Thornhill
by Pam Smy
Published by Roaring Brook Press
on August 29, 2017
Genre: Middle-grade, Horror, Paranormal, Ghost stories
Length: 539 pages
Ages: 10 - 14 years
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Literary Awards:
Leeds Book Awards Nominee for 14 - 16 (2018)
Synopsis:
Parallel stories set in different times, one told in prose and one in pictures, converge as Ella unravels the mystery of the girl next door.
1982: Mary is a lonely orphan at the Thornhill Institute for Children at the very moment that it's shutting its doors. When her few friends are all adopted or re-homed and she is left to face a volatile bully alone, her revenge will have a lasting effect on the bully, on Mary, and on Thornhill itself.
2016: Ella has just moved to a new town where she knows no one. From her room on the top floor of her new home, she has a perfect view of a dilapidated, abandoned Thornhill Institute across the way, where she glimpses a girl in the window. Determined to befriend the girl, Ella resolves to unravel Thornhill's shadowy past.
My Thoughts:
Told in dual POVs in different times, Thornhill tells the story of Mary, an orphaned girl who resides at Thornhill Institute before its abandonment, and Ella, a young, newly-motherless girl who has recently moved across the street from Thornhill and is looking for a friend.
One POV is told in diary entries and the other in dark, macabre illustrations which gives us a quick, easy read despite how thick this book is!
Mary's diary begins with her bully returning to Thornhill Institute and her situation escalates from there.
Ella's illustrations share how she meets Mary and how their friendship builds.
Their stories come together in the end in the most fantastic twist!
I really loved this.
I adore ghost stories and illustration and love that this was both. It really reminded me of Brian Selznick's similarly illustrated novels, which I also loved. Pam Smy's illustrated stories are also geared toward middle-grade readers but considering the content, Smy's illustrations are a touch darker than Selznick's making them perfect for spooky season!
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