Mountain Pose [Hardcover]

Nancy Hope Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

A story about family and forgiveness

Ellie Dunklee lost her mother when she was five, and hasn't seen her estranged grandmother since the funeral. Now the grandmother, Aurelia, dies, and Ellie is surprised to learn that she has inherited her home and most of her possessions, including a host of family diaries which Aurelia, in her will, requests that Ellie read. All that Aurelia leaves to her surviving child, Ellie's Uncle Lyman, is an empty chest. Conflicted and confused by the bequest, Ellie discovers that she loves her property, beautiful Hart Farm in rural Vermont, and the connection to her mother's past. But as she reads the diaries, Ellie uncovers a long history of child and spousal abuse that accounts for Aurelia's odd behavior. As she struggles with the knowledge, Ellie remembers her mother's words: "We forgive people for our own sake."

Nancy Hope Wilson's unusual, heartfelt, and fascinating story was inspired by her own ancestors' diaries.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wilson's (Flapjack Waltzes) moving if occasionally patchy novel opens as 12-year-old Ellie has just inherited a Vermont farm and a suitcase of family diaries from her estranged maternal grandmother, Aurelia. Still missing her own mother, who died seven years earlier, Ellie shares her father and maternal uncle's suspicions about the legacy. Aurelia, cut off by both her children, had never been known to do anything generous. Ellie's father is refreshingly candid: "[Ellie's mother] died seven years ago. If Aurelia wanted to do something for Ellie, why didn't we hear from her then?" At times, Ellie is seen as a believably bright and curious girl. Deciphering the diaries, she pieces together the family history and uncovers a compelling reason for Aurelia's apparent cruelties a cycle of physical abuse across several generations. But elsewhere, Ellie is given insights and sentiments beyond her years, as when she points out to her uncle Lyman his tendency to withdraw just like his mother. Occasional overwriting, as in the insertions of feminist viewpoints in the diaries and the repetitive use of the mountain pose motif (a reference to a yoga exercise), contributes to some slow moments. However, the gradual illumination of the hidden abuse and Wilson's compassionate approach, including the palpable vulnerability of family members, will likely hold the interest of young readers. Ages 10-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-7. Fans of Kevin Henkes' restrained, character-driven novels will be similarly pleased and moved by this tale of a child who finds keys to her family's present in the past. Knowing Grandma Aurelia only as a mean-spirited woman, whom Ellie's uncle despises, Ellie is bemused to learn that Aurelia has left Hart Farm to her in trust, including a suitcase of old diaries. As Ellie reads the diaries' terse entries, some of which are in code or shorthand, and explores the farm, she begins to piece together the lives of the six generations of women preceding hers and find her own place among them. She also discovers a hidden history of child abuse that goes a long way towards explaining why Aurelia treated her own children so cruelly. Surrounded by loving, likable, sometimes vulnerable adults, Ellie is a perfectly tuned protagonist. She's strong-willed but sensitive and mature enough to help her father over rough spots in his life, and she has a clear-eyed understanding of human nature that is not, refreshingly, beyond her years. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (April 26, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374350787
• ISBN-13: 978-0374350789
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,207,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exccelent to the end, March 31, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Mountain Pose (Mass Market Paperback)

Mountain Pose,is about a girl who loses a grandma that she hardly knew exsisted.In her grandma's will,Ellie is given the land and some old diaries with secret symbol sentenes.Ellie and her best friend Leese try to figure out what the secret symbols really mean.Ellie's father isn't sure if he should let Ellie have the land.He thinks the diaries will cause somthing to hppen to her.Father and Ellie move to the land, and Ellie starts to like it.
I think the author was trying to put the message that it doesn't matter where you are,you should try to keep close to your friends.The other message is to not be frieghtened when something big happens because you don't how it's going to turn out.
This book is fantastic because the author makes everything in the book realalistic. Moutain Pose is both sad, happy,and very exciting.It was hard for me to put the book down.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Realistic and riveting, January 4, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mountain Pose (Hardcover)

Nancy Hope Wilson's Mountain Pose tells of Ellie, who receives an unexpected inheritance of family records when her estranged grandmother dies. Ellie finds the family farm and diaries a powerful connection to a veiled past: despite her father's warning she reads them and begins to understand the tensions which have divided their lives. Realistic and riveting.