Customer Reviews

Hope Was Here

5 star:		(119)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Like most reviews, this one is late. In our world with so many complex problems, what is one late book review? What could I possibly give you, the reader, that would make any difference in your life? Ah.....maybe one thing. A tip on hope. Although HOPE WAS HERE was designed for young adult readers, it abounds with hope for all who read it. And, you have to admit it, we all need hope.

There are a lot of stories out there for young readers today. Some stories sling the hash, others sling the bull. But at the end of a long day would you rather have something that sticks to your ribs or to the bottom of your shoes? This story sticks with you like good food and gives you that well-being feeling of a rush of endorphins. The author, Joan Bauer, isn't like many short-visioned writers churning out garbage for young minds. She entices the young reader with real people, real pain, and real hope.

Bauer weaves her plots with a high-energy girl named Hope who offers "full-service waitressing" mixed with common sense, honesty, and solid restraurant philosophy. Hope is a rejected transplant with only one constant relationship in her life. Using that as a seed of hope, and watered with the intrigue of dirty-play politics, Bauer gives us a must-finish story.

When you've finished, you realize you have been in the presence of "do the right thing, no matter who opposes you" kind of people. People of character, morals, and truth. Meet the restrautant owner fighting for his life and community fairness; the young cook who rates at least an 7.4 and rising on the male cuteness scale; the faithful aunt who subs as a mom and cooks with professional creative flair, and the gang of school kids who actually make a difference in their town.

Oh, there are plenty of antagonists, too, who play their sinister roles. We see them in this little Wisconsin dairy town fashioned as a microcosm for the self-serving politics of any town or nation. If you are asking if there is any help, trust, or truth left to maintain our freedoms, you will find this a great text book. But wait, this is for young readers not flag wavers or bible thumpers. My point exactly! Just when you've given up on how to serve good food to kids without them knowing it, this book comes along and hope come with it. It welcomes the reader like twin "Welcome Stairways." They remind you that no matter where you are coming from or what you we seek in a book, you leave blessed for the time spent.

Like a great engrossing movie that makes you unaware of the actors acting, Bauer's writing skills make us forget that this is fiction. This makes the reader delight in being part of Hope's life. We get a taste of the food service trade with funny but thoughtful rules of professional waitnessing. We get the common sense of survival through a free verse poem straight from a heart of a teenager's pain. We get clever one liners worth remembering.........."a B-minus in Grief," "a creaking door of friendship opening," and the "sweet snyergy of food service." Oh, and don't forget the hearse outside ready to cart us away - reminding us to make the days count.

So it is all here: great touchable characters kids and adults can relate to, an intriguing plot for today's times, humor that takes the edge off reality's pain, and a crafted style of writing that gives young adults books a new standard of measure. Oh, and let's not forget that books for young people are more than primers, they help shape moral development that schools and parents say we need, but forget to teach.

Well, the first election of the century is almost here. Politics, being what is, needs thoughtful voters. Vote, but read this book first. Pick up a copy soon......for HOPE WAS HERE is NOW here at your local book stores. You'll thank me for taking my advice. You'll thank Joan Bauer for her creative talents reminding us all not to give up but to do our part because HOPE is here now.

Bauer is one of my favorite authors, so I snatched this one up as soon as I found it. It is definitely my favorite so far. Hope and her aunt leave Brooklyn to travel to a small town in Wisconsin. There they will help GT, owner of the Welcome Stairways Diner, who is suffering from leukemia. He surprises everyone in town by announcing his candidacy for mayor. Many won't support him due to his illness, but Hope and many of the town's teenagers rally behind him in an attempt to oust the corrupt town leaders. Bauer's trademark humor and Hope's feistiness makes this book a joy to read!

How would you like your name to be Tulip? Meet Hope, a sixteen-year old girl, whose real name is Tulip. She decided a while back that she hated that name, so she changed it to Hope. She and her Aunt Addie are about to move from their diner in exciting New York, to what Hope thinks will be boring Wisconsin. Follow a girl whose excellant waitressing skills, knowlege of politics, family and friends, inspire others.This book is perfect for young adults, or for people who have lost all hope.
Joan Baur writes this book in an easy-to-read, humorous and touching way, that shows you that there IS hope, and that there IS a way. Mrs.Baur takes us on a journey through Hope's eyes. Hope overcomes the obstacles in her city. In this book you'll laugh, cry, and be touched all at the same time.
Hope Was Here is a book with interesting characters, some good, some bad.You'll meet G.T Stoop, a leukemia patient with high hopes for the community, and Eli Millstone, the mayor whose a cheater and deciever. This book will bring hope to anybody's life. As Aunt Addie says about hope,"It's like the thrill I get from shoving a raw-plucked chicken into the oven and knowing that in a little while I'll have a soul-satisfying entree,"
Hope Was Here is a book for anybody who likes suspence, romance, and real-life situations will enjoy this book. Next time you are at the library, be sure to check out this Hope Was Here.

First, to all the guys out there, I should say that I didn't know this was a girly book. :-) Actually, it's not really. The main character is a girl, though, and the book is seen first-person through her eyes.

Hope is 16, cared for by her aunt after her mother left her, and a waitress alongside her aunt, who is the cook. When the diner she works in shuts down, she moves with her aunt to Wisconsin to work in the diner there. The cheery proprietor G.T., however, makes a startling announcement that he's challenging the corrupt current mayor of the town in an election. Hope finds herself handing out eggs over easy alongside campaign signs as she throws in her efforts behind G.T. Things get rough on the campaign trail, and Hope continues to meet new friends, all the time trying to live up to her name for the citizens of the town.

I thought it was an interesting read. I just found this book lying on our table one day, picked it up, read a few pages, enjoyed the style, kept reading. Liked the characters and descriptions and kept reading. Finished the book...still wanting to keep reading. It's just a nice story, not at all a fantasy, but not a dark, depressing tale either.

There's a few cases of what might be thought of as taking God's name in vain, but God is acknowledged as the source of strength for G.T. as well. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I think you will too.

Sixteen-year-old Hope, is a strong, independent, and, at times hilarious teenager. Hope, an acclaimed waitress, and her Aunt Addie, a widely acclaimed diner cook, have toured the country working at different diners. Before the twosome leave each diner, Hope writes/carves her mark - "Hope Was Here". Hope and her aunt embark on a little town in Wisconsin. There Hope meets G.T. Stoop, the owner of the diner where Hope and her aunt work. G.T., who has leukemia, decides to run for mayor in an attempt to defeat a corrupt incumbant. Hope is at G.T.'s side, serving somewhat as an assistant, helping him with the campaign - G.T. leaves a lasting impression on Hope.Hope Was Here_ is a great novel. This novel is great for teaching characterization and plot. This novel is not only helpful in the English classroom, but also helpful in a history classroom as it discusses politics - campaigning (dirty at times) and voting.

This book reaches readers of all academic levels as it teaches one that he/she grows stronger through adversity. This was a wonderful novel!

Hope Was Here is one of Joan Bauer's greatest successes yet. Rules of the Road and Squashed aslo qualify for this category. One thing that is admirable about Bauer's books is that you don't just hear about the main characters day at work, you live it. Little bits of waitressing wisdom are scattered throughout the book. This is a unique quality, you learn about whatever the protagonist is passionate about; you know it, and learn to love it as they do. When I finished the book, I felt like I could walk into any restaurant, and get a waitressing job, hands down. Hope Was Here also contains many wonderful characters: Hope, Addie, GT Stoop, and of course Eli. I've been in a reading slump lately, but I couldn't put this one down. Not for the life of me. A very good read, and check out Joan Bauer's other books if you haven't already.

Hope has a thick skin--you have to in order to be such a great waitress. But at 16, when she and her aunt move to a Midwestern small town to run the diner there, her carefully-constructed detachment is challenged when she meets the owner. G.T. has a way of drawing people in, whether they be the townsfolk he wants to get votes from, or the new waitress he wants to befriend. For Hope, this is a first: a friend who cares more about other people than he does his own health, even if he does have leukemia.

Joan Bauer deserves the distinction this book has won as a Newbury Honor Book. Hope Was Here is a warm and friendly read, completely engaging and hard to put down, and I felt good about the world after I read it. It gets my highest recommendation for any teen or adult who likes Sandra Bullock movies or Maeve Binchy novels or who is curious about the other side of the counter.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer has fast become one of my favorites. Reading just one chapter shows the author's incredible writing abilities. Hope is a 16-year-old "city girl" who has been working in the food industry since she was fourteen. Her mother, incapable of raising Hope appropriately gave Hope to her Aunt Addie as a baby.

Hope's childhood was rocky for more reasons than her birth name (Tulip), she and her Aunt Addie are always on the move from town to town until the diner at which they're employed is run out of business or worse. With only occaisional appearances from her mother, Hope has grown to become an independant.

The adventure begins when Addie and Hope leave the New York diner where they've been for several years for a small town in Wisconson. There, a cast of delightful characters come to life so vividly, you feel as though you've known them your entire life.

G.T., the short order cook and owner of the new diner announces that he is running for mayor during a parade, making Hope's life even more hectic. There's plenty for everyone, adventure, love, anger, loss, and hapiness. A must read.

I dunno folks. I don't demand much from my young adult novels. Some interesting characters, a worthwhile plot, and a little depth and I'm content. In "Hope Was Here", you have two out of three. Unfortunately, the two include the characters and the plot. As for depth, you're better off searching a Pokemon cartoon for more subtle variations of human emotion and capabilities than you have here. Though a book that undoubtedly serves a need, "Hope Was Here" is one of the most shallow two-dimensional written works to be created in the last ten years. The good are good, the bad are bad, and all the children are above average.

In "Hope Was Here", young Hope (who renamed herself after twelve years of carrying the moniker "Tulip" against her will) and her aunt are moving from Brooklyn to Wisconsin. Their restaurant was plundered by a wily colleague and the two, who've been together through it all, are hoping this next job won't suck. No fears there. Moving to Mulhoney, Wisconsin they find a range of friends and foes. The town is currently coming on to election time, and the proprietor of the Welcome Stairways Diner, G.T., is running against the currently crooked mayor. As the book flap says, "What follows - as Hope meets politics, corruption, and her past head-on - is at the heart of this memorable, laugh-out-loud story about honor, trust, and serving up your very best". Sounds good. Doesn't deliver.

Here's the problem. From the minute Hope meets a character in this book you know instantly if they are good or bad. From the black waitress Flo (her actual name, I swear), the immigrant busboy Yuri, and the short-tempered (with a heart of gold) waitress Mary Lou, to G.T., the saint with cancer who's running for mayor. G.T., by the way, hasn't a flaw in his body save the leukemia. You kinda wish G.T. would throw a brick through a window or show SOME sign that he has dark thoughts. Those rare scenes in which he and Hope's Aunt Addie supposedly spar are so washed out and light that you're left feeling a little cheated. Take, for example, a fight between them that Hope calls their "worst face-off". Says Addie...

"I'm hard on myself because that's the only way food is elevated".
"Maybe you'd have more fun if you backed off a bit".

Her response to this biting heart-wrenching insult? "G.T., there's too much onion in this dish and I'm not going to serve it until I've got it right". Take that G.T.

To allow any good guy in this book a moment of real unrighteous anger or a spew of biting insults would be to give them too much humanity. You could no more see G.T. grumble at someone on a particularly painful day (he's allowed considering he has CANCER, people) than you could find one of the corrupt politicians in this story reading a bedtime tale to their little one. Bad guys are corrupt all the way through. Good guys get a little sad sometimes, then shake it off. Hope herself is flawless, only growing angry at people who truly deserve it and THEN never taking her frustrations out on anyone who cares for her. A real teenager would probably fight with her aunt or her mom at least once during their acquaintance. Not our Hope. No teen in this book ever does anything less than saintly, save two working poor villains brought in to terrify our heroine for one brief convenient plot point. On top of that, G.T. spouts more platitudes during the course of this story than any philosopher ever could. I did hope, in some part of my heart, that this book wouldn't have the happy-happy-happy-plus-one-tragic-death, ending once so common in bad teen lit. Not to ruin it for you, but that is exactly what Bauer serves up. We aren't even allowed an ENDING with moral complexity. *sigh*

There are people in this world that need books that talk about good and evil and hope in straightforward ways. This book is for them. Consider it comfort food. Then there are people who like books in which their characters, for all their good, still harbor dark places in their hearts. This book is not for them. That book would be, "True Confessions of a Heartless Girl", a kind of Canadian version of this story without the meaningful life lessons every other line. If a well-written book is on your menu, head thataway. But if you'd like a story that doesn't challenge you, doesn't contain any good guys with emotional damage, and has a faux happy ending, welcome to "Hope Was Here".

Once in awhile a book comes along that inspires you. The book seemingly changes your outlook on life by making you say to yourself, "yeah, this is what life is *really* about." This... is one of those kinds of books. I came to this book with high expectations. It had received rave reviews and won multiple awards, but that didn't mean it was really going to be a good book, much less one I would adore forever. In fact, rarely does a book reward you as such when your expectations are already so high. However, this book came through and even managed to add plenty of further rewards.

The emotional roller coaster ride I took while I read the book was nothing less than exhilarating. I laughed and cried, and experienced plenty of emotions such as fear, worry, joy, sorrow, love, devotion, and most importantly.... hope.

Hope is the nemesis of the book after all. A play on words providing the namesake of such a worthy character. The name she chose for herself wasn`t a whimsical decision. It came with a great contemplation of what her life would be about. Hope, whose original dreadful name was Tulip, spread the sensitive emotion of hope like a powerful contagion to all. Not meaning only characters in the book, but also to the readers.

Each character is colorful and distinct. Addie, the perfectionist cook; Deena, the earthy but remote birth-mother; Braverman, the quite amiable extremist; G.T., the tender yet vigorous chieftain; Flo, the sincere comrade; Deputy Babcock, the honorable law officer; Yuri, the genteel Russian; Lou Ellen, the coarse but determined co-worker; and most importantly Hope, the courageously hopeful sixteen year old girl who leaps forward to face head-on the trials of life.

The only two downfalls to the book are first, the book ends. It's such a good book you never want it to even possibly end. Then two, it makes you hungry. Not just hungry for more, as obviously you must feel if you don't want it to ever end, but hungry as in wishing you could eat the food prepared in the book. After all, Hope is a waitress and Addie is *the* best cook apparently in the world. Put the two together and you have a mouth-watering book in which you find yourself looking for a diner similar to that of the Welcome Stairways. Yet, this is a minor issue. ;-)

5th graders will find it easy to read, but some of the content may not be as interesting to them until 6th or 7th grade. Life's lessons include civic duty, compassion, responsibility, honesty, and fairness. Though the book contains general civic politics, it mercifully does so in a positively non-partisan way and just as mercifully does not contain any offensive subjects such as sex, abuse, and so many other repulsive topics typical of teen books today.

Simply put, the book is magical but not in the Harry Potter way. Just in the way you feel you can accomplish anything you truly wish to.