NEWBERY HONOR BOOK • Joan Bauer delivers an inspiring tale of resilience, community, and fighting for justice.
“When it comes to creating strong, independent, and funny teenaged female characters, Bauer is in a class by herself.”—School Library Journal, starred review
Eggs over easy. BLT on rye toast. One new life, coming right up.Food is in sixteen-year-old Hope’s blood. With her aunt Addie, diner cook extraordinaire, she’s traveled the States and honed her waitressing skills, impressing hungry people everywhere. But following the tides of comfort food dining means Hope never gets to stay in one place very long, and that’s tough.
This latest move threatens to be the hardest yet, leaving the excitement of New York City to run a diner in rural Wisconsin. Hope doesn’t expect to feel at home there, just as she doesn’t expect to get caught up in town politics. But her occupation has taught her to read people, and instinct tells her to trust G. T. Stoop, the straight-shooting owner of the Welcome Stairways diner, whose leukemia makes his entry into a heated mayoral race a surprise to everyone.
What follows—as Hope meets politics, corruption, and her past head-on—is at the heart of this memorable, laugh-out-loud story about honor, trust, and serving up your very best.
AN ALA NOTABLE BOOK • WINNER OF THE CHRISTOPHER AWARD
Joan Bauer has won critical acclaim for her many books, which include
Rules of the Road, winner of the
Los Angeles Times Book Prize,
Close to Famous, and
Peeled. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
“It’s as if the novel had been written by someone actually coming of age.”
—The New York Times Book Review “Deliciously funny. . . . Sometimes sad and always poignant.”
—TeenReads “Quirky characters, dysfunctional families, a swiftly moving story. . . . [Readers are] likely to gobble this up like so much comfort food.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review“Quirky, poignant, and funny.”
—Voice of Youth Advocates
