I really enjoyed reading this book because of the plot and the illustrations. The illustrations really captured the meaning of each page. My favorite illustration, the one I believe conveys the whole meaning of the book, is the one of her parents getting married and having the whole family there. It was very beautiful and showed that it doesn’t matter your race or what other people think about it, it only matters that you have a family that loves you. The conflict and solution of the book was very powerful which made the plot amazing. The solution where her aunt went through and told her all about her family from her mom and dad’s side was very powerful because that is how the main character got her name. “And most important was the faith of your very own mama and daddy to look forward to a future where you will be proud of a race that is simply human” ( )

Hope is a story about a girl named Hope who visits her great-aunt and one weekend is faced with some slight racism of Miss Violet commenting that she is a mixed child. Her grandmother teaches her about how she got the name Hope and revives her spirit. I would use this for 3rd or 4th graders. illustrations: paint ( )

Isabell Monk’s “Hope” is a beautiful book that is a perfect choice for any parent / teacher to read to children of all ages. First, the story is narrated by the young girl who is also the main character. This helps children stay involved in the story because it is being told through someone that they can directly relate to. Secondly, the diction and syntax in this book are accompanied by a wonderful illustration job that is used in order to give the audience the most realistic description of the characters. For example, one of the main characters, Aunt Poogie, is described by her great niece to have a “twinkle in her eye” and her character is illustrated with large eyes and a big smile. This allows the audience to be drawn to Aunt Poogie because the way that her great niece describes her reminds the audience of someone that they know that shares the same qualities as Aunt Poogie. Next, “Hope” goes on to depict Aunt Poogie’s friends as nice and caring people. For example, her friend Mr. Stewart is described by the narrator to always have “cherry licorice for me, and a smile.” The narrator is showing how polite and caring the rest of the community is along with how it makes everyone feel better when people are nice to each other. The story takes a turn when one of Aunt Poogie’s acquaintances, Miss Violet, says something that hurts the feelings of both Aunt Poogie and the narrator. Miss Violet says “is this child mixed?” This quote is followed by the narrator feeling sad and confused about what Miss Violet was trying to say. Aunt Poogie tries to cheer up the little girl by telling her stories about her grandpa Jack and how he had to try to get cats down from a cherry tree back on their farm when he was child. Children can relate to this because most of them are told bedtime stories just like the narrator is. Aunt Poogie goes on to tell more culturally relative stories to the child while making the point that being mixed means that the narrator is the product of “faith “mixed” with lots of love.” The young girl begins to feel better realizing that although she is “mixed” that is not a bad thing because she is the product of “Hope” for past and present generations. The big idea of this book is to inspire young children who come from “mixed” heritages and to teach children who do not come from diverse backgrounds that being “mixed” is not a bad thing. Rather, it means that those children are the products of progression and “Hope” that one day everyone can embrace each other rather than discriminate. ( )

Connections to Civics and History through a family story. Strong Equity theme.

2. I really enjoyed this book and thought it taught a powerful lesson. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the illustrations. I enjyed how the pictures took up the entire page with words on top of that. For example, the one page where it was an outdoor scene and the words of the story were placed on the trees in the background, it really made the pictures come to life and helped picture the story more clearly. I also really enjoyed the characters in this book. The little girl Hope and her aunt were such good assets to the story. I enjoyed how the aunt was such a strong influence on the niece and how she helped her niece realize that being “mixed” is something to be proud of. When the aunt said to respond to anyone that asks her if she is mixed with, “Yes I am generations of faith mixed with lots of love! I am Hope!” I really thought that was such a strong and powerful thing to tell a little girl that did not understand what mixed meant. It made me like the characters in the book a lot. I think the message of this story is that being mixed should not be looked at upon as different or strange, but it should be viewed as unique and one should be proud of that. Although people are all different colors, they should still be proud of who they are because that makes them unique. ( )