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Hope Was Here
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From: Beth Wright <bethlibrarian>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 05:19:21 -0800 (PST)
Hope Was Here had everything I expected of a Joan Bauer book after reading Rules of the Road: a strong, funny heroine, quirky characters, a perfect surrogate father and a believable heartbreak (and I fell for it again). But it was Bauer's writing that impressed me the most this time around. Her rhythm is exquisite, like this sentence: "Believe me when I tell you, I know about survival." Seven beats on either side of the comma, with the emphasis on the second and sixth beat. Or this phrase: "proper tomatoes and meaningful garlic." Or the scene when Hope and Addie first see the Welcome Stairways Diner:
..................................
No subways. No sushi. I sank in the front seat.
"Give it time," Addie directed.
"I'm giving it time."
"And I'm Queen Victoria." YOU'VE ALMOST REACHED THE BEST DINER IN AMERICA. Addie followed the arrow, muttering. That's when I saw the two-story white frame building with the bright red double stairways descending from the glass door -- one from the left, one from the right...
....................................................... Hope's disgust with the whole situation is telegraphed in those first short sentences, but the possibilities of her new home are spread out in the longer, descriptive sentences that follow. Readers know
(without ever being told) that Hope is fair enough to give the place a chance.
And then there are the changes in tense, between the past tense for the bulk of the story and the frantic present tense for Hope's busy shifts at the diner. The transitions between tenses are so seamless that readers may not even notice, except to sense that things are getting crazier.
I could go on and on...anyway, this is why I agree with the Newbery committee's selection of Hope Was Here as an honor book. The storytelling and characterizations are terrific, and the writing is indeed distinguished.
Beth Wright Fletcher Free Library Burlington, Vermont
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Received on Thu 01 Feb 2001 07:19:21 AM CST
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 05:19:21 -0800 (PST)
Hope Was Here had everything I expected of a Joan Bauer book after reading Rules of the Road: a strong, funny heroine, quirky characters, a perfect surrogate father and a believable heartbreak (and I fell for it again). But it was Bauer's writing that impressed me the most this time around. Her rhythm is exquisite, like this sentence: "Believe me when I tell you, I know about survival." Seven beats on either side of the comma, with the emphasis on the second and sixth beat. Or this phrase: "proper tomatoes and meaningful garlic." Or the scene when Hope and Addie first see the Welcome Stairways Diner:
..................................
No subways. No sushi. I sank in the front seat.
"Give it time," Addie directed.
"I'm giving it time."
"And I'm Queen Victoria." YOU'VE ALMOST REACHED THE BEST DINER IN AMERICA. Addie followed the arrow, muttering. That's when I saw the two-story white frame building with the bright red double stairways descending from the glass door -- one from the left, one from the right...
....................................................... Hope's disgust with the whole situation is telegraphed in those first short sentences, but the possibilities of her new home are spread out in the longer, descriptive sentences that follow. Readers know
(without ever being told) that Hope is fair enough to give the place a chance.
And then there are the changes in tense, between the past tense for the bulk of the story and the frantic present tense for Hope's busy shifts at the diner. The transitions between tenses are so seamless that readers may not even notice, except to sense that things are getting crazier.
I could go on and on...anyway, this is why I agree with the Newbery committee's selection of Hope Was Here as an honor book. The storytelling and characterizations are terrific, and the writing is indeed distinguished.
Beth Wright Fletcher Free Library Burlington, Vermont
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Received on Thu 01 Feb 2001 07:19:21 AM CST
