Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer Hope Was Here is about a girl named Hope who, after being abandoned by her mother, travels with her Aunt to various diners in the United States working as a waitress (Hope) and a cook (Aunt Addie). In a small town in Wisconsin, Hope gets caught up in political drama and she must face her own troubled past. This book would be a great source for students to work on analyzing characters based on inferences and conclusions made while reading. Because the characters in this book have such different personalities, having students choose one to analyze would be beneficial. A more specific activity could be creating a sandwich (like Hope did) for each character that consists of different personality traits (i.e.: brave, clever, shy, etc...) and name the sandwich creatively based on the personality traits in contains. Another activity for the classroom would be to create a menu for the Welcome Stairways Diner using students' favorite foods as well as foods that characters from the story would like. Students could add food descriptions, how it's made, and come up with creative names. Hope Was Here is also a good book to implement a Word Wall in the classroom. The teacher can choose a place in the classroom (visible to all students) where students can write vocabulary words from the story on cards on the wall (word on one side, definition on the other). These words can later be sorted into categories such as Food Words, Political Words, Medical Words, etc... The teacher would encourage students to use the Word Wall words in their speaking and writing.
Hope Was Here is about a girl named Hope who, after being abandoned by her mother, travels with her Aunt to various diners in the United States working as a waitress (Hope) and a cook (Aunt Addie). In a small town in Wisconsin, Hope gets caught up in political drama and she must face her own troubled past.
This book would be a great source for students to work on analyzing characters based on inferences and conclusions made while reading. Because the characters in this book have such different personalities, having students choose one to analyze would be beneficial. A more specific activity could be creating a sandwich (like Hope did) for each character that consists of different personality traits (i.e.: brave, clever, shy, etc...) and name the sandwich creatively based on the personality traits in contains.
Another activity for the classroom would be to create a menu for the Welcome Stairways Diner using students' favorite foods as well as foods that characters from the story would like. Students could add food descriptions, how it's made, and come up with creative names.
Hope Was Here is also a good book to implement a Word Wall in the classroom. The teacher can choose a place in the classroom (visible to all students) where students can write vocabulary words from the story on cards on the wall (word on one side, definition on the other). These words can later be sorted into categories such as Food Words, Political Words, Medical Words, etc... The teacher would encourage students to use the Word Wall words in their speaking and writing.