Peeled by Joan Bauer

Bauer, Joan. Peeled. New York: Putnam, 2008. 247 pp.

Review by Lina Crowell

Do you like a mystery? Strange stories have been circulating about the old Ludlow house in the small farming community of Banesville, NY. People say the ghost of the last owner, mean-spirited in life and even more so in death, is haunting the place, causing harm and even death to people who dare to visit the house. It doesn’t help matters any that the local newspaper, The Bee, is helping to spread the rumors. Hildy Biddle, top reporter for the high school newspaper, The Core, and daughter of a journalist, is skeptical of the stories about the “haunted” house.

Together with the staff of The Core, Hildy determines to get to the bottom of the stories and find out what is really going on. When Hildy and her friends come a little too close to the truth, the owner of The Bee threatens to sue the school unless The Core is shut down. Undaunted, the staff of The Core goes underground, supported by several townspeople and meeting in the back room of a local café, to publish a new community newsletter, The Peel, distributing it at local businesses to get out the truth.

Peeled is the story of what can happen when people come together to stand up for what’s right. Teenage Hildy is a strong female protagonist supported by a cast of interesting, well-written characters. Recommended for age 12 and up.

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

“Hope was here.” Those three simple words are how sixteen-year-old Hope marks her presence in a place she is about to leave, and Hope has made her mark in quite a few places as she and Addie, the aunt with whom she lives, travel around the country. The last place they left was Brooklyn, where Addie, a professional cook, was part-owner in the Blue Box Diner. When her business partner skips town with all the diner’s money, Addie and Hope have no choice but to move on. Their destination: Mulhoney, Wisconsin, where a job awaits Addie at the Welcome Stairways Diner.

After the bustle of Brooklyn, Hope doesn’t have high expectations for Mulhoney, feeling sure she will not fit into small town life. But she couldn’t be more wrong. In addition to waiting tables at the diner, Hope gets involved in local politics, helping her boss, G. T. Stoop, run for mayor. In her work on G.T.’s campaign, Hope sees both the best and worst in people, and finds something she has always wanted in an unexpected place. Hope truly is here, in so many ways. This is a heartwarming story, liberally sprinkled with humor. Recommended for age 12 and up.

Review by Lina