Selling Hope [Hardcover]

Selling Hopeis 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

Tubb deftly ingrains a thoughtful ethical question into the story (is Hope really helping people by assuaging their fears or simply ripping them off?) But never overdoes it in this bouncy tale populated by a terrific cast of characters. Booklist, starred review

[An] oft-engaging, pleasantly romantic romp through a fascinating time in America's entertainment history. Kirkus Reviews

Even though readers will anticipate the benign outcome of the fateful date, they'll find themselves drawn in by the countdown to possible doom and intrigued by Tubb's subtle examination of the fine line between offering hope and dealing deceit. BCCB

Tubb uses rich historical material well in this clever story& a good show with heroes, villains, and heart. School Library Journal

Tubb's inventive heroine comes across as a female version of familiar characters, such as Gary Paulsen's Harris or Robert Newton Peck's Soup. This homespun tale, full of flS0