Call Me Hope

Hope Elliot is an 11-year-old girl struggling to live under the pressures of her verbally abusive mother. But instead of running away, precocious Hope chooses resilience instead, and creates survival strategies for herself.With these strategies: a support team that includes the employees of a used clothing store, the smartest kid in the sixth grade, and her older brother; and with the comfort from reading Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, will Hope be able to confront her mother about her hurtful words and help her begin to change?

Gretchen Olson is the author of the YA novel Joyride (Boyds Mill Press) and on the board of directors for The Hands & Words Are Not for Hurting Project. She received the University of Oregon's Community Award for her work with the Hands Project. Gretchen lives with her husband on their blueberry farm in Oregon.