Twelve-year-old Ellen learns the quiet strength of family when her mother&;s deep depression prompts her to ask an estranged aunt for help.Ellen&;s mother has struggled with depression before, but not like this. With her father away fighting in World War II and her mother unable to care for them, Ellen&;s only option is to reach out to her cold, distant aunt Pearl. Soon enough, city-dwelling Ellen and her mother are shepherded off to the countryside to Aunt Pearl&;s home, a tidy white cottage at the base of Snowden Mountain. Adjusting to life in a small town is no easy thing: the school has one room, one of her classmates smells of skunks, and members of the community seem to whisper about Ellen&;s family. But even as she worries that depression is a family curse to which she&;ll inevitably succumb, Ellen slowly begins to carve out a space for herself and her mother on Snowden Mountain in this thoughtful, heartfelt middle-grade novel from Jeri Watts.