All the Little Hopes by Leah Weiss (Review by Lara Ferguson)

Rating: 4/5
Set in rural North Carolina during WWII, All the Little Hopes, is a magical coming-of-age story that follows two girls and their community as together they discover the complexities of war and the humanity of those that fight it.

The Brown family raises tobacco and bees on their farm and also happens to host the local storytelling spot. One of the Brown children, Lucy, a bored 13-year-old with a penchant for mysteries a la Nancy Drew, is thrilled when Allie Bert Tucker, an unusual girl from the coast of South Carolina comes into town and suddenly Lucy has a best friend and partner in crime. When men begin to disappear in their community, Lucy sees it as the perfect opportunity to be like her hero, Nancy Drew, and figure out what has happened-with a little help from a Oijua board.

When the government places a German POW camp in their midst and then sends the POWs out to work on local farms and in local businesses, the town must confront its fears and suspicions with respect to the German soldiers.

Masterfully weaving fact and fiction with a little magic thrown in, Leah Weiss has skillfully given her readers a tale that touches on a multitude of challenging topics. What do the bad guys look like, and who can you really count on? What makes a family and what things are really important? With the two girls at its center, this story develops into a beautiful picture of the people in a community coming together and taking care of each other.