Call Me Hope - Softcover

Olson, Gretchen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316012394 ISBN 13: 9780316012393

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008

Synopsis

Now with a new cover! A heartwrenching and poignant novel about a young girl dealing with verbal abuse perfect for fans of Wendy Mass.
Hope Elliot is struggling to live under the pressures of her verbally abusive mother. But instead of running away, precocious Hope chooses resilience instead, and creates survival strategies for herself.

Her strategies include: a support team that includes the employees of a used clothing store, the smartest kid in the sixth grade, her older brother; and a point system to help deal with her mom. Will Hope find a way to confront her mother and help things change for the better?

About this title

About the Author:

Gretchen Olson is the author of Call Me Hope and the YA novel Joyride. She's also on the board of directors for The Hands & Words Are Not for Hurting Project. She received the University of Oregon's Community Award for her work with the Hands Project. Gretchen lives with her husband on their blueberry farm in Oregon.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 4-6–Hope is a bright 11-year-old, eager to please and looking forward to a week at camp with her 6th-grade class. With ingenuity, she manages to fulfill the requirements, despite lack of support at home, but she has not fully reckoned with her unhappy and punitive mother. Anything can set Mom off, and when it does, a scorching tirade and cruel punishment follow. Hopeless is the kindest word that her mother hurls at her. This portrait of a verbally abusive parent is acute and painful. Readers will cheer for Hope as she finds ways to comfort herself and to shore up her damaged self-esteem. Especially important is her new friendship with two older women who run a thrift shop where Hope works to earn the boots and clothes she needs for the trip. When Mom punishes her by refusing to let her go to camp, it takes the intervention of caring adults to give her back her dreams and to stop the abuse. While Hope is away, her mother enrolls in parenting classes. That a troubled adult would turn around in one short week is a fairy-tale ending, but this didactic story is nonetheless a compelling and rewarding read. The back matter contains a list of Hope Notes–ideas for ways that readers can build their own resiliency.–Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0316012394
• ISBN 13: 9780316012393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288