Tag: 9/11

Jessica’s Thoughts on Hope and Other Punchlines

Kim read and reviewed this one a few months back and her review caused me to want to read it! My local library had it available on audiobook, and I was able to listen to it.

Kim’s review is here.

Hope and Other Punch Lines
Author: Julie Buxbaum
Published: May 7, 2019
Audiobook

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: September 25- October 4, 2019
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars

Book Description:

Sometimes looking to the past helps you find your future.

Abbi Hope Goldstein is like every other teenager, with a few smallish exceptions: her famous alter ego, Baby Hope, is the subject of internet memes, she has asthma, and sometimes people spontaneously burst into tears when they recognize her. Abbi has lived almost her entire life in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of September 11. On that fateful day, she was captured in what became an iconic photograph: in the picture, Abbi (aka “Baby Hope”) wears a birthday crown and grasps a red balloon; just behind her, the South Tower of the World Trade Center is collapsing.

Now, fifteen years later, Abbi is desperate for anonymity and decides to spend the summer before her seventeenth birthday incognito as a counselor at Knights Day Camp two towns away. She’s psyched for eight weeks in the company of four-year-olds, none of whom have ever heard of Baby Hope.

Too bad Noah Stern, whose own world was irrevocably shattered on that terrible day, has a similar summer plan. Noah believes his meeting Baby Hope is fate. Abbi is sure it’s a disaster. Soon, though, the two team up to ask difficult questions about the history behind the Baby Hope photo. But is either of them ready to hear the answers?

Jessica’s Review

All I can say about this book is this: WOW. September 11, 2001 is a day we will always remember as it is the day that changed the entire world: It was my senior year of college and I was in an 8am class. We had no idea that anything had happened until people started showing up for the 9:15 class. We still had that class but then I ran to my dorm room and saw the second building fall. I ran to the campus safety class where I was a student worker as ‘my boss’ the campus safety director was from New York. I spent the rest of the day in the Student Union Building. 

Hope and Other Punch Lines  is a powerful book that talks about that day and its aftermath.  Abbi Hope Goldstein is “Baby Hope” who was one year old at the time of the attacks. She is ‘famous’ for a picture that was taken of her while in the background one of the World Trade Center buildings is collapsing.

Abbi just wants to live as normal a life as possible despite being sick at times and not being recognized for this picture she had no control of.  She is trying to have a normal summer being a camp counselor when she is recognized as Baby Hope by Noah. The two team up to find out more about the picture of Baby Hope as Noah also experienced tragedy on that day that he will also not remember.  As they work together they discover things they never even imagined possible.

Hope and Other Punch Line is very powerful for those who experienced 9/11 and will also help those who will only learn about that terrible day from history books.  We see the attitude difference just 15 years makes between those who lived it and those who have to learn about it. 

I did not cry while listening to the audiobook, but you can’t help but remember that day and the emotions you felt, and characters in the book experience these same emotions.

This is a book everyone should read. 

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

Standalone Sunday: Thunder Dog

Standalone Sunday was started by Megan over at Bookslayer Reads.

What is Standalone Sunday?

Each Sunday bloggers feature a standalone book (one that is not part of a series) that they loved or would recommend. The standalone can also be one you want to read. There is so much focus on books that are part of a series that standalone books seem to be forgotten. They can be just as great as book series!

Since 9/11 is tomorrow, I was very selective with my choice for Standalone Sunday this week.  This is one I really need to read.  Here is my choice for this week:

Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust

Book Description from Amazon:

Faith. Trust. Triumph.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said. “He is permanently and totally blind. There is nothing we can do for him.”

George and Sarah Hingson looked at each other, devastated. Their six-month-old son, Michael was a happy, strawberry blond baby boy, healthy and normal in every way except one. When the Hingsons switched on a light or made silly faces, Michael did not react. Ever. “My best suggestion is that you send him to a home for the blind,” the doctor continued. “He will never be able to do anything for himself.”

Forty-seven years later, a yellow Labrador retriever puppy was born in the whelping unit of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California. The puppy’s name was Roselle. On September 11, 2001, she saved Michael’s life. This is Roselle’s story too.
―From the Introduction

Every moment in Michael Hingson’s and Roselle’s lives seemed to lead up to this day. When one of four hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center’s north tower on September 11, 2001, Michael Hingson, a district sales manager for a data protection and network security systems company, was sitting down for a meeting. His guide dog, Roselle, was at his feet. Paired for twenty-one months, man and dog spent that time forging a bond of trust, much like police partners who trust their lives to each other.

Michael couldn’t see a thing, but he could hear the sounds of shattering glass, falling debris, and terrified people flooding around him and Roselle. However, Roselle sat calmly beside him. In that moment, Michael chose to trust Roselle’s judgment and not to panic. They were a team.

Thunder Dog is a story that will forever change your spirit and your perspective. It illuminates Hingson’s lifelong determination to achieve parity in a sighted world and how the rare trust between a man and his guide dog can inspire an unshakable faith in each one of us.

 

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Remembering 9/11

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It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years now since the day that changed our world forever.

I was in my senior year of college at Shorter College in Rome, Ga. I was in an 8am psychology class. We had no idea our world had changed forever while we were sitting that class. When class was over some of us stayed in the room as we had the 9:15 psychology class. People starting coming in talking about a plane hitting one of the Twin Towers. We did have our 9:15 class in its entirety.

When class was over I ran to my dorm room and turned the tv on. I was in shock. I rushed to the Campus Safety office in the Fitton Student Union where I worked part time to help pay for school. The Campus Safety Director was from New York so she was a nervous wreck the whole day. I ended up staying there the rest of the day.

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I had never been to New York. In 2010, I did get to finally go to NYC. I took a  tour of the city which included seeing where the Twins Towers had been and the construction of Freedom Tower and One World Trade Center. The guide of my group was a survivor of that day and he told us his story. It was a powerful story to hear.

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Construction at Ground Zero  45961_418787630171_5741878_n


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On the Hudson River seeing the Statue of Liberty; At Times Square; Having my “Naked Cowboy Experience”


Here is a book about 9/11 that I hope to read  one day:

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Title:  Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust
Author:
Michael Hingson with Susy Flory
Published: August 1, 2011
256 Pages

Book Description from Amazon:

Faith. Trust. Triumph.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said. “He is permanently and totally blind. There is nothing we can do for him.”

George and Sarah Hingson looked at each other, devastated. Their six-month-old son, Michael was a happy, strawberry blond baby boy, healthy and normal in every way except one. When the Hingsons switched on a light or made silly faces, Michael did not react. Ever. “My best suggestion is that you send him to a home for the blind,” the doctor continued. “He will never be able to do anything for himself.”

Forty-seven years later, a yellow Labrador retriever puppy was born in the whelping unit of Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California. The puppy’s name was Roselle. On September 11, 2001, she saved Michael’s life. This is Roselle’s story too.
―From the Introduction

Every moment in Michael Hingson’s and Roselle’s lives seemed to lead up to this day. When one of four hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center’s north tower on September 11, 2001, Michael Hingson, a district sales manager for a data protection and network security systems company, was sitting down for a meeting. His guide dog, Roselle, was at his feet. Paired for twenty-one months, man and dog spent that time forging a bond of trust, much like police partners who trust their lives to each other.

Michael couldn’t see a thing, but he could hear the sounds of shattering glass, falling debris, and terrified people flooding around him and Roselle. However, Roselle sat calmly beside him. In that moment, Michael chose to trust Roselle’s judgment and not to panic. They were a team.

Thunder Dog is a story that will forever change your spirit and your perspective. It illuminates Hingson’s lifelong determination to achieve parity in a sighted world and how the rare trust between a man and his guide dog can inspire an unshakable faith in each one of us.

 

**The cover image of Thunder Dog is provided by Amazon, the pictures that are not mine are provided by Pixabay

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