January’s mother-daughter book club selection was “Hope Was Here” by Joan Bauer. We thought it would be fun for the girls if we went out again, so we met at a local pizza place for our discussion. The calzone Poppy and I shared was delicious, but the restaurant was a little too noisy for a good discussion. We’ll probably be meeting at home from here on out.

Here’s a synopsis of the “Hope Was Here”:

When Hope and her aunt move to small-town Wisconsin to take over the local diner, Hope’s not sure what to expect. But what they find is that the owner, G.T., isn’t quite ready to give up yet — in fact, he’s decided to run for mayor against a corrupt candidate. And as Hope starts to make her place at the diner, she also finds herself caught up in G.T.’s campaign — particularly his visions for the future. After all, as G.T. points out, everyone can use a little hope to help get through the tough times … even Hope herself.

The main character, Hope, doesn’t like the name her mother gave her at birth, so she renamed herself. One of the things we asked the girls to ruminate on as they read the story was what name they would rename themselves if given the opportunity. I will henceforth use the names they chose (for the most part) in my book club posts. They chose:

Summer, “because it’s lively.”

Scarlet, “I just really like it.”

Story.

Grace.

Wolfelia, “because it has ‘wolf’ in it and wolves represent family and loyalty.”

Liliana, whom you know as Poppy.

And one girl said she wouldn’t change her name. She likes the name she has because it isn’t a common name for a girl. For book club purposes, we’ll call her Syd.

The girls agreed that Hope didn’t miss out on much by being raised by her aunt rather than by her mother, because her mother “could be a little wild” and “didn’t have any motherly feelings.” They identified the book’s main themes as: love, home, family and food.

The moms thought the political aspect of the plot was too detailed and bogged the story down, and one mom found the main characters’ Save The World mentality a bit tiresome. The girls’ opinions were mixed. The lowest rating was Grace’s five kitty paws out of 10, and the highest rating was Wolfelia’s nine-paw rating. On average, the kids gave “Hope Was Here” seven paws.

Previous mother-daughter book club selections

“Serafina and the Black Cloak”