Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Can't Wait Wednesday: Hope and Other Punchlines & Other Words for Home


Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I can't wait for:
Hope and Other Punchlines
Julie Buxbaum
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Goodreads
Sometimes looking to the past helps you find your future.

Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka "Baby Hope") wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing.

Now, fifteen years later, Abbi is desperate for anonymity and decides to spend the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp two towns away. She's psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope.

Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was irrevocably shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. Noah believes his meeting Baby Hope is fate. Abbi is sure it's a disaster. Soon, though, the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo. But is either of them ready to hear the answers?
Why I want to read this book

I am going to tell you right now, 9/11 books are really tough for me. My dad was FDNY for 25 years, and we lost 43 family friends in the attack. Also, because of my proximity to NYC, my area was impacted immediately following the attacks, and I was able to see the smoke for weeks from my main street. With that said, I am still interested in how Buxbaum uses the event in this story. I have loved her previous adult and YA titles, and anticipate this one being a hit for me.

Other Words for Home
Jasmine Warga
Age/Genre: Middle Grades, Contemporary
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Goodreads
I am learning how to be sad
and happy
at the same time.

Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.

At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.
Why I want to read this book

I have read and enjoyed other books by Warga, and this one sounds like a really sweet and touching portrait of the immigrant experience. I am very eager to meet Jude, and be there with her as she learns to reconcile her new home with her old home.

What are you waiting on?
Let us know in the comments!

39 comments:

  1. Oh my Hope and Other Punchlines. It's a very original take on 9/11 and the consequences of it, and I hope it's as good as it sounds (Also, my sympathies for how you and your family were affected after 9/11)

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    1. It makes me think of catching up with all those people from iconic pictures. I am very interested in the story

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  2. I have major cover love for both of these books. The blurbs for both have me running to my Goodreads TBR too. Great picks!

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    1. Warga's cover made me look harder, but Buxbaum is an auto-read for me

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  3. I love Warga's writing so I am curious to read her MG! Love the cover so hard!

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    1. I have only read her YA books, but this story sounds wonderful

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  4. Immigrant experience is a very dear topic for me! I'll check out Other Words for Home! I hope we love it! :) BTW... Congrats on winning February ARCology! Would you let me know what prize you want? Here is the link:
    https://www.danielaark.com/ancient-grievances-advanced-aliens-there-is-no-escaping-arcology-february-2019/

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    1. I am interested to see how this story plays out. It sounds like it will be quite heartwarming

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  5. The idea behind these is fascinating and the cover art spectacular:)

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  6. I'm sorry your family's loss. It does sound like a very good, emotional book. I can understand why you would want to read it.

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    1. I am more in it for Buxbaum, but I am also very interesting in seeing what she does with the premise

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  7. Hope and Other Punch Lines is one I am super excited for.

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  8. Anything 9/11-related hits my heart so hard, but I am very interested in that book.

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    1. It was a devastating time, and I guess it's good that it comes up from time to time, so we don't forget.

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  9. I didn't pick up Julie Buxbaum's previous novel, but I do want to and this one as well. Tell Me Three Things was such an enjoyable contemporary.

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    1. Her adult novels are really good too, if you read adult.

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  10. Both sound good, and both have great covers! Great picks! Thanks for visiting my Wednesday Post on Lisa Loves Literature earlier!

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    1. I do love the covers very much, especially Warga's

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  11. Both of these covers are so gorgeous! And the colors in them match so well together!

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    1. The cover designers did a wonderful job on both.

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  12. I’m so sorry to hear that. I was in NY that day and think it might be hard to read that book, though I may give it a try. That was such a terrible time.

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    1. This is an after the fact story, so I think it will be ok, but those ones that bring me back into the action are really tough. Not unreadable, but hard.

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  13. that's rough ): my dad worked at the towers but he got out. He was walking on the bridge trying to get home when he saw the second plane hit the other tower
    I still to this day remember how horrifying that day was for my family and others and have a hard time reading books involving that.

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    1. I am sorry for all the family loss ):

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    2. Wow! Thank goodness your dad made it out! We were lucky. My mom was supposed to be at a meeting in the towers, but it was moved to the afternoon, but we didn't know, and the phones weren't working. It's a day I will never forget.

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  14. I hadn't heard of Other Words for Home until just right now and oh my gosh it sounds so good! I'm adding that one to my Goodreads TBR list and I can't wait to read it. Thank you so much for pointing this one out!

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    1. I have been keeping an eye on MG books, because there have been so many amazing MG releases

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  15. These both sound great, Sam! Can you believe that I still have not read a Julie Buxbaum book?!

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    1. She has two adult books, which were really great, if that's more your speed. Though, my first Buxbaum book was Tell Me Three Things, and I think it's still my favorite.

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  16. Hope and Other Punchlines sounds like a fantastic read. I'm sorry to hear that you lost so many family friends on that day, Sam.

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    1. It was a horrific day, and my mom was supposed to be in the towers that morning. I can remember the panic, when we couldn't get through the phone lines. I never want to experience anything like that day, week, month again.

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  17. I'm so sorry to hear about your family's experience with 9/11. It must be hard to read plots about it.

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    1. It can be hard, but it's also nice that people are not letting it fade into the past.

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  18. Other Words for Home seems to be a good one to me and I would be curious about it. I also love the cover and the rep that is right on the front! I am trying to think of what the titles for the other Warga books are because I recognise her name, but I can't remember them DD:

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    1. She wrote My Heart and Other Black Holes, which was really popular, and Here We Are Now, which came out last year.

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  19. They both sound great. I noticed that I really enjoy MG books. Great picks!

    Mary

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    1. Lots of great ones out there too. Just starting another MG today.

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