Juvenile Book Review: “Wolf Hollow” by Lauren Wolk

How we treat each other does matter; it can sometimes determine who lives and who dies. Betty Glengarry is a force of evil who suddenly arrives one day in the small Pennsylvania farming town of Wolf Hollow. Everywhere she goes, she spreads lies and pain. Her chief victim is a younger girl, Annabelle, whom she bullies and beats for no reason. But Betty saves her sharpest venom for an itinerant World War I veteran, Toby, who silently walks the hills. Betty goes missing and the town thinks Toby is involved. Annabelle knows that Toby is innocent but she needs to convince the adults around her.

Wolf Hollow examines the best and worst aspects of ordinary people trying to get on with their ordinary lives. When evil invades, nothing is able to reverse the venom until it reaches its final, tragic conclusion. Told from Annabelle’s perspective, this coming-of-age novel is a warning to look beyond surfaces so that that truth can be coaxed out of dark places.

Dutton Children’s Books (2016). Reviewed by Lillian Hecker, Children’s Services Librarian. For Ages 10 and older.