Hope and Other Punch Lines
The New York Times bestselling author of Tell Me Three Things and What to Say Next delivers a poignant and hopeful novel about resilience and reinvention, first love and lifelong friendship, the legacies of loss, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. "A luminous, lovely story about a girl who builds a future from the ashes of her past." --KATHLEEN GLASGOW, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces Sometimes looking to the past helps you find your future. Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka "Baby Hope") wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing. Now, fifteen years later, Abbi is desperate for anonymity and decides to spend the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp two towns away. She's psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope. Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was irrevocably shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. Noah believes his meeting Baby Hope is fate. Abbi is sure it's a disaster. Soon, though, the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo. But is either of them ready to hear the answers?
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Community Reviews
wonder if everyone, if everything, dies twice. If that’s how grief is: cyclical, never finished. The Towers are still falling. And falling again.”
This book was so beautiful! I loved What to Say Next but this one is my new favorite.
Abbi Hope Goldstein, or to the rest of the world Baby Hope, is just a girl who wants to remain anonymous for one summer. Eight weeks. But when Noah recognizes her at the camp he’s working at for the summer he decides he’s going to recruit her in order to find the answers he’s been looking for.
Abbi is such a great MC for this YA Contemporary! She’s compassionate, smart, and despite being accosted on a daily basis she is sympathetic to those who are reminded of 9/11 whenever they see her face. I loved her courage. She builds new friendships and learns that people just grow apart as they get older. Her family dynamic was unique and her parents were super supportive. Her grandmother is the freaking best!
Noah is adorable! He is definitely the comedic relief of the story. The jokes keep rolling which is a testament that some people need comedy to cope with the tough stuff. When he learns that his mother has kept a secret, along with everything else about his father, he realizes that the story he’s created about his father isn’t even close to the epic story of what really happened that day. I thought he was the perfect complement to Abbi’s character!
The events of 9/11 have affected many people in many different ways and is something no one will ever forget. I still remember what I was doing on the day that changed everyone’s lives. I think this book is important for young readers who may only know of events from history books. It may be fictional but I believe the sentiments found throughout the story are accurate to how life is or was before and after the events of that day.
This book was so beautiful! I loved What to Say Next but this one is my new favorite.
Abbi Hope Goldstein, or to the rest of the world Baby Hope, is just a girl who wants to remain anonymous for one summer. Eight weeks. But when Noah recognizes her at the camp he’s working at for the summer he decides he’s going to recruit her in order to find the answers he’s been looking for.
Abbi is such a great MC for this YA Contemporary! She’s compassionate, smart, and despite being accosted on a daily basis she is sympathetic to those who are reminded of 9/11 whenever they see her face. I loved her courage. She builds new friendships and learns that people just grow apart as they get older. Her family dynamic was unique and her parents were super supportive. Her grandmother is the freaking best!
Noah is adorable! He is definitely the comedic relief of the story. The jokes keep rolling which is a testament that some people need comedy to cope with the tough stuff. When he learns that his mother has kept a secret, along with everything else about his father, he realizes that the story he’s created about his father isn’t even close to the epic story of what really happened that day. I thought he was the perfect complement to Abbi’s character!
The events of 9/11 have affected many people in many different ways and is something no one will ever forget. I still remember what I was doing on the day that changed everyone’s lives. I think this book is important for young readers who may only know of events from history books. It may be fictional but I believe the sentiments found throughout the story are accurate to how life is or was before and after the events of that day.
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