Hello Life

by Andrea Koenig

Book Overview

"Heartfelt.... Explores the rich themes of love, jealousy, friendship and resilience."-- Seattle Times "Two adolescents with a head start on old age. They are smart and smart-mouthed. They are tough... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569473919
• ISBN13: 9781569473917
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Soho Press
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Over all a good read

I enjoyed reading this book. I did have trouble putting it down because you get involved with the characters. The only problem i did have with the book is that it doesn't talk enough about how Gwen is feeling. There's a lot of feelings that go along with being a teen mother and they seem to dance around it. She doesn't consider her options and doesn't even seem to think about it at all. Other then that and constant bickering its a pretty good book.

Koenig=King!

My mother tells me that as a baby I was pacified a countless number of sleepless nights by her recital of Margaret Wise Brown's "Goodnight Moon." I cannot help but think that the book was perhaps my first and assuredly my favorite. Now I'm a mother, my little Connor is sixteen months old, and in addition to lulling him to nighty-night with "Goodnight Moon," I have started reading to him the new and long overdue follow-up, Koenig's "Hello Life." It's no substitute for a father, but since Connor's father recently decided to pick up his things and abandon us, it's the best Connor's going to get. "Hello Life" picks up the morning after the night of "Goodnight Moon." It is identical in execution to its predecessor. The little rabbit who enumerated everything in his room the night before in an attempt to induce or perhaps stave off sleep goes on the following morning to list everything he sees on his way to his first day of school. Incidentally, I met Connor's father, Kevin, in high school. The book succeeds in duplicating the simplistic yet endearing rhymes of "Goodnight Moon." One series of pages reads, with accompanying illustrations, "Hello tree, hello kitty. Hello welcome mat, hello baseball bat. Hello driveway, hello Mr. Steinway. Hello rooftop, hello bus stop." If Connor's daddy doesn't start paying child support soon, we're going to be living in a neighborhood where Connor's first words will be, "Hello gunshots, hello guy who smokes pot," or "Hello graffiti, hello Tupac CD." Children of all ages will enjoy the colorful illustrations in "Hello Life." A fun game I play with Connor is having him point out all of the things mentioned in the text. Connor is such a smart little boy, unlike his daddy who was dumb enough to deny calling my best friend, Julie, sixty-seven times in the month of July alone. Hello Kevin! I pay the cell phone bills around here! You think I wasn't going to notice such a minor detail, like I don't know that phone number? Julie told me the whole story- thank God she had the sense not to sleep with you. I wish I had possessed that kind of sense when we started dating. Overall, "Hello Life" imparts to its reader (or listener) the notion that the world is teeming with beauty and that all things are wondrous. You and I know that this is completely untrue, but it is a suitable thing to tell young children. Admittedly, a children's book about what really waits for you on the other side of the front door when read to a child would induce crying, there's no denying it. Something that should be read to a child named Kevin is a subpoena to a court charging him for being a first-degree bastard. Did you know that Kevin didn't actually graduate from college? I bet you his boss doesn't! Did you know that I caught Kevin wearing my panties and bra once when I came home early from work? He was dancing to "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow, holding my hair brush like a microphone! Kudos to Andrea Koenig for writing

Hello Life is terrific!

I couldn't put this book down--Gwen and Lila are so real, teen-age girls with all the problems and insecurities of teenagers, with the additional adult problems that many teenagers face--homelessness, pregnancy, illness, abuse, neglect. These girls are smart, tough, funny, and tender. They are full of dreams and hope in the face of hopelessness. Like Thumbelina, Keonig's first novel, the story is disturbing yet hopeful; the characters are captivating: Dr. K is a brilliant doctor but lousy at marriage, Edgar lives in his van and smokes dope when he isn't working at the gas station, Mrs. Parker is tired but has a kind heart--these are people you will come to love!