A free copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Hope Springs is the story of Boniface, an orphan, who faces prejudice from local villagers when he and his brothers and sisters from the orphanage try to get water from a local spring while their own well is being built.
This is a lovely story about kindness and sharing and makes a good point about a lot of anger coming from fear (e.g. fear of the water running out). The illustrations are lovely too. The only thing that lets this story down for me is that at the end of the story, the book has a section about the real events that happened that inspired this children's tale. Only the real events shared are pretty much the same story again, only with the author himself taking on the role of the adult who explains why the villagers are behaving poorly. While I appreciate what the author is trying to do by explaining that this book is based on real events, it ends up just telling the same story twice, which just feels unnecessary for a children's book and ends up reading as a little patronising.
Beautiful illustrations but the story is repeated when it doesn't need to be. 3 stars.