Newbery Roundup #1: Hank Hooperman, Louder Than Hunger, and The Enigma Girls

It’s time to start buzzing about Newbery contenders! We’ll do our share in the following weeks, but the various ALA award committees have been buzzing all year. We try to keep an ear to the ground to see which books emerge as possible contenders. This week and next, I’ll report on six titles that keeping up on “Best of” lists and librarian blogs. Starting with

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko. A. A. Knopf, 2024, 320 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grade, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 11-13

Hank’s mom said she’d be home from work early, but that was a week ago. Now there’s nothing for breakfast but popsicles and saltines, he hasn’t been to school, and the landlord is pounding on the door, demanding rent. “A week is a long time to be without your mom.” A gross understatement, especially with a 3-year-old sister, not yet potty trained, to take care of. His attempts in that area have earned Hank the name “Pooperman” from little Boo, though he’d prefer “Superman.” He feels far from super. Always mistake-prone (to his mind) he’s teetering on the biggest mistake of his life, namely using his mom’s bus pass to get to the one adult who might be able to help him. This is Lou Ann Adler, listed as an emergency contact on a permission slip his mom forgot to sign. What can this unknown woman do, besides turn them over to foster care?

There’s been a run of problem mothers lately: see our recent reviews of And Then, Boom! and Quagmire Tiarello Couldn’t Be Better. Hank is an extremely sympathetic character, and one of the best big brothers in children’s literature. Boo’s insistence on calling him Pooperman gets a little tiresome but she’s an adorable 3-year-old, so it’s no wonder that he loves her. He loves his mom too, as undeserving as she is, and desperately hopes for some kind of resolution with her. Will he get it? (Spoiler: no.) The adult characters give him the lowdown about what’s realistic and what’s isn’t. It’s a cautionary tale for young adults against alcoholism and having kids with partners, but may be distressing for kids who are going through similar trauma. Hank’s story has a happy ending, but so many others don’t.

What are its chances? I’d say better than average. Gennifer Choldenko won a Newbery honor for Al Capone Does My Shirts, but that was several years ago. It may be time for a reprise, and everybody seems to love Hank!

Louder than Hunger by John Schu. Candlewick, 2024, 528 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 12-14

Jake is thirteen years old and he has an eating disorder.

You and Jake are about to go on a harrowing journey together; by the time you finish this book, you will be friends.

Thus writes Kate DiCamillo in her forward to this very personal story. We know from the beginning that it’s the author’s own story, which he tells in heartrending detail. Eating disorders are rare among boys, but Jake is a rare boy: unusually sensitive, a lover of poetry and his grandma and Broadway shows and rollerblading. But not of himself. Definitely not. He has this Voice inside him, rendered in large-font all-caps, continually telling him how ugly, fat, worthless, and repulsive he is. It’s not entirely clear (at least to me) where this voice comes from. His parents love him, if they don’t understand him, and his grandma is his best friend. His extreme self-loathing is attributed to bullying in the elementary grades, no particular traumatic event. Still, as DiCamillo promises, his story is harrowing because without intervention he could easily have starved himself to death. The intervention—therapy in a group home—is equally grueling, especially after Jake tricks the grownups into letting him out and then nearly kills himself again.

We know that John Schu made it out, and eventually came to a much healthier place as a successful teacher and author. A key part of Jake’s cure is learning to be grateful—for those who are trying to help him, for potential and actual friends, and for all the good things in life like poetry and musicals and even food. Any young person can benefit from that lesson, though the best intervention, namely basing one’s identity in Christ and learning to rest in him, isn’t presented as an option, We can sympathize with Jake in his struggle, but it’s a tough ride.

What are its chances? Better than average. John Schu seems universally beloved among librarians, and his story is deeply sympathetic. I’m not sure how it resonates with the average kid, though.

The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Cyphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II by Candice Fleming. Scholastic Focus, 2024, 384 pages

Reading Level: Teen, ages 12-15

Recommended for: ages 12-18

On a lovely late-summer day in 1939, the morning light over Poland darkened with hundred of planes embellished with the Nazi swastika, and the world changed forever. Soon Europe was gearing up for war, but as one nation after another fell to the German blitz, Great Britain found its back against the wall. Intelligence became as vital to the war effort as guns and manpower, as a hastily-assembled team of misfits and geniuses assembled at Bletchley Park to gather information and crack codes. As glamorous as it may seem in hindsight, code-breaking is tedious in the extreme and the more complex the code the more data needed to break it. That’s where the girls came in–hundreds of young women recruited to listen to Morse code coming over the airwaves, to operate the deciphering machines, and to try to determine what was significant and what wasn’t.

The allies had these listening stations all over the world, but Enigma Girls centers on Bletchley Park, where the Nazi’s fiendishly difficult Enigma code was finally mastered. By following the stories of a handful of these girls, who all emerge with distinctive personalities, the author presents a well-rounded picture of the tedium and the discomfort, as well as the drama, of this important story. With the number of main characters and the wealth of detail, a reader has to pay attention, but that effort will be rewarded. A wealth of photographs and information about codes and cyphers help to, not exactly simplify a complex story, but make it understandable.

What are its chances? 50-50. Nonfiction seldom finds a place on the Newbery roster, but it does happen. Like Steve Sheinkin, Candace Fleming has carved out a prominent place in nonfiction and may be seen as award-worthy. The “girl” factor may also win fans among female librarians.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Other books by Gennifer Choldenko include Orphan Eleven and Al Capone Throws Me a Curve.
• Reviews: Candace Fleming first came to our attention with The Family Romanov. See also Strongheart (about the first canine movie star), The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindberg (starred review), Honeybee, and Cubs in the Tub.
• Reflection: “The Best this World Can Do,” my thoughts about Not Nothing, which is another Newbery contender.

We are participants in the Amazon LLC affiliate program; purchases you make through affiliate links like the one below may earn us a commission. Read more here.

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman, Louder than Hunger, and The Enigma Girls are all available from Amazon.