Hope Nation by Rose Brock - NO

Brock, Rose Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration, 276 pages. Philomel (Penguin Random House), 2018. $18.99. Language: R (24 swears, 6 “f”) Mature Content: PG (racism, homosexuality) Violence: PG

This is a compilation of expositions by well-known YA authors about hope and what it means to each of them. Most of them are inspired by family or the current political and cultural climate. Authors from all racial backgrounds comment on their own experiences with immigration, racism, politics, nationality, success, difficult decisions, and the people who influenced their lives. This compilation is an attempt to encourage today’s youth not to despair about the challenges they face in the world today because through hope, they will be inspired to find solutions.

I found this to be an awkward book. Although I found several essays to be uplifting, most of them rehashed the negativity in the world and ended with a hope for something different. I wanted to see examples of challenges that had an actual positive outcome, not a hope for something that might or might not happen. Some authors chose to give an abstract rambling that resembled an assignment to define hope. I don’t know any teens who would select this as reading material.

 HS – NOT RECOMMENDED. Reviewer: Valerie McEnroe, Media Specialist