Hope Nation

Hope Nation

YA short stories
Some days you might sink your mind into a novel or your teeth
into a big old candy bar. Other days a handful of miniatures or a
book of short stories might be what you're in the mood for. Hope
Nation brings together the creme de la creme of YA authors. According
to editor Rose Bock,
"Simply it's a collection of unique and personal experiences
shared by some of my favorite writers for teens. Stories of
resilience, resistance, hardship, loss, love, tenacity, and
acceptance--stories that prove that sometimes, hope can be found only
on the other side of adversity..."
These are truly amazing and inspiring stories. Some that
readers will encounter are:
*Before And After in which Libba Bray describes a near fatal car
accident and her adjustment to severe facial disfigurement.
"...I'm not pretty anymore. I will never be pretty. Never be
'normal.' I'm disfigured. A freak. And my freakish appearance makes
most people uncomfortable, as if, simply being in my presence, they
might catch the bad luck of me..."
*Always in which Nic Stone (whose Dear Martin is the next book I'll
review) discusses times in her life when race has felt like a very big
deal.
"...Like every time the name of an African American was preceded
by the '#' symbol on Twitstagrumblrbook (or social media, as we oldies
say) because another black person had been killed by police. Or every
time I heard a racial slur or 'joke' aimed at President Barack Obama."
and *Love in which Nicola Yoon discusses her very racially mixed
marriage.
"After we got engaged, his parents did disown him. This really
happened. It broke his heart and it broke mine. I'm certain it broke
his mother's as well. I don't think she wanted to do it, but she
somehow felt she had to. Imagine that she thought the loss of his
family would persuade him to do what she saw as the right thing."
Read this amazing book. I'm confident that at least one of the
narratives will resonate with you. Then go a step further. Think of
a time you pulled hope out of setback or challenge. Share it. It can
be the best gift you can give. I was inspired to write about the
obstacles I had to overcome to get into and afford grad school. Last
summer one of the coaches read my story out loud to the whole UMaine
Black Bear football team.
On a personal note, another category of items I'm seriously assessing
in this clean up round is the when I get around to it stuff. As in,
will I ever get around to it anywhere but in my imagination. If not,
ditch. If so, do. One item I'm ditching is my bread machine. I got
it when Amber was three and Katie was a baby. I was going to make
wholesome bread for my family. I actually made one loaf. It came out
more suitable for door stopper than human consumption. Then in the
busyness of mothering a preschooler and an infant, running a home
typing business catering to UMaine students, maintaining a home, and
being politically active I didn't get around to a second try. By the
time I had enough time to make bread the number of bread eaters had
dropped enough to make it a waste of time. 26 years? Who am I
kidding? However, Brian, who actually uses his bread machine, will
probably like the bread machine recipe books. The ice cream machine,
on the other hand, gets one summer for me to try it out. I suspect if
I make too much the neighborhood kids will help me out. And I do love
ice cream. And I am going to frame my cross stitch pictures and put
them up.
Do you ever get stuff with the best of intentions and have life get in
the way of really putting it to use?
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who has been in the above
described predicament.
jules hathaway


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