Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Hollis is an orphaned girl who gets bounced from one foster home to another, never quite feeling as if she belongs. She has a reputation for trouble, and usually ends up running. She is a very gifted artist, though, and when she moves in with the eccentric Josie, an elderly artist who is losing her memory, she learns not only the value and meaning of art, but starts to make sense of her fond memories and drawings of the Regan family that she ran away from the summer before.

Bottom line: It's a wonderful story that necessitates a Kleenex box nearby.