Hope Was Here- Contemporary Realistic Fiction

When Hope first chose her name, she carried it around with her for a month to decide if it was the right one.  After all, with a name like that, you better be prepared to live up to it.  Now, four years later, Hope must call upon the powers of her name to deal with yet another move, another job and another home.  Her beloved Aunt Addie, her guardian, has taken another cook/manager job at a café in Wisconsin.  Will everything be okay?  Addie says it will and she never breaks her promises.  That is something to count on, unlike her absent mother who gave her the name of Tulip and her unknown father.  As Hope begins to open herself up to this small community through her job as a skilled waitress, she discovers that she doesn’t need her birth family miraculously restored to find her life. She used to write “Hope was here” somewhere inside each café as a record of her existence.  Now, the people she has found bring her more than she could ever have dared to imagine.  Hope is here.

Teens would really appreciate the fact of Hope’s imperfect life.  They would be invested in her daily decisions, thanks to the masterful characterization and well-paced dialogue by Joan Bauer.  As the story unfolds, we see the tapestry of Hope’s life.  As details are revealed, they come together to form the utterly believable and inspiring person of Hope.  With her aunt as her home base, Hope begins to trust those around her and forge ahead.  She learns how she can fit into this community and why she should even want to.  Newbery Honor book, Hope Was Here is a book that will stay with you and begs to be discussed with others.

Whirligig- Contemporary Realistic Fiction

One move in a chess game can change the course of the game.  One moment’s decision can alter your life forever.   How can you deal with taking someone’s life?  Brent has inadvertently killed a girl while trying to kill himself at the wheel.  Nothing can change that… ever.  He is sent on a journey to create and set up whirligigs in the four corners of the U.S., Washington State, California, Florida, and Maine.  The goal is to spread this girl’s spirit across the country through the use of her favorite toy.

This story is told through alternating chapters of Brent’s voice and those who discover the whirligig’s influence in each destination city.  As Brent travels, we see him change and his protective layers begin to peel away.  With each day, he must learn to take care of himself and teach himself how to build a whirligig that is worthy of the girl’s essence.  He learns to open up to strangers bit by bit and recognize all the forms that a community can take.  The people whose lives are touched by these toys are not known or seen by Brent until the last one.  He has to trust that he has done the best he can and that the whirligigs will do their jobs. 

This unforgettable story by Paul Fleischman, is not just a bus journey. It becomes a pilgrimage of repentance and self-discovery and connection.  This imagery of “journey” will resonate with YA readers.  The teen-age years are all about finding out who you are and what you believe.  It is a time to discover strengths and deal with weaknesses.  In this story, readers are subtly reminded that every action has a consequence.  As Brent travels, he grows and changes. Readers see that change takes time and will continue beyond the scope of the book.   I am sure that readers will connect with this book on many levels and will want to read it again and again. That’s how I know for sure it is a truly wonderful book.
The author has won many awards over the years.  He won The Newbery Medal in 1989 for Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices.  He also won a Newbery honor for Graven Images in 1983.  He was a finalist for the international Hans Christian Anderson Award in 2012 for his contributions to children's literature.