A Note from Mrs. Wallace

If you are visiting this blog for the first time this week (procrastinators) or for the 100th time this summer (over-achievers), you may notice there are 7 blog topics per book and 3 topics comparing the two novels.  This means 17 total blog post topics.  Your assignment is to post a response on 6 of these by Monday, August 26th which means you can choose the questions you are most interested in answering.

In addition, your essay should compare and contrast the two novels.  You may use the questions on the blog to shape your essay, but you do not need to answer these questions.

Good luck, enjoy these last few days of summer and please let me know if you have any questions.
Mrs. Wallace

Compare and Contrast- Post #3

Every novel has at least one theme or lesson which it aims for its readers to grasp.  What are the lessons to be learned from the characters in Hope was Here and Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes?  Are there similarities in the themes of these two books and the way each author attempts to convey that lesson? Explain.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes- #7

This novel brings up the question whether or not it is better to know or not to know.
Which do you prefer? Think about Sarah Byrnes’s life and then your own, would you prefer to
know the truth about everything, or to just let what information may hurt you stay unknown?

Hope was Here- Post #7

Hope has a tradition of writing her name in all the places she has been so people know that "Hope was Here."  Throughout the novel this is one of many ways that people express or feel hope.  List some specific ways that hope is conveyed in the novel (through food, music, people, etc.).  Share your own story of a time you knew hope was here.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes -Post #6

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes has been challenged and even banned in school and public
libraries around the country. Why does this book elicit such a strong response? Do you
think it is right for one person or group of people to attempt to dictate what an entire
community is allowed to read?

Hope Was Here- Post #6

Waitressing is a metaphor for life in the novel.  Explain what lessons Hope learns or teaches about being a good waitress and how those translate into being a good person.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes- Post #5

Which of the characters in this book present a “false face” to the world? How do their words and actions differ from who they really are?  Why do you think people are inclined to put on a "false face"?