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    Hope Was Here
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    Hope Was Here
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    Hope Was Here
    Audiobook4 hours

    Hope Was Here

    Written by Joan Bauer

    Narrated by Jenna Lamia

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A Newbery Honor Book

    Food is in 16-year-old Hope’s blood. With her Aunt Addie, diner cook extraordinaire, she travels the States and hones her waitressing skills, impressing hungry people everywhere. But following the tides of comfort food dining means Hope never gets to stay in one place very long, and that’s tough.

    The latest move threatens to be the hardest yet, leaving the excitement of New York City to run a diner in rural Wisconsin. Hope doesn’t expect to feel at home there, just as she doesn’t expect to get caught up in town politics. But her occupation has taught her to read people, and instinct tells her to trust G.T. Stoop, the straight-shooting owner of the Welcome Stairways Diner, whose leukemia makes his entry into a heated mayoral race a surprise to everyone.

    What follows—as Hope meets politics, corruption, and her past head-on—is at the heart of this memorable, laugh-out-loud story about honor, trust, and serving up your very best.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 24, 2003
    ISBN9780807216996
    Unavailable
    Hope Was Here
    Author

    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 an early fascination with things that were funny. I thought that people who could make other people laugh were terribly fortunate. While my friends made their career plans, declaring they would become doctors, nurses, and lawyers, inwardly, I knew that I wanted to be involved somehow in comedy. This, however, was a difficult concept to get across in first grade. But I had a mother with a great comic sense (she was a high school English teacher) and a grandmother who was a funny professional storyteller—so I figured the right genes were in there somewhere, although I didn't always laugh at what my friends laughed at and they rarely giggled at my jokes. That, and the fact that I was overweight and very tall, all made me feel quite different when I was growing up—a bit like a water buffalo at a tea party. "My grandmother, who I called Nana, had the biggest influence on me creatively. She taught me the importance of stories and laughter. She never said, 'Now I'm going to tell you a funny story', she'd just tell a story, and the humor would naturally flow from it because of who she was and how she and her characters saw the world. She showed me the difference between derisive laughter that hurts others and laughter that comes from the heart. She showed me, too, that stories help us understand ourselves at a deep level. She was a keen observer of people. "I kept a diary as a child, was always penning stories and poems. I played the flute heartily, taught myself the guitar, and wrote folk songs. For years I wanted to be a comedienne, then a comedy writer. I was a voracious reader, too, and can still remember the dark wood and the green leather chairs of the River Forest Public Library, can hear my shoes tapping on the stairs going down to the children's room, can feel my fingers sliding across rows and rows of books, looking through the card catalogues that seemed to house everything that anyone would ever need to know about in the entire world. My parents divorced when I was eight years old, and I was devastated at the loss of my father. I pull from that memory regularly as a writer. Every book I have written so far has dealt with complex father issues of one kind or another. My father was an alcoholic and the pain of that was a shadow that followed me for years. I attempted to address that pain in Rules of the Road. It was a very healing book for me. I didn't understand it at the time, but I was living out the theme that I try to carry into all of my writing: adversity, if we let it, will make us stronger. "In my twenties, I had a successful career in sales and advertising with the Chicago Tribune, McGraw-Hill, and Parade Magazine. I met my husband Evan, a computer engineer, while I was on vacation. Our courtship was simple. He asked me to dance; I said no. We got married five months later in August, 1981. But I was not happy in advertising sales, and I had a few ulcers to prove it. With Evan's loving support, I decided to try my hand at professional writing. I wish I could say that everything started falling into place, but it was a slow, slow build—writing newspaper and magazine articles for not much money. My daughter Jean was born in July of 82. She had the soul of a writer even as a baby. I can remember sitting at my typewriter (I didn't have a computer back then) writing away with Jean on a blanket on the floor next to me. If my writing was bad that day, I'd tear that page out of the typewriter and hand it to her. 'Bad paper,' I'd say and Jean would rip the paper in shreds with her little hands. "I had moved from journalism to screenwriting when one of the biggest challenges of my life occurred. I was in a serious auto accident which injured my neck and back severely and required neurosurgery. It was a long road back to wholeness, but during that time I wrote Squashed, my first young adult novel. The humor in that story kept me going. Over the years, I have come to understand how deeply I need to laugh. It's like oxygen to me. My best times as a writer are when I'm working on a book and laughing while I'm writing. Then I know I've got something." Joan's first novel, Squashed, won the Delacorte Prize for a First Young Adult Novel. Five novels for young adult readers have followed: Thwonk, Sticks, Rules of the Road (LA Times Book Prize and Golden Kite), Backwater and Hope was Here (Newbery Honor Medal). Joan lives in Darien, CT with her husband and daughter. Copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

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    Reviews for Hope Was Here

    4/5

    400 ratings36 reviews

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    • 4/5
      HOPE WAS HERE offers many YA and adult challenges in different directions, from a mother's rejection to the death of a father.The plot moves smoothly along, with humor and character defining politics. Characters are lightly drawn where more depth would be welcome:what is Flo's life outside the restaurant? what motivates a female police person to defend left political stances? why so much emphasis on everyone eating so much meat? how did Jillian learn her way around a computer? what is Adam's background?The story is so welcoming and warm and loving that it would have been better to hold off on the too predictable ending with a carefully rendered sequel.Each young character would move on out to deal with the world, then back to make the family even more solid. Insight into the mother's motivations - from her perspective this time - would round things out. Sure wish this had all been more developed - lots of lost possibilities!
    • 5/5
      Wowza, this book! So amazing! Definitely check it out! (and grab a box of tissues too.)
    • 4/5
      This book was reccomended to me by a young friend as her "favorite" book. Hope's mother, a woman emotionally unable to parent leaves her with her Aunt who owns a cafe, and after some hardship the two of them travel to the Midwest to start over. There Hope experiences small towns, politics, becomes active politically, and finds friends. This is a story that tells the reader that not everyone gets the same start, but with good guidance and perseverance one can build a future.
    • 3/5
      When Hope's Aunt Addie moves her to Wisconsin to take over cooking in a diner there, Hope does not want to go. Her life is in New York City. But she gets involved in a local political campaign, meets new people and works her philosophy of waitressing and life on the world around her.
    • 5/5
      Very touching, funny, and a whole lot of drama. The weird names are hard to follow sometimes but as you really get into the book, you come to love them. Hope Was Here touched my heart and made me yearn to write a story so touching!
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written young adult book. True to life characters. Glad I listened to it.
    • 4/5
      Cute book! This was an interesting read. It was a quick read that made me laugh and cry. I love Hope's outlook on life and how even though her mother is pretty horrible, Hope still manages to see the good in her mother and learn what she can from her. Addie is an amazing mother so at least her real mother got that right. I didn't really like how quickly they both seemed to fall for GT and think he was such an amazing person. I mean it was never really stated why. They just moved there and automatically thought he was amazing enough to support him with the restaurant AND running for mayor. It is a pretty short book so I think the author could have easily addressed this without making it feel like it was dragging. It actually seemed pretty rushed. Overall it was a good book though.
    • 4/5
      Written quite a while ago, but seems pretty reflective of current young adult activism (tho different subject).Hope, 14 yrs old, lives with her aunt since her Mom left. They are moving to WI from NY for a new work oppportunity and Hope is concerned about what kind of a life they'll have. Corrupt politicians and a boss with leukemia give her plenty to get involved with and is how she meets and becomes friends with other teens, in between her summer job hours. Hope is an inveterate writer, and a kind & intelligent person. I like that she writes down tips to being a great waitress. How many readers might end up waitressing at some point in their lives? Probably plenty, so they are learning some job skills at the same time they are enjoying a story.While I love reading books featuring my home state (WI), Mulhoney is definitely NOT a name we would ever have for one of our towns. It felt strange to keep reading that.
    • 4/5
      Since she was a premature baby in the NICU and was abandoned by her mother, Hope has lived with her Aunt Addie, and since Addie is a cook who travels from job to job, Hope has lived in many places and is becoming a fairly good traveling waitress, too. She loves Addie, but hates all the uprooting, and is convinced that she will hate their latest relocation - a small town in Wisconsin. But when the owner of the restaurant where they work announces that he's running against the corrupt mayor in the upcoming election, Hope finds herself involved in this place and its people more than she would ever have guessed.A lovely and sweet story that doesn't get too saccharine, with nicely developed characters and a thoughtful message. Definitely recommended.
    • 2/5
      Newbery Honor Award book about a 16 year old girl named Hope who lives with her aunt Addie. After a facing financial ruin in NYC, she and Addie move to a small town in Wisconsin to run a diner. Not only does Hope face all of the challenges of starting life over in a new town, she and Addie quickly become involved in a small town political campaign between G.T. Stoop, the owner of the diner who has been diagnosed with leukemia, and the dishonest incumbent mayor.

      Newbery Medal books are usually the cream of the crop. The characters are complex and the writing is superb. Unfortunately this book did not meet that high standard. I love a sappy book, but I thought this story was predictable and a bit flat and the characters were either heroic or dishonest. The best part of the book was the descriptions of life as a waitress in a diner. The comparisons between life and comfort food were warm and funny, but there was little else going for this one.
    • 3/5
      A bit too much going on here. Is is a story about a teen finding the home within her heart, separate from dreams about reuniting with her biological parents? Is it about her getting used to a new town, a new job, new colleagues and friends? Is it about political warfare in the new town? I guess the common theme could be 'starting over' but isn't that a bit trite?

      I liked the descriptions of what it's like to be a good waitress in a well-run & popular cafe... but even those seemed a bit fantastic... Hope makes waitressing seem like a fun & good job and doesn't talk about the downsides enough.
    • 5/5
      This is a young adult chapter book that was one of my favorites growing up. Joan Bauer writes a wonderful story about a sixteen-year-old girl who had a tough start in life but learns to always make the best of the situation, push through and always holds onto hope. She and her aunt end up in a small town in Wisconsin to help run a diner for a man who has cancer and who has decided to run for town mayor because the mayor running for reelection is corrupt. It has a lot of awesome themes in this book and they are: never giving up hope, what family and home really mean and fighting for the truth. This book is witty, fun, heartwarming and bittersweet all wrapped up into together. I think it is a great book for age’s fourth grade up through high school. Teachers could use this to discuss those themes. Some copies come with discussion questions and activity suggestions that could be used for small reading groups. Other ideas are having them define the words hope, family, home and any other key words the class decide are important. There are multiple covers for this book. Some feature a smiling girl, others just have pie but there are no other illustrations.
    • 3/5
      Heartwarming. That's about the only word I have, which is strange considering that this novel of local politics and an election rife with corruption sucked me in and still left me saying "blah." I think Joan Bauer might just be too sunshiney for my bitter, blackened soul.
    • 4/5
      Bauer does it again! Hope has a great voice.
    • 4/5
      hope was here touched my hert. i cried through the whole book!
    • 4/5
      Hope has to come to a few realizations about herself in order to come to terms with not knowing her father or living with her mother. Hope's starting her life yet again because of someone who betrayed her aunt and stole money. She has to deal with her anger, but she discovers that not only can she move past it, but she can change her life as well. She discovers how she can make a change in a whole community and grows from the experience.
    • 4/5
      Hope Was Here is a very touching book. If you like heartfelt fiction then this is the novel for you.Young Hope Yancey is moving from New York City to Mulhoney, Wisconsin because an unscrupulous boss has cheated her and her Aunt Addie out of their jobs as a waitress and a cook. Now they are scheduled to work at a new restaurant named the Welcome Stairways in "dairy land" Wisconsin. Of course this is a frightening prospect for a 16-year-old. However, Hope is used to change and facing obstacles. She was born premature and abandoned by her mother to her aunt as an infant. Further, she has faced many moves in her life because of her aunt's job changes. Still this move is especially tough for Hope because she was happy in New York with good friends and a fun job. How will she deal with small town living?When Hope arrives in Wisconsin, everything is so different. The town is small, there are dairy trucks everywhere, and she feels lost. Soon however, Hope becomes mired in a political campaign between the shady town mayor, Eli Millstone, and her new boss, caring G.T. Stoop. G.T. is the owner of the Welcome Stairways and is very ill with cancer. He decides that he must help his town overcome the underhanded dealings of the current mayor by running for office. The whole idea of a sick man running for office tests the town's beliefs in what is or isn't possible. Along the way, Hope learns that all things are possible if you have "hope" and "faith." She also reaffirms what she already knew about life, that it is messy and joyful all at the same time.Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer won a Newbery Honor in 2001. While the novel definitely offers hope, it does not sugarcoat the highs and lows that come with living. It is a good read for those that enjoy facing life with a positive attitude.
    • 4/5
      Hope Was Here offers insight into the life of a teenage girl who has endured abandonment by her mother as an infant and numerous moves to multiple cities with her devoted aunt. Hope wishes for a permanent home in a permanent community with permanent friends. Hope offers readers a hopeful outlook on life as she attempts to settle into another new home and forge new relationships.
    • 4/5
      Hope was here is about a girl who lives with her aunt, searching to be a waitress in Wisconsin. Her mother left her to her aunt at birth, and rarely ever visits. Her and her aunt are moving all the time. She’s never met her father, either. When she finally gets a job, her boss, and eventually father runs for mayor with leukemia. Not a lot of people want him in running for mayor, they think he’ll die in office. I found this to be a very good book. It has a lot of twists, good and bad. Hope is a girl searching for a better life in Wisconsin, but most of all to meet her father. She’s never even seen him- he ditched her real mother. Her boss is as nice as a boss can get living life to the fullest as it closes up on him. Running, and hopefully winning the position as mayor, he thinks this last big accomplishment will tie everything together. I recommend this book to just about anyone. I give it 4 stars, for most parts are great but some… not really. But all together, Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer is an excellent book.
    • 4/5
      This book was a great inspiration! I loved the author's way of showing young people that they can overcome hardships, regardless of their situation. This was done in a way that was entertaining. Great book for young people!
    • 4/5
      Hope Was Here was a surprising read for me! I wasn’t expecting a book about a 16 year-old girl and waitressing and politics to make me think and most of all…HOPE.Hope Was Here is one of the best titles to fit with a book I’ve ever read; the main character’s name is Hope and its main theme is hope. Hope Was Here is a very inspiring story. When I was done reading it, I thought it was the most inspiring story I’ve ever read…that’s pretty big!Every character was unique and thought out. All of them had their own problems and were hoping (there’s that word again) by some miracle at times, everything would work out. Hope Was Here’s main focus was hope, but Joan also touched on the topic of an atypical family. Anything Joan wrote about Hope not knowing who her father is…had me almost to tears every time. I was crying during many portions of the book. To me, that’s a sign the author did something right. I really cannot put into words how much this book made me FEEL! So much emotion and thought went into the writing of this from Joan Bauer’s end. I’m making sure to check into Joan’s other novels, I’m hoping they’re just as well written! The book is stuffed full of quotes, it was hard to only chose a couple to share with you! Hope Was Here contained many interesting tips for waitresses. If you love reading AND are or want to be a waitress, this may be an interesting read for you!Hope Was Here also contained politics and the process of it, which normally would bother me, but it didn’t at all in this book.
    • 5/5
      Fun book and an easy read. Hopes life adventures are handled very well. I liked the way her thoughts and experiences were presented. The scrapbooks of her life were a nice touch.
    • 5/5
      Excellent! Hope's life has been full of ups and downs. She learns the true meaning of hope and of life surrounded by people who love her. The whole diner setting is unique as are the comparisons made between food and life lessons taught.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite books so far! The story is wonderful, the characters are memorable, and there is plenty of drama. I love all the culinary references and metaphors, and this is a book I could easily enjoy reading again. Highly Recommended!
    • 3/5
      The main character changed her name from Tulip to Hope on her 12th birthday. Hope is a responsible, mature young girl who lives with her aunt Addie because her mother is inconsistent and irresponsible and never seemed to care to be around Hope that often. Hope lives with Addie in New York and loves her life there. Unfortunately Hope and Addie have to leave their diner in New York and move to Wisconsin for chef and waitressing jobs. Hope is symbolic in this novel for not only its meaning, but for the reason that the character Hope represents all the courage and faith she has had to demonstrate in her life. G.T., Flo, Lou Ellen, and Stoop are some of their new acquaintances in Wisconsin. G.T. has leukemia, so his character also illustrates the necessity of hope. I enjoyed the characters in this book and think most middle school and 9th-10th girls would as well. The plot wasn't suspenful or tearful, but it was touching and inspiring to read about Hope and the journeys she has experienced.Newbery Honor (2001) South Carolina Young Adult Book Award Nominee (2002-2003) Christopher Award (Books for Young People, 2001) Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice (2003) ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2001)
    • 4/5
      Great! Read this in middle school. Absolutely great read!
    • 5/5
      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 waitress. When a colorful co-worker steals their money and their hope, they move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney Wisconsin to manage the Welcome Stairway Diner.There they find rotten politics, a corrupt corporation and a tainted policeman. Balanced with this is the owner of the Welcome diner, a honest, open, sincere man who runs for Mayor to displace the long-term incompetent, dishonest incumbent.In Mulhoney Wisconsin the good people find love, renewed hope and they learn that where the heart breaks it also heals.Highly recommended and destined to be my #1 read of 2010.
    • 4/5
      Hope was tiny when she was born and her mom couldn’t cope; Hope’s mom gave Hope to Hope’s aunt to raise. Hope’s aunt, Addie, is a fantastic cook but she and Hope are always moving. The one thing Hope’s mom gave Hope of use to her was the secrets of waitressing. Hope and Addie suffer at the hands of a con artist and are on the move again, this time to the café of a man with cancer. The man with cancer turns out to be another Atticus Finch, but with political thoughts, and Hope becomes caught up in his campaign for mayor against a villainous long time mayor.I liked this story more and more with every page I read. The aunt…the mom…the café owner…the cook at the café…Hope herself…all were scrumptious characters.
    • 4/5
      Hope Yancey started waitressing at age 14. Now, at 16 ½, she and her Aunt Addie, a cook par excellence who is raising her, are off to yet another diner. They move around a lot, but Hope is a survivor. She even invented a sandwich when she was fifteen: "Keep Hoping." And she does.Their latest move takes them to Mulhoney, Wisconsin. Addie is going to run the Welcome Stairways café for G.T. Stoop, whose leukemia is slowing him down. Another move is frightening, but they’ve both got plenty of pluck. In the rural Midwest, both women find meaning from community political involvement, romance, and a man who finally becomes Hope’s missing father.Hope uses humor and creativity to combat adversity. She takes the bad and tries to turn it around to give her strength. As with her job, she applies herself with sincerity and courage to make the best of every situation. Highly recommended for teenagers, and the adults who love them.A Newbery Honor Book
    • 5/5
      When sixteen-year-old Hope and the aunt who has raised her move from Brooklyn to Mulhoney, Wisconsin, to work as waitress and cook in the Welcome Stairways diner, they become involved with the diner owner's political campaign to oust the town's corrupt mayor.