General Information

Call Me Hope by Gretchen Olson. Published in 2007 by Little, Brown and Company 

Description 

This book is about how a young girl overcomes the emotional abuse inflicted by her mother. The book starts out on Hope’s first day of 6th grade. The first topic of the year is the Holocaust and the teacher has the students watch “Life is Beautiful” and read “Anne Frank’s Diary.” Hope uses both of these WWII stories to help cope with her own life, such as adopting a point system when her mother is being emotionally abusive. This comes from the movie when the father and son are on their way to the concentration camps. When the school counselor comes in she learns that calling people bad names all of the time is verbal abuse and that it can be even worse than physical abuse. Throughout the story Hope creates her own support system and learns to become a stronger person.

Why I Like This Book:

I think that this is the best book for the 6-8 grades because it is about someone in that age range and it is fairly easy to read. The book contains a lot of good information on how to live life and it is not just about abuse, though that is an important part. This book is also great at showing ideas on how to problem solve and showing that there are solutions to problems at home.

Excerpts from the Book:

• “Now her right hand jabbed the air above our heads. ‘Verbal abuse is as damaging as physical abuse or worse. It takes twenty-five to thirty positive comments to over-come the effects of one abusive comment. The scars from verbal abuse run just as deep, if not deeper, than physical scars.’”
• “When I opened the door, Mom smiled and kissed my cheek. ‘Thanks, sweetie, you saved my life.’ There it was again, that stupid kissy-sweetie thing right being so pissy. I hated it. It didn’t make any sense and it certainly didn’t make me feel kissy-sweetie.”
• “But,’ he said, pointing his finger at us, ‘ you don’t have to be an abuser; you can choose not to take that path. Nor do you have to be the victim. You always have choices, and the most important one is how you react. You can choose to be strong or choose to give up. You have to tell yourself, I am valuable. I am worth saving. I can be free. Remember, you always have a choice over what’s up here.’ He point to his head. ‘And what’s in here.’ He touched his heart.”

Core Integration

This book would be read during a unit on resilience and problem solving. The students would first read the book and then write about how they are resilient in their own life. A component of this project would also have the students find a historical figure, movement or movie that has an idea that they can use in their life as a pillar to lean on and look up to. The goal of the project at the end would be for students to find ways they can be resilient in their daily life and places they can inspiration to be resilient.

Standards

1. NHES
   1. Standard 2: Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.
   2. Standard 5: Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.
   3. Standard 8: Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.
2. English Standard
   1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.2
   2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
   3. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.2
   4. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.