Don’t you think this book would make a great movie? Especially with all of the flashbacks? I love the way the story unfolds, and all of the foreshadowing. (I still remember learning about that in the fifth grade; I’ve tried showing it to my fifth graders and they don’t get it. Hmmm.)
I don’t know why the girls in my first 5th grade class were all weird about the book, like it was scandalous-bad or something. They were a street-smart bunch, so I don’t know why they would have been shocked by reading about a girl in foster care who runs away. (No spoiler there. 
) But one of them bought it from the monthly Scholastic book order, and was all hush-hush when she said I could borrow it, and she wasn’t sure I would like it. I didn’t take it because I knew I’d forget to give it back, and I didn’t want her mom mad at me. (Back then I cared about upsetting the parents.) Her reaction to the book stuck with me I guess, because I was not prepared for the sweet story that I read.
I can’t wait to talk it up to the kids after the break, especially as a way to get them excited for Reading Olympics!
It WAS made into a movie (for television)
Pictures of Hollis Woods – Hallmark Hall of Fame (2007)
It might be our of production, but Amazon lists several places you can get it. It was pretty good.
Oooo, thank you! I will look for it.