuesday marks the day of the stock market crash, leading to a collapse of stock prices and widespread panic. This event is often considered the starting point of the Great Depression.
Bank Failures (1930-1933)
- Following the stock market crash, a wave of bank failures ensues, leading to a severe contraction of credit and liquidity.
Dust Bowl (1930s)
- A severe drought in the Great Plains of the United States causes widespread soil erosion and dust storms, exacerbating the economic hardships faced by farmers.
Smoot-Hawley Tariff (June 17, 1930)
- The U.S. enacts the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, raising tariffs on imported goods. This move contributes to a decline in international trade.
1932: Unemployment Peaks
- Unemployment in the United States reaches its peak, with millions of people out of work. Many businesses close, and poverty becomes widespread.
1933: New Deal (March 4, 1933)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States. He implements the New Deal, a series of economic programs aimed at providing relief, recovery, and reform.
Banking Crisis and Bank Holiday (March 1933)
- FDR declares a bank holiday to stabilize the banking system. Emergency Banking Act is enacted to restore confidence in the banking system.
1935: Social Security Act (August 14, 1935)
- The Social Security Act is signed into law, establishing a system of old-age benefits and unemployment insurance.
1937: Recession within the Depression
- A brief but sharp economic downturn occurs, often referred to as the "Roosevelt Recession" or the "Recession of 1937-1938."
1939: World War II Begins (September 1, 1939)
- The outbreak of World War II leads to increased industrial production, marking the beginning of the end of the Great Depression as the war effort stimulates economic activity.

While this timeline focuses on the United States, it's important to note that the Great Depression had a global impact, affecting countries around the world. The effects of the Great Depression lingered for many years, and recovery varied by region.

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Light Comes to Shadow Mountain by Toni Buzzeo
Call Number: J Fiction Buzzeo
Cora Mae Tipton is determined to light up her Appalachian community in this historical fiction novel from an award-winning author and former librarian. It's 1937 and the government is pushing to bring electricity to the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It's all Cora can think of; radios with news from around the world, machines that keep food cold, lightbulbs by which to read at night! Cora figures she can help spread the word by starting a school newspaper and convincing her neighbors to support the Rural Electrification Act. But resistance to change isn't easy to overcome, especially when it starts at home. Cora's mother is a fierce opponent of electrification. She argues that protecting the landscape of the holler-the trees, the streams, the land that provides for their way of life-is their responsibility. But Cora just can't let go of wanting more. Lyrical, literary, and deeply heartfelt, this debut novel from an award-winning author-librarian speaks to family, friendship, and loss through the spirited perspective of a girl eager for an electrified existence, but most of all, the light of her mother's love and acceptance.
Someplace to Call Home by Sandra Dallas
Call Number: J FICTION Dallas
In 1933, what's left of the Turner family--twelve-year-old Hallie and her two brothers--finds itself driving the back roads of rural America. The children have been swept up into a new migratory way of life. America is facing two devastating crises: the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Hundreds of thousands of people in cities across the country have lost jobs. In rural America it isn't any better as crops suffer from the never-ending drought. Driven by severe economic hardship, thousands of people take to the road to seek whatever work they can find, often splintering fragile families in the process. As the Turner children move from town to town, searching for work and trying to cobble together the basic necessities of life, they are met with suspicion and hostility. They are viewed as outsiders in their own country. Will they ever find a place to call home? New York Times-bestselling author Sandra Dallas gives middle-grade readers a timely story of young people searching for a home and a better way of life.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
Call Number: J FICTION George
Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in his family's crowded New York City apartment. So, armed with just the bare necessities -- a penknife, a ball of cord, some flint and steel, and the clothes on his back -- he runs away to the mountains. There, Sam must rely on his own ingenuity and the resources of the great outdoors to survive -- and he discovers a side of himself he never knew existed.
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
Call Number: J FICTION Higuera
There lived a girl named Petra Peña, who wanted nothing more than to be a storyteller, like her abuelita. But Petra's world is ending. Earth has been destroyed by a comet, and only a few hundred scientists and their children - among them Petra and her family - have been chosen to journey to a new planet. They are the ones who must carry on the human race. Hundreds of years later, Petra wakes to this new planet - and the discovery that she is the only person who remembers Earth. A sinister Collective has taken over the ship during its journey, bent on erasing the sins of humanity's past. They have systematically purged the memories of all aboard - or purged them altogether. Petra alone now carries the stories of our past, and with them, any hope for our future. Can she make them live again?
Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
Call Number: J FICTION Holm
Grown-ups lie. That's one truth Beans knows for sure. He and his gang know how to spot a whopper a mile away, because they are the savviest bunch of barefoot conchs (that means "locals") in all of Key West. Not that Beans really minds; it's 1934, the middle of the Great Depression. With no jobs on the island, and no money anywhere, who can really blame the grown-ups for telling a few tales? Besides, Beans isn't anyone's fool. In fact, he has plans. Big plans. And the consequences might surprise even Beans himself.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
Call Number: J FICTION Kelly
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century. Author Jacqueline Kelly deftly brings Callie and her family to life, capturing a year of growing up with unique sensitivity and a wry wit.
The Orphan Band of Springdale by Anne Nesbet
Call Number: J FICTION Nesbet
With the United States on the verge of World War II, eleven-year-old Gusta is sent from New York City to Maine, where she discovers small-town prejudices -- and a huge family secret. It's 1941, and tensions are rising in the United States as the Second World War rages in Europe. Eleven-year-old Gusta's life, like the world around her, is about to change. Her father, a foreign-born labor organizer, has had to flee the country, and Gusta has been sent to live in an orphanage run by her grandmother. Nearsighted, snaggletoothed Gusta arrives in Springdale, Maine, lugging her one precious possession: a beloved old French horn, her sole memento of her father. But in a family that's long on troubles and short on money, how can a girl hang on to something so valuable and yet so useless when Gusta's mill-worker uncle needs surgery to fix his mangled hand, with no union to help him pay? Inspired by her mother's fanciful stories, Gusta secretly hopes to find the coin-like "Wish" that her sea-captain grandfather supposedly left hidden somewhere. Meanwhile, even as Gusta gets to know the rambunctious orphans at the home, she feels like an outsider at her new school -- and finds herself facing patriotism turned to prejudice, alien registration drives, and a family secret likely to turn the small town upside down.
Hope in the Holler by Lisa Lewis Tyre
Call Number: J FICTION Tyre
The poignant--and funny--story of a girl trying to be brave and find her place in the world after she's sent to live with scheming relatives. Right before Wavie's mother died, she gave Wavie a list of instructions to help her find her way in life, including this one- Be brave, Wavie B! You got as much right to a good life as anybody, so find it! But little did Wavie's mom know that events would conspire to bring Wavie back to Conley Hollow, the Appalachian hometown her mother tried to leave behind. Now Wavie's back in the Holler--and in the clutches of her Aunt Samantha Rose. Life with the devilish Samantha Rose and her revolting cousin Hoyt is no picnic, but there's real pleasure in sleeping in her own mother's old bed, and making friends with the funny, easygoing kids her aunt calls the "neighborhood-no-accounts." With their help, Wavie just might be able to prevent her aunt from becoming her legal guardian, and find her courage and place in the world.
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Call Number: YA FIC Larson
For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim. Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove. Her quest to make a home is championed by new neighbors Perilee Mueller, her German husband, and their children. For the first time in her life, Hattie feels part of a family, finding the strength to stand up against Traft Martin's schemes to buy her out and against increasing pressure to be a "loyal" American at a time when anything-or anyone-German is suspect. Despite daily trials, Hattie continues to work her uncle's claim until an unforeseen tragedy causes her to search her soul for the real meaning of home.