My reading ladder has different stories about orphans. I am not an orphan, but the concept makes for an easier way to tell of a child adventuring without parents to make them come home.
The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett. I chose this book because I read it when I was younger and it was a wonderful story about a orphan girl living with her uncle and finding a hidden, dead garden. It is perhaps a less realistic depiction of an orphan than Hollis, but it retains Pictures of Hollis Woods’s sense of adventure.
A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett. I’ve read this picture book many times, and it is another one by Burnett that centers on an orphaned princess who goes to live at a frightening boarding school. It has the realism that Pictures of Hollis Woods has.
Pollyanna – Eleanor Porter. An old book, but a great story about an orphan sent to live with her aunt. She improves the life of the townspeople with her optimistic spirit until her legs are paralyzed, and Pollyanna having to find joy in hardship reminded me of Hollis.