Monday, January 15, 2018

Smy, Pam Thornhill


Smy, Pam       Thornhill        Macmillan/ Roaring Brook Press     2017   529p   19.99  978-1-62672-654-3            ms       Graphic novel            E-BN            
Lonely Ella has just moved into a new home that overlooks the old, abandoned Thornhill Institute for orphans where she sees a girl in the window and explores the Thornhill property and institute to find the link between herself and the girl she seeks to befriend.       Ella has just moved into a new home that overlooks the old, abandoned Thornhill Institute for orphans. Feeling lonely in a new environment, from her upper floor bedroom window she sees a girl in the window of the institute and decides to explore the Thornhill property and home to find this new, mysterious, possible friend.

     Told in alternating voice, Mary, the girl in the window, tells her story which takes place in a different time and is told through diary entries that  Ella finds. Ella’s story is told through eye-catching, wonderful illustrations. As the story unfolds, the girls’ lives are paralleled through different times. Mary is a lonely orphan in 1982 dealing with not being adopted as the institute closes and facing a bully, and Ella living in 2017, is a lonely girl in a new town.

     The story is delivered beautifully in contrasting formats that lead to the mystery, excitement, and poignancy of the plot. While the novel could be considered haunting, the manner in which it is written makes it more suspenseful and intriguing than horrifying. The writing is fanatstic and the illustrations are exquisite.                                 McGarvey, Virginia          Orphans and family life- fiction

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