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83rd out of 268 books
—
256 voters
Call Me Hope
As 11-year-old Hope struggles to live under the pressures of her verbally abusive mother, she's tempted to run away but instead chooses resilience. She creates a secret safe haven and an innovative point system (giving herself points for every bad thing her mother says to her); finds comfort and inspiration from Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl; and gains a support te...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
September 26th 2009
by Little, Brown Young Readers
(first published April 1st 2007)
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Eleven-year old Hope Elliot takes a lot of abuse, but being called hopeless, or sworn at doesn’t hurt nearly as much as being called stupid. What’s worse, it’s her own mom who hurls these insults at Hope on a daily basis. Sadly, Hope is so used to it, she’s learned to live in her bedroom, tiptoe around the house when Mom’s home, and never, ever ask her mom for anything. That is, until the permission slips for sixth grade Outdoor School are handed out. Hope’s been dreaming about the five day camp...more
Mar 22, 2008
Anna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone basically, but it is more of a girl's book.
This is a great book! The author works for the "Hands and Words are Not For Hurting" project (or at least I think that's what it's called) which fights against verbal and physical abuse. Something I thought was interesting about this book was that it was about verbal abuse. For most people, whenever they hear the words "child abuse," they think physical abuse. But really verbal abuse has just as much impact on the child. Words can hurt just as much.
This book is about a girl named Hope who lives...more
This book is about a girl named Hope who lives...more
There is a lot I have to say about this book.
For starters, its one of my favorites of all time. This is surprising enough, as I am generally into Fantasy and Adventure novels. Usually, I'm not big on Realistic Fiction.
But this was more than Realistic Fiction for me.
In my mind, I'm eleven. It was pretty much an amazing age for me. This helped me connect with Hope. Hope is a person. Nothing extraordinary marks her. And yet, at the same time, there is something special about her. She thinks a lot a...more
For starters, its one of my favorites of all time. This is surprising enough, as I am generally into Fantasy and Adventure novels. Usually, I'm not big on Realistic Fiction.
But this was more than Realistic Fiction for me.
In my mind, I'm eleven. It was pretty much an amazing age for me. This helped me connect with Hope. Hope is a person. Nothing extraordinary marks her. And yet, at the same time, there is something special about her. She thinks a lot a...more
Apr 24, 2012
Alexa
added it
Hope, a middle school girl, is being verbally abused by her mother. The only problem with Hope is that she doesn't want to stand up for herself and tell her mom how much she is hurting her. Instead she makes a point chart. Every time her mom calls her a name she adds 50 points. Every time her mom swears she adds 250 points and so on. By the end of each day Hope gets at least 1,000 points. Hope spends her time down the street at a local store where she can be away from her mom. She has been savin...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I love and hated this book at the same time. I loved the little girl, Hope, and adored her for being so strong. Hope is in the 6th grade and she is at the top of her school. Her mother is abusive, but not in the way you would think. Her mother abuses her vebally. These horrible words leave Hope trying to practically live in her closet trying to escape them. Hope imagines running away from home everyday to live with someone nicer, whether they are from her school or the shop she loves to go to, N...more
Hope is in 6th grade and lives with her brother and single mother. Her school regularly takes 6th graders to an Outdoor School in the spring, and she is greatly looking forward to it. What she doesn't let people know, however, is that her mother is constantly yelling at her, belittling her and generally being verbally abusive. When she spots a pair of hiking boots in a second hand store, she tries to figure out how she can earn the money to pay for them while staying on her mother's good side. S...more
Mar 26, 2012
Dalymar Leyva
is currently reading it
The book that I just began reading is called "Call Me Hope" by Gretchen Olson. This book is very intense. The main character is a young girl named Hope Marie Elliot. She has been put through a lot by her mother,Darlene Delilah Elliot. Her mother,Darlene, treats her like complete trash. She starts insulting Hope with alot of negative comments. Basically, her mother abusese Hopey verbally. For example, in chapter 2, Darlene started, "Hope's been driving me nuts. She doesn't do anything. She's so S...more
Jul 08, 2011
Emma
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
if-i-could-i-d-give-it-6-stars
This was one of those "Couldn't put down books." The kind you read before class and on the way home from school. I was not excited about having to read the Oregon Battle of the Books, books in 6th grade, but I'm glad I did because I got to read one book I really loved, Call Me Hope.
3 likes · like · see review
I think that the message in this book is very important: get help when you are in trouble. This is especially great advice for children who are also experiencing abuse as Hope is. However, Hope as a character is not very believable. First, there's the inconsistency with the obsession with numbers (I thought it was because she only did that in times of stress, but as the book progressed, she used her labelling numbers as good or bad less). Second, the story doesn't feel like it's from a sixth gra...more
Apr 13, 2011
Melissa Gregory
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
anger,
child-abuse,
apologies,
bullying,
abuse,
conflict,
family,
feelings,
fright,
relationships,
standing-up-for-yourself
This book is about a girl named Hope who is facing verbal and emotional abuse from her mother. In school, she is reading "The Diary of Anne Frank." While studying the Holocaust, she develops an idea. She creates the point system that demonstrates how her mom made her feel. This system also helped her communicate her feeling with her mother and eventually made her mother realize that her approach to parenting was having a negative effect on her daughter and she then decided to seek help. I liked...more
I thought it was a very frustrating story because she would not tell her mom to stop calling her bad words like stupid and many more mean words to her. But i also thought it a very good book. And that a lot of things that happened to her a normal sixth grade girl would not have to pass through that like her mom not letting her go to outdoor school and calling her hopeless instead of her real name:Hope or having to buy your own boots since your mom would not help you with it or not letting her co...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
"Call Me Hope" is probably my favorite book of all times. The first time I read it (2nd grade) it became the first book to ever make me cry, from happiness of corse. I love Hope some much. Just like Hope, I love Anne Frank. I love how the story takes place with them learning about Anne and them seeing Life is Beauitful(a movie I really, really want to see now.). I'm also inspired by Hope's point system. It's very clever and very creative, it would help many people if they knew about it. I could...more
The main character is a girl called Hope. She lives in a very small town with her mother and her older brother. She has no friends her age only 2 adult friends and 1 young adult friend. Well, the young adult is actually is an adult. She is 19. I call 18 and 19 year-olds, young adults. She lives a very quiet and boring life. She doesn't really talk to her mom when she home, but when she does her mom does keep the conversation going. And whenever she talks to her older brother, who is I think is...more
Call Me Hope is a really good book. Its about hope a 6th grader being abused by her mother. Her mother called her things like stupid, hopeless and so on. Hope wants to change this she wants to be loved by someone. At first, Hope was just trying to make herself feel better but later on she slowly thinks she can't handle being called stupid anymore and even worse when her mother was going to take away Hope's dream that's when she's gonna spring to action. Can Hope really change this or Hope has to...more
This book is about the girl named Hope. Hope rides the bus to school, and ine day she gets in trouble on the bus. Then she can't ride the bus for a week. Her mom ground her for a weekend. So while Hope was walking home one day she saw some purple boots in the Next to New store window and she went in to look at hem and try them on. she found out that they were $14 but she only had $5.45. Then the cleark said that she can bring in some clothes that she doesn't wear. So will Hope get her purple boo...more
Call Me Hope is an intense story about a girl who is verbally abused by her mother. Hope keeps it to herself, at times making a game out of it - if she bites her tongue, if she takes the abuse quietly, she earns "points."
At first, Hope has no close friends. Her father took off shortly after she was born. Though she gets along well with her older brother, he isn't abused by their mother and therefore doesn't share the burden. Then Hope begins to work at a secondhand store to pay for a pair of pu...more
At first, Hope has no close friends. Her father took off shortly after she was born. Though she gets along well with her older brother, he isn't abused by their mother and therefore doesn't share the burden. Then Hope begins to work at a secondhand store to pay for a pair of pu...more
Hope Marie Elliot is eleven years old and in sixth grade. She has a lot to hope for: that her verbally abusive mother will stop calling her stupid and making her feel as though everything she does is wrong, and that she will get to go to Outdoor School at the end of the school year. But Hope is aptly named, and while her mother's insults continue unabated, she begins to form a refuge for herself. She throws her energy into school work and takes on a challenging project related to Anne Frank's di...more
Call Me Hope is a touching and inspiring story about the power of courage, strength, and hope. Sixth-grader Hope Elliot struggles with being verbally abused by her mother while her older brother receives normal treatment. Though she often wants to run away, she always picks herself back up and fights through the pain, showing that even an eleven-year-old can find the determination and hope to stay strong. The book is sad, but teaches a very valuable lesson that everyone could learn from.
Thank you for the gratifying response to my book, Call Me Hope. I am pleased it is reaching deep into readers' hearts & souls.
My goal was to acquaint readers, as young as possible, with the insidious nature of verbal abuse. I have yearned to sweep children into my arms after I've witnessed parents yelling, swearing, and humiliating them in public; I have wanted to wipe their tears and assure them that they are NOT dumb shits, stupid, worthless, idiots; to assure them that they are valuable...more
My goal was to acquaint readers, as young as possible, with the insidious nature of verbal abuse. I have yearned to sweep children into my arms after I've witnessed parents yelling, swearing, and humiliating them in public; I have wanted to wipe their tears and assure them that they are NOT dumb shits, stupid, worthless, idiots; to assure them that they are valuable...more
3 likes · like · see review
Dec 28, 2010
Gabby
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
book-reviews,
really-good-ones
Hope Elliot is twelve years old, and she suffers verbal abuse ... from her mother. "Call Me Hope" tells of Hope's sixth-grade year as she is called "stupid," "hopeless," and cursed at by her mother, works at a second-hand store, and begs her unforgiving mother figure to allow her to go to Outdoor School.
I read this book over the summer, and have reread it again and again. Although this book is really sad, I really enjoyed the way it was written. It's really, really frustrating because Hope begs...more
I read this book over the summer, and have reread it again and again. Although this book is really sad, I really enjoyed the way it was written. It's really, really frustrating because Hope begs...more
Call me hope is a great book, it focuses in on abuse and lets you see that it can happen verbally. As hope is getting lost in school her home life gets confusing, the person responsible for raising Hope is also the person responsible for bullying her. As her mom slowly makes Hope believe she is nothing in the world but a stupid girl Hope starts to make friends and find new and different ways to make it through her troubles.
This book is about a girl who was verbally abused by her mom. Verbal abuse can be just as painful, in my opinion, as physical abuse. She did everything she could to try to get along with her mom but I guess it wasn't enough. Hope was an eight year old girl and at school was studying the Holocaust and learned about his one boy who kept a point system and then got a suprise when he reached 500 points. He got points for being quiet and strong. His prize was to see his mom with a tank, the tank happ...more
In many ways, I found this to be an incredibly sad and touching book. Many kids, like Hope, don't even realize that being called stupid, hopeless, dumb, loser or being sweared at or talked to with sarcasm is verbal abuse; causing it to become one of those problems that exists, but not acknowledged. When not confronted, it can lead to other issues, such as depression.
Hope was a great character who was able to find support both in books and from the people around her, and I think that her situatio...more
Hope was a great character who was able to find support both in books and from the people around her, and I think that her situatio...more
Christina-Call Me Hope-Gretchen Olson- I loved this book because it was very descriptive and well written. In this book a girl finds the courage to stand up to a bully. She has no one to talk to because the bully is her mother!Her verbally abusive mother can't accept her daughter for who she is. Hope, the girl finds herself fighting her mom for the chance to go to outdoor school, the annual school field trip. Between trips to the consignment shop and school, she has a challenging family life too...more
I loved Hope! She was so strong and sweet. I thought her point system was genius and such an insightful coping mechanism for such a young person. Her abuse made her mature beyond her years and that maturity gave her the strength to make her life what she wanted it to be, instead of playing the role of a victim.
This was a really fun read . . . it comes highly recommended.
This was a really fun read . . . it comes highly recommended.
Such a powerful book that is filled with heartbreaking moments as well as inspiration. This book is about a young girl who is verbally abused by her mother and finds comfort in different ways. She fills us with hope and inspires us especially at the end of the book. There is some language in the book that the mother uses when speaking to her daughter that you may want to look at before putting into the hands of younger children.
When I started this book I could barely set it down. I loved how Gretchen Olsen described Hope so well that you could literally connect to her like she was real. I thought it was amazing how Hope made a point system so whenever her verbally abusive mother treated Hope poorly, she would give herself a amount of points based on how bad she was treated.
What if the person you loved and who took care of you also was the person who made you feel unloved and uncared for? This is what Hope has to deal with and in the story you get to see how hard it is to be so torn! This is a book that is almost impossible to put down once you've embark on the emotional story with Hope and the rest of the characters in "Call Me Hope" By Gretchen Olson.
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Nov 01, 2010 01:55pm