Twelve-year-old Ellen learns the quiet strength of family when her
mother's deep depression prompts her to ask an estranged aunt for
help.
Ellen's mother has struggled with depression before, but not like this.
With her father away fighting in World War II and her mother unable to
care for them, Ellen's only option is to reach out to her cold, distant
aunt Pearl. Soon enough, city-dwelling Ellen and her mother are
shepherded off to the countryside to Aunt Pearl's home, a neat little
cabin at the base of Snowden Mountain. Adjusting to life in a small town
is no easy thing: the school has one room, one of her classmates smells
of skunks, and members of the community seem to whisper about Ellen's
family. But even as she worries that depression is a family curse to
which she'll inevitably succumb, Ellen slowly begins to carve out a
space for herself and her mother on Snowden Mountain in this thoughtful,
heartfelt middle-grade novel from Jeri Watts.