Book 2: Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

I loved this Newberry Honor book for both it's soul and it's sense of humor. Hope Was Here is the story of a year in the life of 14 year old Hope as she moves from the Big Apple to small town Mulhoney, Wisconsin (I googled this and all I got were results for the book so I am guessing it is a fictitious town, but the fact that it is in Wisconsin is a draw nonetheless). Hope is being raised by her Aunt Addie and has been with her aunt since her birth. Her mother, after saddling her with the name "Tulip" leaves her with her aunt in order to go off and live her life. At the age of 13, Hope legally changes her name, choosing Hope because it "is just about the best thing a person can have".

The story centers around Addie and Hope's work in the restaurant business. Addie and Hope are both waitresses and this is the one thing Hope has in common with her mom as well. They have moved around a lot and after making yet another move in Hope's life, both start working at Welcome Stairways, the local diner in the very small town of Mulhoney. Soon Addie and Hope find themselves in the middle of the local mayoral election. Their new boss G. T. is running for mayor and his opponent is a involved in a very suspicious campaign. The controversy around the campaign itself, G.T's fight against cancer, a love connection between Addie and G.T. as well as Hope's first experience with love all come together in this book to showcase the triumph of the human spirit.

This book really is a story of hope. Through all adversity that is thrown at our heroine, she is able to rise up and meet it head on. There are deep issues of life and death, honesty and dishonesty, love and "war" and belonging. All this is explored with humor in a way that makes you root for the characters and live right along with them, they are the kind of characters that stay with you long after you have finished the book. This would be a great book club selection and is a book worthy of talk. There is much to be learned when talking about the theme and life lesson of a book such as this.

This book is also a Newberry Honor Book, Winner of the Christopher Award, an ALA Notable Book and an ALA BBYA.

What did you think of this book? Leave a comment or scroll to the bottom and take my poll for Hope Was Here.