The Corruption of Hollis Brown

Gr 8 Up–Too poor to be destined for anything more than the same sort of life he already has, Hollis Brown has accepted his small-town fate. His morning ritual of standing a little too close to the passing freight train and his bad habit of running his mouth to boys he knows will start fights are enough to make him feel alive and keep the darkness at bay. Mostly. Plus, he has Yulia and Annie to fill his time, even if things with Annie aren’t quite what he wishes they were. But when an enigmatic boy named Walt catches his attention at a party, Hollis can’t help his curiosity and sneaks out to meet up against his own better judgment. In a horrifying and surreal moment, Walt’s soul joins Hollis’s inside Hollis’s body. Now the two spirits are sharing one mental space, and what begins as a strange nightmare becomes something else entirely. A knack for creating characters who are bigger on the inside is on full display here (thankfully, because it’s a tight fit in Hollis’s mind), as Ancrum’s two-boys-one-body setup rests on a delicate balance of voice that never falters. Deep empathy for working-class families and the everyday struggles of living in poverty are underscored by Hollis’s skill with food and the recipes Ancrum includes. This story is a tender, achingly romantic journey alongside authentic young people struggling to figure things out, including themselves, and still make efforts to connect.