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There's Beauty in Simplicity

  • Writer: Michelle Fohlin
    Michelle Fohlin
  • Jul 19, 2019
  • 2 min read



Candlewick Press is releasing some excellent titles. On Snowden Mountain is no exception. It's a heartfelt novel full of complex issues handled very sympathetically for its middle grade audience.


This WWII-set book starts with 12-year-old Ellen Hollingsworth, whose Aunt Pearl takes her and her mother to Snowden, Virginia, from their home in Baltimore. Ellen's father has proudly signed up for the war and her mother has retreated too far into herself to care for either of them. It's not easy to adjust to this simple way of life: there's no electricity and she's got a classmate who smells of skunks. But as she worries that she will fall to the same depression that has claimed her mom, she finds a way for both of them to find themselves.


Jeri Watts introduces the reader to some heavy topics here: alcoholism, abuse (both child and spousal), and mental illness (depression notably, and how children are forced to grapple with what befalls their parents), but they're dealt with deftly and certainly there are so many children dealing with these issues that it's a timely and important novel. In the book, it's Russell and Ellen dealing with them specifically, and both kids display a good amount of agency in handling their troubles responsibly and thoughtfully.


Ellen herself is a great character. She is not without her flaws--she's at first ungrateful to have been taken in by her aunt (and her decision to have Thanksgiving with Moselle instead of her family highlights this) and she treats Russell very badly at first, but she learns to grow and you can't help but love her.


I would absolutely recommend this book to a variety of readers: those who love historical fiction, those struggling with any of the issues that appear here, or anyone looking for a darn good story.


Thank you to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for providing this review copy.


About the Author from Goodreads: Jeri Watts has worked as a public school teacher for twenty-seven years. She has written numerous short stories as well as the picture book Keepers. Kizzy Ann Stamps is her first middle-grade novel. Jeri Watts lives in Virginia, where she is a professor at Lynchburg College.

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© 2019 by Michelle Fohlin

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