Hollis Woods is a girl who is has been part of the foster care system for as long as she can remember. Hollis not only explains her emotions through words, but she captures her heartaches, her adventures and her worries through her paintings. Hollis Woods moves to the house of Josie, an elderly woman who does her best to make Hollis feel like she is at home. After every chapter, Hollis shares her pictures from the past. She talks about the loving family she was a part of last summer and the emptiness she now feels. Not only is Hollis searching for a place she can call home, but she is searching for a place where she can feel comfortable, loved and not taken out of forced pity.
Evaluation
I enjoyed this short read. I think Patricia truly enters into the mind of a young girl who has never experienced a permanent home. Her worries are so eloquently described throughout the pages and the snapshots of the past tie perfectly into the present. In other words, what has happened in the past, directly affects the present and has shaped Hollis into the girl she is today.
