In Pictures of Hollis Woods, chapter one, the reader learns that Hollis Woods has been abandoned as a very little infant and is bounced from one foster home to the next. In school one day she is asked to find a picture that starts with an X and cut it out. She can't find anything so she finds a picture of a traditional and happy family and cuts out a W over the picture. The teacher makes her stay in from recess. When her foster family finds out that she had been in trouble at school they make her stay in the backyard all weekend. Hollis doesn't mind staying outside as long as she has her pencils and papers. She longs to live on a mountain where she can have animals all around. Each foster mother that she has she names after some sort of food or condiment. There is the Lemon Lady and the Mustard Lady. Then she comes to live with Josie Cahill who looks more like a Hollywood celebrity than a foster mother. Josie is an artist, too. They begin to bond.
