Hope Was Here
by
Joan Bauer
Our Review
What happens when a saucy, optimistic teenager and a terrific short-order diner cook head to Mulhoney, Wisconsin? Great apple pie, a killer mayoral election, and a heartfelt story about life in a rural town.
What happens when a saucy, optimistic teenager and a terrific short-order diner cook head to Mulhoney, Wisconsin? Great apple pie, a killer mayoral election, and a heartfelt story about life in a rural town.
Readers will immediately fall in love with 16-year-old Hope. She has bounced from place to place, serving plates of meat loaf and frittata specials to diner p
Paperback, 186 pages
Published
June 2nd 2005
by Puffin
(first published September 11th 2000)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
DCPL's Teen "Gentle" Reads/Books That Won't Make You Blush Booklist
6th out of 111 books
—
79 voters
More lists with this book...
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Nov 04, 2012
Jennifer Wardrip
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
trt-posted-reviews,
trt-gold-star-award-winner
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 seeing her t...more
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 seeing her t...more
I don't know exactly why, but Joan Bauer books are just, I don't know, I don't exactly know why I love them so much, but I just do. I think how I feel about her books is you can devour an entire book of her's because it's suspenseful with new plots, fast moving plots that keep you interested, and then you don't realize until the end that it wasn't the most fantastic book ever. But, they are still extremely fun to read, and I think I'm now in the middle of a new Joan Bauer phase. She writes books...more
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 dangerou...more
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 dangerou...more
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 who wan...more
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 who wan...more
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 time cooking a...more
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 time cooking a...more
Hope Was Here is about a young, 16 year old girl names Hope who has lived with her aunt, Addie, her whole life because her birth mother, who is a waitress, didn't’t want the responsibility of a baby at the time she was born. She has never met her father and she often thinks about what it would be like to have a father and fill him in on her life by showing him the scrapbooks she has made over the years. Hope, who is a waitress, and Addie, a cook, have lived in many different places across Ameri...more
Had it not been for the awesome words of truth written in this book, I would have probably given it a lower rating. The setting was quite common, crooked politicians, hopeful youth, love, illness, great food and an ending that I predicted when I was halfway through the book. Yet Hope Was Here won my heart with its truthful words of wisdom. Books like this one are the main reason why I shy away from fantasy, where I know things won't happen. Yes indeed, I read and adore books that reflect reality...more
First off, I just want to point out that reading this book made me really hungry. So to those of you that plan to tackle Hope Was Here, make sure you have food handy. That is all.
Anyways, onto the important stuff.
Prior to reading Hope Was Here, I read and loved all of Joan Bauer's previous books (Rules of the Road, Peeled, Thwonk, and Close to Famous). Each one of these story lines was not repetitive, had a great heroine to read about, a setting to match, and a great plot line. Hope Was Here is...more
Anyways, onto the important stuff.
Prior to reading Hope Was Here, I read and loved all of Joan Bauer's previous books (Rules of the Road, Peeled, Thwonk, and Close to Famous). Each one of these story lines was not repetitive, had a great heroine to read about, a setting to match, and a great plot line. Hope Was Here is...more
Tore through this in a few hours. I was hooked from the first page, which is always a plus, and I enjoyed the waitressing background. There are so many developed characters that I felt I was in a world, not merely reading a story, which is probably what kept me so engrossed. The long and the short of it:
Hope (who changed her name from Tulip) has always lived with her aunt (Addie) after her mom (Deena, also a skilled waitress) hands her over to Addie knowing she herself is unsuited for motherhood...more
Hope (who changed her name from Tulip) has always lived with her aunt (Addie) after her mom (Deena, also a skilled waitress) hands her over to Addie knowing she herself is unsuited for motherhood...more
I think the book Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer was an exceptional book. One reason why I enjoyed this book is because of the plot. I thought having Hope move to Mulhoney, Wisconsin was very connectable. I also liked it because Hope and her aunt, Addie went to work at a diner called the Welcome Stairways. I thought having G.T. Stoop, the diner owner with leukemia, run against corrupt Eli Millstone interesting. Hope; Braverman (the 16 year old assistant cook) and some friends help G.T. try to win t...more
Hope Pulvey is an intelligent sixteen-year old American teenager. She was raised by her ambitious Aunt, Addie, after her mother abandoned her at a young age. She devotes her life to becoming the best possible waitress she can be. Hope is passionate about what she does, but perplexed on the idea of life. When her elderly and ill boss, G.T. Stoop, runs for town mayer, she realizes how valuable her role in the world is. She begins to promote G.T. and question the opposing candidate.
I think Hope Was...more
This story all starts with a girl called Hope. In this story she moves to Wisconsin and the welcome stairway diner. She works there as a waitress, and makes lots of friends ( one of her friends was Braverman, who becomes her boyfriend.)
The main part of this story is when G.T. Stoop enters the elections. He is a kind man and he runs the Welcome Stairway Diner. He has quite a challenge as he gets is booed by Eli Millstone’s ( his opponent) followers. Millstone runs the real fresh dairy ( a huge co...more
The main part of this story is when G.T. Stoop enters the elections. He is a kind man and he runs the Welcome Stairway Diner. He has quite a challenge as he gets is booed by Eli Millstone’s ( his opponent) followers. Millstone runs the real fresh dairy ( a huge co...more
A very sweet book. It almost made me want to quit my job and take up waitressing, Hope was so convincing in describing how essential a good server can be to changing people's lives. (She makes it clear that it's hard work too, but it's the joys and triumphs that stick with me.)
I appreciated that this book did not have an unrealistically happy ending. The ending was still happy, but not in a rainbows and sunshine perfect way that would have done a disservice to the rest of the story.
I wonder how...more
I appreciated that this book did not have an unrealistically happy ending. The ending was still happy, but not in a rainbows and sunshine perfect way that would have done a disservice to the rest of the story.
I wonder how...more
Hope has been raised by her Aunt Addie since she was a premature baby abandoned by her waitress mother, who originally named her Tulip. As the book begins, Hope is a sophomore and waitress saying good-bye to New York and the diner that Addie had to close down becuase her business partner stole all the money and left. Hope and Addie head to Mulhoney, Wisconsin to work (Addie as a short order cook and Hope as a waitress) at the Welcome Stairways diner. The diner is owned by G.T Stoop, who has leuk...more
This is a simple piece of realistic fiction that works far better than one might expect, given its simple storyline and everyday characters...or maybe that's exactly what makes it work. A teenage girl travels with her aunt from Brooklyn to Wisconsin, where they take jobs in a diner, becoming involved with the owner, who provides all the dramatic action through a campaign to run for mayor while fighting leukemia. It's a feel-good story with heartbreaking moments, but it never, for this reader, fa...more
"I hope, I hope, I hope this will all turn out for the good...Some hopes just get pulverized."
I'm reading right now as a way to escape a little from what's going on in my life, right? How is it that a random book I find on the shelf has a sub-plot with a baby not reaching developmental milestones?? You're kidding me, right? A 14 month old that can't sit up. Great. My personal hell being played out in a novel. At least this one has a better end. Mine won't. I guess that's escapism to a certain ex...more
I'm reading right now as a way to escape a little from what's going on in my life, right? How is it that a random book I find on the shelf has a sub-plot with a baby not reaching developmental milestones?? You're kidding me, right? A 14 month old that can't sit up. Great. My personal hell being played out in a novel. At least this one has a better end. Mine won't. I guess that's escapism to a certain ex...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Okay, as I write this review, please note that I am a 29-year old male. I would have been approximately 26 at the time I read this book. This was a book that my wife and I picked up at a Scholastic Warehouse sale and so I eventually got around to picking it up and giving it a try.
There, that's the background about me...someone who I would not necessarily expect to love Joan Bauer books, but I do!!
This was my first book of Joan Bauer and I thought it was great.
1) The main character. I've read ple...more
There, that's the background about me...someone who I would not necessarily expect to love Joan Bauer books, but I do!!
This was my first book of Joan Bauer and I thought it was great.
1) The main character. I've read ple...more
The name of the book was what lured me in. Hope. Isn't that a very unique name? It's very inspiring to me. Indeed there is a girl named Hope, who in highschool and doesn't have a mother by her side. She was passed to her mom's older sister because Hope's mom didn't think she would've been a good mother. In my opinion, this was a great thing to do because if a mother knows that she cannot give a child a decent childhood, they should give it to someone else who is capable of doing so. Hope is a w...more
This 2001 Newbery Honor award winning book is so breathtakingly poignant that I struggle to write a review that would do it justice.
It is filled with genuinely real people, real pain and honestly portrayed real-life situations.
Sixteen year old Hope Yancey has many reasons to give up hope. Life is difficult. As a tiny baby she was abandoned by her mother. Raised by her wonderfully sensitive and kind Aunt Audie, she learns to persevere.
Aunt Audie is a restaurant cook and manager; Hope is a waitres...more
It is filled with genuinely real people, real pain and honestly portrayed real-life situations.
Sixteen year old Hope Yancey has many reasons to give up hope. Life is difficult. As a tiny baby she was abandoned by her mother. Raised by her wonderfully sensitive and kind Aunt Audie, she learns to persevere.
Aunt Audie is a restaurant cook and manager; Hope is a waitres...more
Hope was Here, by Joan Bauer, is a story about a young, 16 year old girl names Hope who has lived with her aunt, Addie, her whole life because her birth mother, who is a waitress, didn't’t want the responsibility of a baby at the time she was born. She has never met her father and she often thinks about what it would be like to have a father Hope who is a waitress and Addie, a cook, have lived in many different places They decide to move to Mulhoney, Wisconsin to work at a diner called Welcome S...more
Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer tells the story of 16-year old Hope. Her unfocused mother left her in the care of her Aunt Addie who travels all over the U.S to work as a cook. Hope is all alone. She finds a deep connection with the people she serves food to as a waitress. She also gains self-confidence. Hope and her Aunt leave New York City to work in a rural diner in Wisconsin. She is very worried that she will be bored out of her mind in the local diner, the Welcome Stairways Diner. But, she has...more
Hope Was Here was such a moving book. It taught many lessons like no matter who or what you are you can always be a leader, have confidence, faith, and hope in yourself and you will succeed, live life to the fullest because you never know when your day to die has come. This book was about a girl that moves from city to city based on how long her and her aunt can keep a diner job. She moves to Wisconsin where she meets her boss G.T. Stoop who has lukemia. He is tired of all the lies the mayor in...more
I wasn't planning on keeping this one after I read it but part way through I changed my mind. I really enjoyed it. I think the girls will enjoy it sometime in the future. Has a lot of good lessons in it.
~ Bill collectors are like cheap tippers--they always leave bad feelings behind.
~ It's more important to get the big concept than be an expert in the small stuff.
~ New places always help us look at life differently.
~ Motherhood should be like driving a car. You should have to pass a test before...more
~ Bill collectors are like cheap tippers--they always leave bad feelings behind.
~ It's more important to get the big concept than be an expert in the small stuff.
~ New places always help us look at life differently.
~ Motherhood should be like driving a car. You should have to pass a test before...more
I remember having read this when I was in high school, but I wasn't sure my rosy memory of the book would hold true upon rereading. I remember, when I read it the first time, thinking that this was one of the best things I had ever read. While I'm not sure that still holds true, it was certainly a very good read.
Hope is a sixteen year old girl who loves to waitress. Not many sixteen year olds enjoy catering to angry customers, but for Hope, waitressing is the one thing she's good at. In fact, Ho...more
Hope is a sixteen year old girl who loves to waitress. Not many sixteen year olds enjoy catering to angry customers, but for Hope, waitressing is the one thing she's good at. In fact, Ho...more
Hope’s mother was meant to be a waitress more than a parent. That’s why after Hope was born prematurely, she left Hope with her aunt Addie and never looked back (though she does send Christmas newsletters). Just about the only thing Hope’s biological mother left her was a bad name (Tulip) which she has had legally changed… plus a talent for waitressing, and frequent tips on how to get good tips.
Addie has been the best mother a girl could ask for. Her pancakes are legendary, her pies are criminal...more
Addie has been the best mother a girl could ask for. Her pancakes are legendary, her pies are criminal...more
Constantly on the move, from city to city, state to state, Addie and Hope travel from one failed attempt at restaurant work to another. Addie is Hope’s aunt and also her guardian. Hope is 16 and Addie is middle aged. Hope Was Here, by Joan Bauer is a story about hope and faith. The setting is Mulhoney, Wisconsin. Mulhoney is in rural Wisconsin, which is the cheese capital of the world. In this town of 5,000, everybody knows each other. When Addie and Hope arrive at the Welcome Stairways restaura...more
Hope Was Here (Penguin Group, 2000) by Joan Bauer is a Newbery Honor book, and it is no surprise why. I think that the best books are the ones where I can relate to it to an extent and still have fun exploring this person's different perspective. I also enjoy books that are fictional, yet realistic and comparable to my own life. This book is all about a teenager having the strength and hope to survive through issues with her friends, family, and work, when things seem to constantly be falling ap...more
This is a novel about Hope, who is a teen, who has a dysfunctional family and is learning to adjust to living in a new town. Her aunt, who is a short order cook, raises Hope. Together, they make their way to a small town in Wisconsin to run a restaurant for G.T. He is a cancer patient that has grown week and is supposed to relax a little more. However, he decides to run for mayor. Soon, Hope is caught up in his mayoral run and is happily campaigning for him. In comes the incumbent mayor, who is...more
Apr 21, 2010
Sarah
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
women or teen girls dealing with loss, foster care, adoption, cancer
Shelves:
tween-coming-of-age-girl,
tween-girl
Like your favorite cozy diner, Bauer brings together folks with all different backgrounds, stirs them up, and dishes up a heartwarming tale to comfort your mending soul. High school Junior protagonist Hope relates her story with the straight-up, but friendly warmth of a middle-aged diner waitress, but the bubbling enthusiasm of a young woman, who refuses to succumb to raw deals she's been dealt, like an absentee mother, constant relocating, and adult betrayals. This last reluctant move to rural...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hope Was Here | 9 | 60 | Jun 05, 2013 02:48pm |
From: http://www.joanbauer.com/jbbio.html
July 12, 1951 - I was born at eleven A.M., a most reasonable time, my mother often said, and when the nurse put me in my mother's arms for the first time I had both a nasty case of the hiccups and no discernible forehead (it's since grown in). I've always believed in comic entrances.
As I grew up in River Forest, Illinois, in the 1950's, I seem to remember a...more
More about Joan Bauer...
July 12, 1951 - I was born at eleven A.M., a most reasonable time, my mother often said, and when the nurse put me in my mother's arms for the first time I had both a nasty case of the hiccups and no discernible forehead (it's since grown in). I've always believed in comic entrances.
As I grew up in River Forest, Illinois, in the 1950's, I seem to remember a...more
Share This Book
15 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“You've got to love yourself with all your short comings, and you've got to love the world no matter how bad it gets.”
—
40 people liked it
“...motherhood should be like driving a car -- you should have to pass a test before you can do it legally.”
—
27 people liked it
More quotes…

Loading...
































Nov 14, 2012 12:12pm