Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Book Review - Hope and Other Punchlines

📖Recommend for Grades 7 and up📖
by Julie Buxbaum
            Abbi Hope Goldstein and Noah Stern may not remember the events of September 11, 2001, but their lives were forever altered by the day’s events. Abbi is the famous Baby Hope the one-year-old photographed with the crown and the balloon being rushed to safety on that day. Almost everywhere she goes people recognize her (thanks to numerous stories that appear about her still) and she hopes that being a counselor at a camp miles away will give her some anonymity. Low and behold Noah, who goes to her school, is also a counselor and recognizes Abbi right away. Noah believes his father who is one of the unnamed individuals in the famous Baby Hope photo, is still alive and didn’t die that day like everyone believes. He also believes Abbi is the key to finding out the truth. Noah and Abbi make a deal: Noah will not share Abbi’s secret if she will help him get in touch with the known photo survivors.

            A captivating look at the lives of two teens too young to remember the tragic day but whose lives are forever effected by it. While the Baby Hope photo and this story are fictional, the events of that day and some of the photos discussed are real. Some people, like Abbi’s parents, do have stories where they worked in the towers but just happened to not be there when the planes hit. Both Noah and Abbi are intriguing characters and their individual and combined stories are real page turners.

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