Title: Hope and Other Punch Lines

Author: Julie Buxbaum

Publisher: Delacorte Press 2019

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Pages: 320

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Literary Escapes - NJ

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?

Not sure what I was expecting when I picked this one up. Well, that’s not true. I was thinking this would be a very typical young adult romance. Instead, we get a very powerful story of teens dealing with perceptions, growing up, and identity. I loved following Abbi as she navigates an identity that was thrust upon her in infancy. She attempts to explain to others how this identity feels, but often the other characters put their own ideas and feelings onto her. I love that the romance wasn’t the main focus of the book. Sure Abbi and Noah end up together. I don’t think that is really a spoiler. But that storyline feels very third tier in the grand scope of the book. I’ll admit that this book had me tearing up in multiple spots. It was a lot more hard-hitting than I was expecting. This book may not make it onto my Top 10 for the year (seriously, I’ve read way too much this year already), but I may have to put it in my Top 25.

Next up on the TBR pile: