I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It was good (although confusing) until the end.
The parallel stories took time to figure out and I'm not sure all middle grade readers would stick with it long enough to figure it out. It is a comment I get "I just don't get it! What's going on?" I try to explain that with some books you're not supposed to get it until the end.

I know books about bullying are important but to the point where a child commits suicide & eventually causes the death of another innocent child... not sure what message we're sending.
CONTENT:
Language: mild-- damn (1)
Sexuality: none
Violence: mild-- serious bullying, most of it nonphysical. Still very disturbing.
Drugs/Alcohol: none-- the caregivers smoke cigarettes


THEMES: bullying, ghosts, orphans

THE BOTTOM LINE:

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: We already have it in our middle school and I’m not going to take it out. But I would not buy it specifically.

I cannot review this since it is archived. I downloaded this earlier, but can find it nowhere on my devices. Now it is archived I cannot read it.

The words tell the story of Mary, an orphan who lived in Thornhill as a ward of the state before it was shut down. The pictures tell the story of Ella, who finds herself alone in the house across from Thornhill after her mother passes away and her father loses himself in work.


The pictures were so striking, and really captured the eeriness of the story. The use of first person narration through Mary's diary made everything feel very immediate, just like it felt to both Mary and Ella. This book definitely grabbed me, and flew by.

I found not having any words with Ella's side of the story did make things a little confusing for me. I occasionally had trouble following what was going on.

This would be a great read with fall coming up, especially as Halloween draws near. It could scare younger readers, but it definitely has a captivating spooky tale to tell that can pull in adults as well.

This ghost story, told in pictures in the present mixed with epistolary journal flashbacks, is spooky and unsettling. It's about loneliness, and neglect. Like many ghost stories, and unlike many books for the middle-grade age bracket, it doesn't exactly have a happy ending. But it's perfect for a reader who would rather have a creepy shiver down the spine.

This book was darker than what I anticipated. The cover truly matches what goes on in the story. It felt like I was never going to be happy again.

I'm just kidding. But this book is a lot more serious than I what I expected.

This was like A Series of Unfortunate Events without the humor. If you're into that, then consider reading this book. I just don't think a younger version of myself would actually enjoy reading this one.

There's bullying and loneliness in this book, to the point that the victim doesn't even speak. She's afraid to speak out and no one is doing anything about it. There's child neglect and adults abandoning their job (like taking care of the children). The adults have no idea what was happening. 

At some point in the story, I was truly lost. I don't understand what was going on, despite the pictures. I liked the pictures and I think they add something to the story, since this story was confusing. The reason for this is that there are 2 main POVS. I think it would be a lot helpful, especially for young readers, if the names of the characters (and not the dates) were on every beginning of each chapter. I don't every young reader would be interested in reading the blurb of the book they're holding. The cover would be most attractive to young readers, especially in childrens books.

While I do like the images within each chapter, I don't think this book is for me. I wouldn't recommend this story to children, instead I would recommend this book to teens who don't mind reading a gloomy type of story. To be honest, I still have a lot of questions unanswered. I didn't enjoy this story as much as I wanted to. It was difficult to follow along, and I can't help but think about the other children reading this book. Would they be able to follow the story as well? I'm not really sure.

I was quickly drawn into this book! Loved the black and white illustrations depicting present-day offset with the past-day diary.entries! The short chapters move the story along quickly and what an ending! I can honesty say I was not expecting it!

Thornhill is spooky and heart-breaking. Ella is sad and lonely, but when she glimpses a girl in the window of the Thornhill Institute, she becomes obsessed with finding out who she was and what happened to her. Mary lived at the Institute in the 1980s, also a sad, lonely girl who is bullied and terrorized by the other girls.
Thornhill is at heart a ghost story. We know from the beginning that Mary’s a ghotst, but her diary entries made me cry. Her life at Thornhill was miserable, and few of the adults around her seemed competent or truly caring. Ella’s story is just as sad. I assume her father loves her, but he’s never home and her mom is gone, presumably dead. Her side of the story is depicted in black and white illustrations that are striking and add to the dark atmosphere of the novel. We know something happened to Mary, but not what.
I think this is one of those stories that a middle-schooler would enjoy. It’s just spooky enough and the ending was dark and and an appropriate, if sad, conclusion. I was talking about it quickly with my daughter and she said kids in middle school like sad books, and i’ll have to take her word for it. Thornhill It deals with big issues like bullying, revenge, and suicide, and there were adults that could have helped, but didn’t.
It’s an engrossing story, but to be honest, I wish I hadn’t read it. For me it was a depressing book. I cried through half of it and I’d like to give it 1 star for that reason. However, I gave it 4 starts because it is engrossing and relevant.

I could not access the book on the apps provided. I wish the publisher had enabled the Kindle app. In order to send this review, I must include a rating. That is unfortunate since I was prevented from reading the book. Therefore, the one star rating.

I finished this in one sitting. Told in different timelines past and present one in text the other in pictures. , Moving and scary this is the story of two lonely young girls. Ella moves next to an abandoned orphanage and begins to piece together the story of Mary . Surprisingly moving and twisty don't let the fact this is a children's book keep you from reading this brilliant book

A Little Bit More, and A Little Bit Less, Than Described

This is a moody, compelling, and suspenseful piece, but it struck me as a bit different from what the descriptions and blurbs might suggest.

Yes, there are two parallel, (if time separated), stories. POSSIBLE MILD PREMISE SPOILERS. We have 1982 Mary, an orphan inmate at Thornhill, and we have 2016 Ella, who has moved in to a house next to the now deserted and broken down Thornhill. Ella occasionally glimpses a girl in an upper window of the empty Thornhill building and undertakes to explore the grounds of Thornhill to unravel the mystery. Because the story moves back and forth between Mary's diary and Ella's investigations, we know much more about Mary, and much earlier, than does Ella. So, for most of the book we switch from the gripping continuing tale of Mary to drawings of Ella just walking around empty grounds. Ella doesn't really factor into the story until the very end.

That's all fine, because Mary's story is gripping, suspenseful and dark. Ella is a bit of a tack-on. Since Ella's story is told through drawings, and since those drawings are of Thornhill, (albeit a derelict Thornhill), the drawings could just as well be accompanying Mary's story, which makes Ella even less important. BIGGER SPOILER. That's fine too, because Mary's story makes sense, while Ella's story's end, to me, comes out of nowhere, isn't a logical consequence of her development, and feels abrupt and unexplained.

What most engaged me as a reader was Mary's descent into a certain form of vengeful madness. While a sympathetic character at the outset, Mary is not without flaws and weaknesses. The story is taken from Mary's diary, so she completely controls the narrative. A reader can read this book first from a sympathetic point of view, and then again from an untrusting and skeptical point of view, and end up with two very different Mary's and two very different reactions to the book's conclusion, (and that's both the 1982 conclusion and the 2016 conclusion involving Ella). The result is that you get that classic "Turn of the Screw" effect, where you can argue forever about who's the real ghost and who's the real evil force. God bless unreliable narrators.

I'm not a big fan of psychological thrillers that play hide and seek, or ghost stories that are just a few cries and whispers. This book had some meat on its bones, a ghastly mood that was sustained through both the narrative and the illustrations, and lots of tidy little bits that kept the reader guessing. To me, that adds up to a nice read, and this was a nice find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Great for young readers - middle grade.

This is a great story for the upcoming Halloween season. I was originally drawn to this book because of the creepy feel of the cover illustration. I was very happy to see the many expressive illustrations used to relate the story and successfully give the book an even creepier and edgy feel. I would have absolutely loved this beautifully illustrated book as a younger reader. The illustrations throughout the story give a serious creepy feeling that carries through.

Awesome read. Highly recommended.

I really wanted to read this because the cover art was so striking and the summary sounded great. Unfortunately, I had so many issues with downloading and trying to open the file that I have given up.

Since I need a star rating on this, I'll go with three for the cover art and summary alone.

This is a different story. It has a ghost from the past and a little girl who's almost a ghost in the present. The author does a great job of drawing you into the story. The illustrations are done in black and white and they make you feel ghostly. It's an abandoned house next door that abuts the garden below that draws Ella in...

Roaring Book Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published August 29th.

Ella can see Mary and she wants to make friends with her. Mary is shy and elusive but Ella keeps trying.

Mary's story is sad and shows how badly bullying can affect someone. Ella is home alone a lot because her mother is dead and her father is working. She decides to try to figure out Mary's story. There's a diary she can read to let her know what happened. All except the ending. Ella should have left the diary alone...

It would be entirely too easy to say too much about Thornhill, the first novel Pan Smy has both written and illustrated. But this is a novel best approached cold, as I did.

Mary Baines, a 13-year-old girl so traumatized that she has virtually stopped speaking, at Thornhill Institute for Children, a gothic pile that is slated to be closed. The orphans have been gradually placed, but trembling, mute Mary has found no foster home — nor has the beautiful bully who torments her. Her story is told through her diary entries.

Ella, an equally lonely girl, has moved in next door to Thornhill and sees the attic light on at night — Mary’s room. Ella’s tale is told exclusively through Smy’s atmospheric illustrations. Needless to say, the two storylines will intersect. I read Thornhill in one sitting, literally unable to put it down. While the target age is 10 to 14, adults would adore this suspenseful read. Highly recommended.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I received this book free from NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press in return for an honest review.

I loved the artwork and the combination of both stories being told through different mediums. It was also a relatively quick read and would be a great recommendation for a middle or YA reader that is more resistant to longer novels. The story is simple and doesn't provide a great deal of character development, but I didn't feel like it diminished the novel because of it. It's worth a read, but wasn't my favorite in the genre. A great pick for a book club, especially with the halloween season coming up!

Thornhill by Pam Smy tells two parallel stories, the first one takes place in 1982 through the diary entries of Mary, a bullied orphan at the Thornhill institute, while the other occurs in 2017 through wordless imagery when Ella moves to a new town and discovers Thornhill. I was really intrigued by the concept of this book, but while I appreciated the format, the story itself was not terribly original.

Despite the hardcover being 544 pages (I read the ebook) Smy’s novel was easy to read in one sitting and would be a nice pick for older but reluctant readers which could also foster some discussion about bullying. It does have some creepy moments, but it also feels like it is trying to hard, such as by making the mute girl’s favourite hobby talking to her handmade puppets. The writing also felt really dated, I kept having to remind myself it took place in 1982 and not a century earlier. That said, Thornhill is a really sad story and even though it feels generic at times, the very creepy and upsetting ending was perfect.

I loved Thornhill! It is creepy and haunting, and beautifully told through words and pictures. The parallel storyline was very well done and held my interest as the stories of both main characters developed. I would highly recommend this to middle-grade and YA readers who enjoy ghost stories and the supernatural. I will be purchasing this for our school library.

This book is a unique mix of diary entries and graphic novel. Two girls from past and present are meeting in their loneliness, seemingly no parents and friends. By making and mending puppets they become friends with a fateful ending. I really liked the unusual mix of diary entries and pictures. The main theme of loneliness seeped through everything and the book showed different coping strategies in a very lyrical way. Brilliant book, very different and inspirational.

I stayed up late to finish this, don't make the mistake of thinking it's something you can read a little of before bed. I was grabbed equally by the mystery in the pictures from the modern day and the unfolding horrors of the diary entries from the past. Mary's story is haunting for so many reasons. As a woman I found my adolescent self in her shoes, a strong reminder that the heart of today's cyberbullying epidemic is behavior that is older and deeper than technology. As a an adult I was destroyed by her interactions with adults who clearly notice but don't help her, feeling the anguish of anytime I too may have brushed off signs or looked the other way for the kids at my workplace. I don't want to give away the ending, but I think this is a great book and an important one for everyone to read, young and old, especially anyone that works with children. It has a lot of heavy issues, including a number of political ones surrounding the societal issue of caring for orphans and mental health. But I feel it's important for kids to read about complex issues and this book presents them very well.

I love the concept behind this graphic novel. With the story line bisected by the images. Really cool.