Hope Nation is a collection of essays, letters, and stories by popular YA authors seeking to either give others hope or show that hope can lead to better things. It was put together in 2018 after the devesting break in American society with the election of Donald Trump. It reminds people that things will get better eventually. Some of my favorite stories were Libba Bray and her car accident, Angie Thomas talking about how worried she was for the release of the hate you give, or (I can not remember which author) talking about their immigrant experience and having to be told as a teenager to remember they are an immigrant. This was not a book I set out with a purpose to read, other than to fill a challenge, but the idea of hope worked. Listening to these stories made my day lighter and had me looking and fighting for a brighter and better future for myself and others. ( )

This is a series of essays written by various authors for a young adult audience. It starts out with the statement that hope is a decision and I fully endorse that idea. These essays examine a variety of challenges that needed to be faced.

Authors include: Atia Abawi, Renee Ahdieh, Libba Bray, Howard Bryant, Ally Carter, Ally Condie, James Dashner, Christina Diaz Gonzales, Gayle Forman, Romina Garber, I. W. Gregario, Kate Hart, Bendan Kiely, David Levithan, Alex London, Marie Lu, Julie Murphy, Jason Reynolds, Aisha Saeed, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Jenny Torres Sanchez, Jeff Zentner, and Nicola Yoon.

Libba Bray: car accident that changed her life
Angie Thomas: discusses the current political climate and her book The Hate U Give, and
Ally Condie talks about depression and the things and people that help with hope.
Marie Lu writes about moving from China to America and survival and adaptation.
Nicola Yoon recounts the challenges of being an interracial couple.
Christina Diaz Gonzalez talks about baseball, being the only Hispanic girl in her small North Florida town, and her Cuban grandmother.
Atia Abawi writes about her dream of being a journalist, persistence, roadblocks, and believing in yourself.
Howard Bryant writes about his newspaper internship in a small Pennsylvania farm town and the lessons he learned there. Ally
Romina Garber recalls her move from Argentina to the US as a child and what it meant to be an immigrant.
Aisha Saeed writes about apologies and being an American Muslim.
Jenny Torres Sanchez discusses growing up afraid of her father and the abuse that he suffered as a child.
I.W. Gregorio shares how a repressed teen grew up to become a urologist, and discusses breaking taboos and getting rid of awkwardness.
Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely have a conversation about their tour for All American Boys and the conversations and kids who have stuck with them.

I left some out. Some stories were more interesting of course. I do feel that not all POV were presented. It lacked balance.

Rating will be 3 stars. ( )

There were several times when, as I was reading this book, I would copy down a favorite quote to share with my favorite reader friends. This was a very good book and helped me see new perspectives from authors I already admire greatly ( )

Marketed as a modern day "Chicken Soup for the Soul" this book contains essays written by some very big, very popular names. Teens today have so much pressure and as in every era of the world, struggle to figure out who they are and how they fit into the crazy jigsaw of society. In this collection of essays, these authors attempt to reassure students that while life is certainly hard right now, there is hope at the end of the tunnel.

ESSAYS
Rose Brock, editor
Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration
Philomel Books
Hardcover, 978-1-5247-4167-9 (also available as an e-book and on Audible), 304 pgs., $18.99
February 27, 2018

“To know a person’s story is inevitably to understand their humanity and feel a loving kinship with them, no matter how different the two of you may seem at first. This … is what gives me hope.”—David Levithan, “We”

Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration is a new collection of essays edited by Dr. Rose Brock, a Texas librarian and educator, cofounder of the phenomenally successful North Texas Teen Book Festival and recipient of the Siddie Joe Johnson Award, bestowed by the Texas Library Association upon a librarian who “demonstrates outstanding library service to children.”

Brock chose tales of “resilience, resistance, hardship, loss, love, tenacity, and acceptance” from some of her favorite Young Adult authors because, as Mister Rogers famously advised, “during a crisis, it’s vital to look for the helpers.” Brock considers these authors and their stories to be helpers.

“Sometimes, hope is asking for help because you need someone else’s hope to light the way.” —Libba Bray, “Before and After”

There are some very big names here: Jason Reynolds, Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon; authors with Texas ties include Libba Bray, Marie Lu, Kate Hart, and Julie Murphy. Each author has donated 100 percent of their fees to charity, matched by Penguin Random House.

Some of these essays made me smile, some made me laugh aloud, others touched me deeply; still others left me teary, and they all offered perspective. Hope Nation’s contributors are smart, generous, passionate, compassionate people; they come from many races, ethnicities, genders, religions, and persuasions.

“My hope lies in young Book People … our brightest beacons of empathy. It takes great empathy to be so interested in the lives of other people that you don’t even demand that they really exist.” —Jeff Zentner, “Nobody Remembers the Names of People Who Build Walls”

These pieces explore the nature of hope and the many forms it can assume [new life, a song, humor —see Kate Hart’s “Wings and Teeth” for her internal debate with her Shoulder Cynic, and I. W. Gregorio’s “origin story of a female urologist” — travel, bakeries], even in the face of abuse, discrimination, disease or injury, poverty, and addiction. Many of these stories deal with immigration, a particularly timely topic. Some essays are more literal than others, and Emily Dickinson’s “hope is the thing with feathers” gets a workout.

Very occasionally a pedantic tone emerges, more often the tone is gentle exhortation, even if sometimes harrowing and profoundly personal (see “In the Past” by Jenny Torres Sanchez). Some take on the era of Trump head-on, such as Aisha Saeed’s “The Only One I Can Apologize For.” Others are subtle, like Alex London’s “Different Dances,” but the personal is always political.

“Sometimes you have to search for tiny hopes until tiny hopes make bigger hopes.” —Julie Murphy, “Hoping for Home”

Nic Stone’s “Always” finds commonalities. Ally Carter’s “The Two Types of Secrets” recommends finding examples and mentors, in which the care and feeding of dreams is like yeast—a living thing which requires care. Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely discuss the kids they met and things they learned on the tour for All American Boys, such as easy doesn’t equal happiness, and difficult doesn’t equal sadness. And if all else fails, break out the Shel Silverstein.

“Hope is a decision.” —Rose Brock

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life. ( )