Book Review: The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

Publisher’s description

Readers will be rooting for a happy ending for Hank in Newbery-Honor-winner Gennifer Choldenko’s gripping story of a boy struggling to hold his family together when his mom doesn’t come home.

When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact.

But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he’s been trying to keep secret. And if they can’t find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes—he could lose everything.

Gennifer Choldenko has written a heart-wrenching, healing, and ultimately hopeful story about how complicated family can be. About how you can love someone, even when you can’t rely on them. And about the transformative power of second chances.

Amanda’s thoughts

This book was good. THIS BOOK WAS GOOD. I recently enjoyed my first go-round with Covid (I know—the doctors my husband and I saw for Paxlovid were pretty sure we’re among the last people on earth to get Covid for the first time) and wasn’t able to even read for much of my time trapped in bed. When I could, I burned through a bunch of middle grade for an article I’m writing and then stared at my TBR trying to decide what to pick next. I always admit that I do indeed judge a book by its cover. I liked this cover, so I chose the book next. And wow am I glad I did.

Hank, age almost 12, has been carrying a huge burden. His mom has a tendency to disappear for a few days, leaving him to care for himself and his little sister, Boo. No big, thinks Hank. He’s capable. It’s not that long. They’re fine. Most readers will understand that it is indeed a big thing, that it doesn’t matter if he’s capable, that it’s far too long. But when you only know your own experience, you just soldier on and often make excuses and justifications for things you’re pretty sure aren’t actually okay. After his mom takes off again, this time for a week, Hank starts to think they need some help. They have no family or friends to help them out (or have them on their radar), so Hank packs up and takes his sister to an address for someone he doesn’t actually know, but was listed as an emergency contact on a form. Suddenly, this stranger is now responsible for Hank and Boo. No one can find their mom. CPS gets involved, obviously, and they start to talk foster homes and neglect and separating the kids.

While all this truly terrible stuff is happening, Hank is also somehow living a really good version of his life. He’s temporarily attending a new school, he’s surrounded by nice kids who want to be his friend, it looks like he’ll make the basketball team, and his new neighbor, Ray, is happy to take on a father-like role in helping make sure the kids are okay right now. There are so many wonderful things happening. But his mom is still gone. And all of this wonderful feels very temporary. And Hank, as a child, ends up put in some very awful positions to make choices and choose allegiances. Hank is forced to look hard at what’s really real about his mother, he’s forced to deal with consequences of both her actions and his, and he’s forced to lose all the good things that were happening.

Now, this is a middle grade book so we know things will end up okay. Or okay-ish, because nothing that is happening with his mom is okay. No resolution could possibly make it okay. But just because we can guess that things might turn out to be some version of okay for Hank and Boo doesn’t mean it isn’t a hell of an upsetting ride getting to that point. What the kids go through is unimaginable to many, but also certainly the reality of many kids. It’s complicated and messy and illegal and stressful. It’s also very real. And it’s easy as a reader to judge the crap out of just about every adult in this story, to judge the system, to judge even the choices Hank makes. But this is one of those stories were you can’t actually know how you’d react (as the kid or the adult). You can wish for better parents and better systems, but that doesn’t change what real life looks like. So all you can do is read and hope for better things for Hank and Boo.

Without a doubt one of my top reads of 2024.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781524718923
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Publication date: 06/11/2024
Age Range: 10 – 13 Years

Filed under: Book Reviews