I could not wait to share this Echo Mountain Book Review! For those who don’t know, Echo Mountain is a historical fiction book written by Lauren Wolk. The reading age is 10-13 years old, and mostly read by 5th-6th graders. However, this book quickly hooked both my 8 year old son and me.
How We Came to Love the Echo Mountain Book
My oldest, Kai, is currently a 3rd grader at a hybrid school (think somewhere in between “traditional” school and homeschool). His class is a mix of 3rd and 4th graders, but most it seems are on a 5th grade reading level. When Kai first came home with Echo Mountain, I thought it would be a challenge to get him to read it (based on my previous experience with him reading this “type” of book). He was assigned to read a chapter at home at night, and then he’d read a chapter with his classmates out-loud at school, back and forth daily.
I started by having him read a chapter of the Echo Mountain book to me. We did this for a couple of reasons. One reason was to ensure he was really reading it. Also, I wanted to have some context to ask him questions about specific characters later, to verify he read it on following nights.
What my 3rd Grader Thinks about the Book Echo Mountain
He read it to me, and we were both hooked! To be honest, I was surprised that my child loved Echo Mountain as much as he did. Before starting the hybrid school, we were using the Memoria Press curriculum for most of our subjects. If you aren’t familiar, the reading is very classical. He had been reading books like The Courage of Sarah Noble and Little House in the Big Woods, and he was not lovin’ it.
Every day when I picked him up from school, he would tell me that he couldn’t wait for me to read the chapter of the book he had read with his class at school that day. And I would, before we would read his assigned chapter for the night together.
I love having the connection of good book with each of my kids, where we’re both engaged in it at the same time and can’t wait to find out what happens next. Kai and I enjoyed talking about the characters, who we thought the mystery person was (I can’t reveal too much or I’ll ruin it), and how we thought things may turn out. Hands down, this book is has the stamp of approval from my 8 year old son.
My Review of Echo Mountain from the Perspective of an Adult and Parent
I love this book! Even though the target audience is children, I found myself totally invested in the story, eager to find out what may happen next. I could deeply relate to many of the characters’ emotions throughout the book. This book had the perfect combination of mystery, thought-provoking emotions and hardships, and life lessons to transcend the age gap of my son and I.
Reading Level and Ages for Echo Mountain
The reading age of Echo Mountain is stated to be 10-13 years old (mostly read by 5th-6th graders). Depending on your child’s reading level, this book could be great for your 8-9 year old as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to try it out for kids older than 13 as well, and adults too! My son, Kai, is 8 years old and I would say he reads on a 5th grade reading level. He didn’t struggle at all with reading this book, like he has some others like the Explorer Academy series, because it has so many unfamiliar technological terms.
Other books written by Lauren Wolk
After reading Echo Mountain, we had to get our hands on more Lauren Wolk books. Okay, I lie. We bought more of her books before we even finished Echo Mountain. We couldn’t wait. Here are some more books by Lauren Wolk:
Lauren Wolk’s newest book, My Own Lightning, is available for pre-order now!
I hope your child (and you) will read and enjoy Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk. I fell in love with this story, and more importantly, so did my child!
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Hi, I’m Jessica! I am wife to Chris, and mom to Kaiper, Alana and Koa. I am a graphic designer, website developer and aspiring author. In this space, I share about everything from parenting, working from home, food we cook, and lots of things for kids! Learn more about me here.
