Pictures of Hollis Woods

Title: Pictures of Hollis Woods
Author: Patricia Reilly Giff
Genre: Fiction
Sub genre: Contemporary Realistic
Theme: Wanting a family

Primary and Secondary Characters: Hollis Woods/ Josie, Steven, Old Man, Izzy, Beatrice, Mustard Lady
Awards: Newbery Honor 
Date of Publication: 2002
Publishing Company: Wendy Lamb Books
Summary: All Hollis wants is to have a family. One day she is sent to live with an elderly woman named Josie who is a artist just like herself. Hollis grows to really liking Josie, but unfortunately Josie is growing more forgetful everyday. When social services finds out that Josie is loosing her memory they tell Hollis she will have to leave. That night Hollis packs up all of her and Josie's things and head to a house where she spent one summer with the  Regan family she wants to be a part of. Once they were at the house Hollis noticed things out of place and Josie wanted to go back home. Eventually Hollis decides that it is time to take Josie back home so she walks up the street to find a phone. On her way Steven, the boy who is in the Regan family, drives up on a snowmobile and takes her to the phone. Steven tells Hollis that his family misses her everyday and wishes she would not have ran away. Hollis gets Josie back home and finally starts a family with the Regans.
Summary of how to use with students: This book can help students see the importance of a family. Sometimes kids do not see how lucky the are just because they have a family, well this book can help them see what some kids go through that do not have families. Hollis Woods is a good example of a 12 year old girl who just wants to belong in a family. If this book is used in a classrooms students can learn and see that not every kid in the world have families