The Hope of Elephants

A tween holds on to hope as her father repeatedly battles cancer.

Ever since she was 4, Cass and her parents have attended every World Series, the trips a gift to her father from his former employer as he was fighting his second round of cancer. Now, he’s been diagnosed with yet another kind of cancer, but Cass is determined they’ll get to go one last time. On her 12th birthday, Cass learns that her dad has Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a gene mutation that makes him susceptible to cancer—and there’s a 50% chance that she has it too. Now, she must decide if she will take a test to see whether she carries a mutated p53 gene. Hope comes from a study of elephants…

Tenderly written; a heartening look at a tough reality. (author's note) (Verse novel. 10-13)

On her 12th birthday, Cassandra Hollens’s father is diagnosed with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a mutated p53 gene that makes him susceptible to cancer (which “visits my dad/ in all the odd years/ of my life”). Cass is used to the routine that attends his cancer treatment—trips to the hospital, sanitizing, and homeschooling to avoid germs—but when she realizes she may have the same mutation, she grapples with whether to find out for sure. As her dad’s condition worsens, Cass looks into a local study of elephants, which have 20 sets of the cancer-fighting p53 gene, and seeks a way to get her dad to…

How does a family live with recurring cancer? Would you want to know if you had that same cancer gene? These questions anchor this powerful verse novel in which twelve-year-old Cass copes with her dad’s serious illness and her mom’s relentless positivity, and counts on best friend Jayla’s steady support. Weaving together genetic research, homeschooling particularities, Christian religious beliefs, and baseball fundamentals, Hill’s portrayal of Cass’s daily life is full of detail. Her inner monologue drives the story forward; free-verse poetry in a variety of forms relies on Cass’s clear…