I didn't want to read it at first either!

This book is about a girl. She is constantly bullied by one person in her life. Her mother. Her mother calls her 'Hopeless' and other mean things. With the help of the characters in "Life Is Beautiful", a movie about the Holocaust, she creates a point system. With the field trip ahead, working at Next to New, and doing some stuff her mother doesn't like, Hope tries to cope with her verbally abusive mother. Note: This has some minor bad language used repeatedly to emphasize Hope's mother's abuse.

Mysti's mother has agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces. Because of that, her mother doesn't leave the house. It's up to her father to take care of the family. But when he gets a neck injury, it's her job now. Between emergency food, her ex-best friend, her new friends, Texas history, and going to the super market alone Mysti learns what it means to be courageous.