Booktalking Colorado - Full Booktalk Record

Booktalking Colorado Full Record:

	Title:	Hope was Here
	Author:	Bauer, Joan
	Date Published:	2000
	Genre:	Real Life
	Grade Level:	6 - 12
	Booktalker:	Sam Marsh

Booktalk:
Gee, thanks Gleason! We had done very well in Brooklyn for a couple of years, aunt Addie and I. But now, thanks to you, we were going to have to move again. To Urban, Wisconsin, of all places. You took not only our money, but our trust as well. Yeah, thanks a lot. I'm Hope. I’m 16, and a waitress. Aunt Addie and I travel all over the U.S., me polishing my waitressing skills, Addie her diner cooking expertise. Brooklyn looked like a good thing until Gleason took off with our money; and Charlene the night waitress. Oh, we’d hung on for a few months, but when the furnace died, the roof started leaking, and the monthly bills were coming due, Addie knew it was time to close down before the bill collectors did it for us. So now, for the first time, we were heading out for a job site unseen. Based on a telephone interview. To the “Welcome Staircase” diner in Mulhoney, Wisconsin, population 5,492 (now 5,494?). I never knew my dad, and mom was never the mothering type. So, she left me with her older sister Addie to raise. Addie always follows through. She’s the steady type. Mom’s a waitress, and a darn good one, and she always shares her years of wisdom with me; the three times I’ve seen her in my life. I’m good too. I always learn the menu first thing, and follow the three rules every professional waitress has to follow: 1) The customer is always right 2) The cook is always right 3) If the customer and cook disagree, and you can’t settle it, your tip is history So, here we are in podunk Mulhoney, working for G.T. Stoop who has leukemia and had decided to run for mayor. Turns out G.T. is a pretty nice, straightforward type of guy who wants to help the town get rid of the current corrupt mayor who sold out to the big-time dairy that has forced all the small-town dairy's out of business. Then, there’s Braverman, the short order cook who is working to help his mom and siblings rather than going to college. He’s cute. Maybe, things won’t be so bad after all, but regardless, I’m tough, and I can handle whatever comes.