Echo Mountain

• Genre: Middle-Grade Historical Fiction
• Originally Published: 2020
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 4-8; Lexile 690L
• Structure/Length: 73 chapters; approx. 368 pages; 9 hours and 12 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Following the Great Depression, 12-year-old Ellie and her family move to the wilderness. When Ellie’s father has an accident and falls into a coma, Ellie must travel to the top of Echo Mountain to pursue the healing powers of a woman referred to as “the hag.”

Lauren Wolk, Author

• Bio: Born in Baltimore; currently lives with her family on Cape Cod; works as a novelist, visual artist, and poet; graduated from Brown University
• Other Works: My Own Lightning (2022); Beyond the Bright Sea (2017); Wolf Hollow (2016)
• Awards: Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction (2018); Newbery Medal (2017)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Duality in All Things
• The Force of Healing
• Persistence in the Face of Great Obstacles

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will: