{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312611226?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0312611226","authors":["Kristin O'Donnell Tubb"],"book_id":"9780312611224","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/selling-hope-9780312611224","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780312611224.jpg?v=64f9579d93e29d3e","description":"Selling Hope is an inventive middle grade novel about a girl who wants a normal life and how she sees Halley's Comet as her ticket out of the vaudeville circuit. It's May 1910, and Halley's Comet is due to pass thru the Earth's atmosphere. And thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels and her father are due to pass through their hometown of Chicago with their ragtag vaudeville troupe. Hope wants out of vaudeville, and longs for a \"normal\" life -- or as normal as life can be without her mother, who died five years before. Hope sees an opportunity: She invents \"anti-comet\" pills to sell to the working-class customers desperate for protection. Soon, she's joined by a fellow troupe member, young Buster Keaton, and the two of them start to make good money. And just when Hope thinks she has all the answers, she has to decide: What is family? Where is home? “[An] oft-engaging, pleasantly romantic romp through a fascinating time in America's entertainment history.” — Kirkus Reviews","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780312611224","publication_date":"20101109","publisher":"Feiwel &amp; Friends","slug":"selling-hope","subtitle":"Kindle Edition","title":"Selling Hope"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"JUV016150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century U.S.","score":0.7758,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAF024170","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century US YA","score":0.7677,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JUV039070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Homelessness & Poverty","score":0.7632,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"JUV016150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century U.S.","score":0.7758,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAF024170","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century US YA","score":0.7677,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"JUV039070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Homelessness & Poverty","score":0.7632,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"YAF005000","confidence_band":"high","label":"YA Biographical Fiction","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"YAF024170","confidence_band":"high","label":"20th-Century US YA","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"YAF047050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Theater & Musicals for Teens","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"20th-Century U.S.","score":0.7758,"slug":"20th-century-u-s"},{"label":"20th-Century US YA","score":0.7677,"slug":"20th-century-us-ya"},{"label":"Homelessness & Poverty","score":0.7632,"slug":"homelessness-poverty"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in a middle-grade story about a girl seeking a different life","Readers drawn to stories set in vaudeville-era American entertainment"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Karen Schwabach"],"book_id":"9780375840968","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780375840968.jpg?v=59c0b8492d18bf76","score":0.7196,"title":"The Hope Chest","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780375840968"},{"authors":["Leslie Connor"],"book_id":"9780060890902","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060890902.jpg?v=403d1b5cb299cb8e","score":0.6992,"title":"Waiting for Normal","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060890902"},{"authors":["Kirby Larson"],"book_id":"9780375850905","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780375850905.jpg?v=2a8f77234aee7cdf","score":0.6983,"title":"Hattie Ever After","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780375850905"},{"authors":["Diane Stanley"],"book_id":"9780062007964","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062007964.jpg?v=745789edb8e51c6b","score":0.6978,"title":"Saving Sky","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062007964"},{"authors":["Amanda Rawson Hill"],"book_id":"9781623542597","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781623542597.jpg?v=f0ac18d549d88772","score":0.6976,"title":"The Hope of Elephants","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781623542597"},{"authors":["Hope Larson"],"book_id":"9781481416511","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781481416511.jpg?v=4733c7ccc55645c9","score":0.6973,"title":"Mercury","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781481416511"},{"authors":["Andrew Clements"],"book_id":"9780142410738","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780142410738.jpg?v=63cf349535fc0fee","score":0.6957,"title":"Things Hoped for","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780142410738"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:middle grade historical fiction"],"label":"Grade","score":0.1531,"slug":"grade"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:middle grade historical fiction"],"label":"Historical","score":0.1137,"slug":"historical"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:family life"],"label":"Family","score":0.0921,"slug":"family"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:middle grade historical fiction"],"label":"Middle","score":0.0679,"slug":"middle"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Seeking a different life, Family and belonging, Vaudeville-era entertainment.","Pacing: fast, momentum-driven storytelling.","Themes: Grade, Historical, Family."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.82,"pacing":"fast","reader_fit":["Readers interested in a middle-grade story about a girl seeking a different life","Readers drawn to stories set in vaudeville-era American entertainment"],"themes":["Seeking a different life","Family and belonging","Vaudeville-era entertainment"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":18,"goodreads_ratings_count":202,"goodreads_reviews_count":57,"quality_score":0.8977}}