A Drop of Hope by Keith Calabrese

From Goodreads,

"A well. A wish. And a little drop of hope.

Times are tough. Jobs are scarce and miracles are in short supply. But something strange is happening in If Only, Ohio. An old well has suddenly, impossibly, begun to grant wishes. And three sixth graders are the only ones who know why.

Ernest Wilmette believes a good deed makes magic happen. Ryan Hardy thinks they should just mind their own business. Lizzy MacComber believes in facts, not fairy tales. Of course, you don't have to believe in wishes to make one.

As more wishes are made, the well's true secret gets harder and harder to keep. Ernest, Ryan, and Lizzy know they can't fix the world. But in their own little corner of it, they can give everyone a little hope... one wish at a time."

Goodreads - A Drop of Hope

I have so many books that sometimes I forget why I bought it.  Some books I have been recommended to me and some books just seemed interesting while I was shopping in a store or on Scholastic.  The moral of the entire story is that I have too many books.  This book was definitely one that I grabbed off the shelf and decided to read.  I am SO glad I did because this book was absolutely amazing.

A Drop of Hope follows three main characters: Ernest, Ryan, and Lizzy.  The three characters are in class together when their teacher talks about the well in town where people would throw in a coin and make a wish.  Ernest and Ryan accidentally end up at the bottom of the well and overhear a wish being made.  Ernest decides to do something about it.  The book continues as the three go on a quest to make wishes come true and heal the town of its emptiness. 

This book had SOOOO many good parts that I don't even know where to begin.  I think my favorite part of the entire thing was the way everything came together.  Throughout the book, the main characters will do something small that we later find out will impact other people.  The book is written so that we mainly follow the main characters, but we periodically get perspectives from the minor characters.  This writing style allows the entire story to come together uniquely.  It really shows how one small act can impact so many other people.  I think people really need to learn that a small act of kindness can change a person's life.  Over the summer I went to Wal-Mart early one morning and there was a guy on the corner asking for money.  I don't usually give money to panhandlers, but something told me to buy a gift card and give it to the man.  So I bought a Subway gift card for $15, and while I was pulling out of the parking lot I gave it to him.  He was so grateful.  I explained that that would get him 2 or 3 footlongs and that the Subway was just across the street.  Maybe that guy didn't really need money.  But maybe he did.  Either way, my small act of kindness made a difference in his day because he was guaranteed a meal.  Sometimes you have to follow your heart, and that is honestly what small acts of kindness are all about.

This is usually the paragraph where I share what I didn't like about the book.  Unfortunately, I don't have anything to put here, so I'm going to share something else I enjoyed.  This book has a character that everyone can relate to.  There was such a wide range of characters that everyone from the young to the old can relate.  You had the smart kid, the bully, the nerd, the tough on the outside and soft on the inside, the older lady, parents, etc.  I feel that this book would be a perfect read for a middle school class.  It has a range of characters and everyone can connect with at least one of the characters.  Sometimes with many characters in a book, they seem to lose depth.  Calabrese did an excellent job with this book and ensured that the main characters had plenty of depth and that the secondary characters had a fair amount of depth as well.  The minor characters who were just in the book for a passing chapter had a background and felt relatable. 

Overall, this book was wonderful.  It was a great read and I am truly hoping that I can get a class set of this into my classroom.  I see so many great teaching opportunities with this book.  I know that at the end of it we would definitely recreate the well just like in the book and we would add our own items to it.  This book deserves all of the stars because it was absolutely wonderful.  I recommend this to all readers.  It has plenty of adventure and excitement.  There wasn't a time during the entire book that I wanted to put it down.