2. Plot Summary. Hope and her aunt Addie travel around the country following the work they can find. Addie is short order cook extroidinaire and Hope is "the best waitress under 30 I've ever seen," according to one of the other waitresses at the Welcome Stairways Diner in Mulhoney, Wisconsin, where Hope and Addie have just moved after having to close their diner in New York City. Hope couldn't even finish out her sophomore year, and having to move yet again - out to the middle of nowhere no less - is almost more than Hope can endure this time. However, she and Addie quickly find themselves embroiled in a political duel between incumbant Mayor Millstone and G. T. Stroop, the owner of the Welcome Stairways who decides to join the race, challenging what he believes has been a corrupt city government. In unexpected twists and turns, the election and the story have emotional endings.
3. Critical Analysis. Hope was Here was named a 2001 Newbery Honor Book, and for good cause. This novel has strong young adult characters, and the themes are clear - life is hard and young people can make a difference. Hope may not be an entirely realistic character. She seems to take her hardships easier than most teenagers would. However, she does explain that she is heartbroken to be leaving her friends and her home in New York City. Mulhoney, Wisconsin does not have any of the things she has grown to love in New York - no museums, no concerts, and no sushi. She discovers, though, that believing in a cause can unite people of all ages, and fighting for that cause makes life meaningful.
Hope has not struck out on her own yet; nevertheless, her journey with her aunt is a quest to discover who she is. Hope has an eccentric mother who is in and out - mostly out - of her life. She has left a string of friendships behind with each move. She legally changed her name from Tulip to Hope after 12 years of enduring the embarrassment of her birth name, and with that change, she has consciously been trying to live up to her new name. Hope finds the father she's been looking for all her life in an unlikely person, and she begins learning to relate to her first boyfriend. Lots of changes in a 16-year-old's life, and Hope handles them mostly with grace and success. After all the forced new beginnings, readers are left with a feeling of relief that, in spite of some further tragedy in Hope's life, she and her aunt have finally found the security of a place which they will never need to leave again.
Bauer does a terrific job of building suspense in the story surrounding the town's mayoral election, and the endings to the plot points do not all resolve in a "happily ever after" kind of way, but the story is satisfying and young adults, especially girls, will find a good role model in Hope and proof that there are adults who are supportive, loving and special.
I have particular interest in the titles of stories and novels, and Hope was Here is one of my favorites. The play on the word "hope" as both Hope's name and what she experiences makes this title especially nice. High schoolers who must fight with their lives not turning out exactly as they wish they would should enjoy reading about Hope's life.
4. Review Excerpts.
Kirkus: "As always from Bauer, this novel is full of humor, starring a strong and idealistic protagonist, packed with funny lines, and peopled with interesting and quirky characters."
School Library Journal: "When it comes to creating strong, independent, and funny teenaged female characters, Bauer is in a class by herself."
Booklist: "It's Bauer's humor that supplies, in Addie's cooking vernacular, the yeast that makes the story rise above the rest, reinforcing the substantive issues of honesty, humanity, and the importance of political activism. Serve this up to teens--with a dash of hope."
Amazon.com: "Here's a book that's as warm and melty as a grilled Swiss on seven-grain bread, and just as wholesome and substantial. . . .Joan Bauer, who won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Rules of the Road, has served up a delicious novel in Hope was Here, full of delectable characters, tasty wit, and deep-dish truth."
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