Hope Was Here

by Joan Bauer
Hope Was Here  
published June 2nd 2005 by Puffin
binding Paperback
isbn 0142404241   (isbn13: 9780142404249)
pages 186
literary awards Newbery Honor Book
description Here's a book that's as warm and melty as a grilled Swiss on seven-grain bread, and just as wholesome and substantial. Ever since the boss promoted h...more
date added
04-02-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 717)



Jennifer
Jennifer rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/05/08

bookshelves: gold-star-award, trt-reviews
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

HOPE WAS HERE is a brilliant book by an equally brilliant author, Joan Bauer. When I read this book for the first time (my copy is worn; I've read it so often!), I was an instant fan of the author. HOPE WAS HERE is worth your time, worth your money, and worth anything else that you have to do to get your hands on this book.

Hope is a sixteen-year-old waitress who has lived all across America with her Aunt Addie. Hope's mother (who, upon seei...more
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Lucy
Lucy rated it: 2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars
05/20/08

Read in May, 2008
I feel like the big grown up bully attacking the cute, freckled face kid on the playground with this review. However, as a Newberry Medal Honor Book, the playground kind of turns more into a raquetball court and the kid has to be good to play in it. Consider me goggled, racquet in hand, and donning my wrist sweat bands for serious play.

I really don't understand how this is a Newberry Medal Honor Book. The characters were flat and one-dimensional, the plot predictable and the message was d...more
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Jeffrey
Jeffrey rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
06/25/07

bookshelves: read---children-s--ya
Read in May, 2007
Hope Was Here is not my kind of novel. In fact, it would not have been my kind of novel if it came out and I read it when I was eleven-years-old. However, there is no denying that it is an excellent book for the community of children I teach. I find the carefully presented education in the food services industry, particularly waitressing, that the book provides to be very appealing to young kids. Bauer writes about being "in the weeds", waitress-speak for extremely busy, in a way ...more
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Madeline
Madeline rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
01/20/08

I first read this book in...8th grade, I think. I then went on to re-read it at least five times.
Hope Was Here is about a 16 year old girl who lives with her aunt - the two of them find work at the beginning of the book at a diner in Wisconsin owned by a man with leukemia. Addie is a cook, and Hope is a waitress - a really good one, too, and from the way Bauer describes waitressing, you can tell she's writing from a lot of personal experience.
This book is great for 13-16 year old girls wh...more
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Anna
Anna rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
03/28/08

bookshelves: fiction, would-recommend, young-adult
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for: young adult females
I read this whole book in one sitting because it was so surprisingly great! The main character, Hope, is a 16-year-old girl whose life changes when she moves from Brooklyn, NY to a small town in Wisconsin with her aunt Addie. Although Hope is used to moving around a lot, this time things are different and she learns quite a bit about herself as a result of her experiences.

This is an awesome coming-of-age kind of story that I think a lot of pre-teen and teenage girls could easily relate to. ...more
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Adriana
Adriana rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/15/08

bookshelves: yt-family-death-and-dying
Read in April, 2008
This is another great book by Joan Bauer that has a strong female teen protagonist. Hope is a girl whose mother was never any good at raising or keeping her, so she gets raised by her aunt Addie. Her aunt is a wonderful cook and Hope follows in her mom's footsteps as a waitress. Hope and Addie travel from diner to diner, never staying in one place too long. The story starts off with them moving to a small town from New York. At first Hope isn't too happy about the move because she was enjoy...more
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Melissa
Melissa rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/22/08

recommended to Melissa by: My English Education professor
recommends it for: Anyone age 12 and up
This was a great book! Hope is a plucky teenager who moves around the country with her aunt, a talented cook. Hope works as a waitress, and she is less than pleased when they move from Brooklyn to a small town in Wisconsin, but she quickly becomes involved in the small-town politics there. A restaurant owner diagnosed with leukemia decides to use his last healthy days to run for mayor and uproot the corrupt incumbent and his cronies, and Hope and her friends are his campaigning team. This is a s...more
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Kelly
Kelly rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
07/20/08

bookshelves: favorites---rereadable, good-read, laugh-out-loud-books, school-books-that-i-loved-reading, to-re-read
Read in July, 2008
I love this book a lot. I just picked it up again when I was in a sad mood and immediately remembered how much I had loved it the first time. I adore the way it's written and I love the simple story that it tells.
I love the main character, she is not perfect, but she is entirely likable. Her imperfections make her real and wonderful.

One of the main reasons I love this book is because the Main character, Hope, is just like me. She's my age and temperament. I spend over half of my ...more
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Merri
Merri rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/14/08

Read in May, 2008
recommended to Merri by: Alexis
recommends it for: everyone
This book is all about the struggle for people to accept something new. For Hope Yancey, she must adjust to rural Wisconsin life after moving from New York City. In her new town of Mulhoney, Wisconsin, G.T. Stoop decides to make a difference by running against the corrupt mayor. Although G.T. has only worked as a short order cook and has leukemia, he fights to make the town a better place. The townspeople are unwilling to vote for him because this is such a sudden announcement. However, G.T. ke...more
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Xu Li
Xu Li added it
09/19/07

This book reminded me a lot about my best friend in Wisconsin. That is because the character, Hope also moved to Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, she works at a diner. My best friend works at her family's restaurant once in a while as well.In both case, the person did not want to move in the first place. I understand that moving to a new place is not easy.When I first came to America in 1993,I did not like America. There were many changes including the language and the different types of people. At time...more
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Casey
Casey rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
05/29/07

bookshelves: children-or-young-adult
This book deals with some surprisingly mature themes. Hope (real name Tulip) has been abandoned by her mother, has no idea who her father is, and becomes a roving diner waitress with her Aunt Addie (who's a cook). Every time they get settled in a city, the diner shuts down and they have to move again. They finally find a small town with a diner that's as wonderful as its owner. Hope learns some valuable lessons about love and death and growing up and all that good stuff. This is a good book...more
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Sq.Hill
bookshelves: claire
Read in January, 2008
"Hope Was Here" is a touching look at a girl's search for family through the lens fo the food-service industry. Joan Bauer writes a fast-paced, multi-layered book that would be appropriate for twelve and up; it covers local politics, relationships, coming to terms with death and grieving, love, growth, family, and too many other themes to enumerate.

Peppered with tips about being a waitress, "Hope Was Here" makes you wish you were there with her, holding her hand and bein...more
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Annalisa
Annalisa rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
04/17/08

bookshelves: book-club, children-young-adult
Read in April, 2008
recommended to Annalisa by: Kelly
The book was cute, the characters vivid. I want a waitress like that! Not being a diner food fan, I laughed at her putting her aunt's cooking and sushi all in the same culinary category. I liked the book. It was touching with a good message, predictable. I just have trouble reviewing juvenile fiction when I've read them as an adult. It's like riding that scary roller coaster that you were so afraid of as child and finding out it's pretty mild. It's hard to put myself back in that mind set to jud...more
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Jennifer Marie
Jennifer Marie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
02/11/08

bookshelves: 2008-book-list, coming-of-age, young-adult-2008
Read in February, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. The humor was perfect. One liners here and there that just made the balance (for it was a pretty emotional story) perfect. So many times I was trying not to laugh out loud as I listened to the story at work.

The voice of the character was amazing and I have to say this is one of the better audios I've listened to in a while. The reader was perfect...she really brought Hope to life.

Without giving too much away the story had it all hope, despair, laugher, sad...more
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Bell
Bell rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
06/02/08

recommends it for: Leah
This book is simply amazing. I read it in sixth grade as a group. And I fell in love with it. I love the little tradition that she made by writing "hope was here" on the window pane whenever she leaves a place. And I love all of the characters. I cried when...well, I won't spoil that part. And I was actually surprised when some certain people got married. (I won't say names just in case you want to read it.) And it was so tender when they grafted the tree...this book is really good. Ev...more
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Linda
Linda rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/07/08

I really enjoyed the main character, Hope, whose name really suits her attitude towards life. In spite of her difficult upbringing and her pathetic self-centered mom, Hope manages to remain flexible and positive, and endears whomever she contacts to her. While I agree that some of the story is somewhat predictable, it is still worth reading. I actually liked the diner setting and the food talk (but warning - don't read this book when you're hungry.)
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Kristie
Kristie rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
04/05/08

bookshelves: ya
Read in January, 2007
recommended to Kristie by: Joan Bauer
recommends it for: Julie, Angela
This book makes me hungry-you'd have to read it to know what I'm talking about. I heard Joan Bauer talking about this book at a Symposium for Young Readers at BYU and fell in love with the main character, Hope. Since reading this book, I have never been able to look at small cafes again without thinking about Hope, perseverance, passion, and love. It's wild how Bauer's writing can permanently change your way of thinking in a very positive way.
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Lisa
Lisa rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
09/05/07

bookshelves: young-adult
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for: Teens
I am reading this book for my teen book discussion in September. I have no real complaint with it, but I just can't seem to get into the book or excited about it. It didn't grab me. I have to keep making myself pick it up, but it's gotta be done. Maybe I'll change my mind as I get more engrossed in the book.
Update: this was a pretty good book, though not very exciting. A good read nonetheless.
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auie
auie rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
08/11/07

Read in August, 2007
"i've found that disappointments, when faced down, could turn into our strength" - G.T. Stoop (one of the main characters of the book) i have yet to ponder on this. i plan to make a list of my disappointments to find out how these could turn into strengths.

what this book did was bring me back to my teen-age "revolutionary" days. this book if full of the idealism of youth.
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Diana
Diana rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
08/07/08

Joan Bauer writes excellent young adult fiction that I enjoy as much as an adult as I did as a teen. Her characters manage to be tough, real, and extremely interesting, and she's got a great handle on characterization. Hope stands out as a young woman who has learned to bend without breaking and takes pride in doing her job well. A quick read, but well worth it in my opinion.
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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.11 (605 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.13 (518 ratings)
number of reviews: 120






other editions

Hope Was Here (Hardcover)
HOPE WAS HERE (Paperback)
Hope Was Here (Paperback)









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