The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

There are two tiny hints on the first page of this book that tell you something is not quite right - that Hank and his three-year-old sister Boo (short for Bridget) are all alone. 

"Grandma Mae taught me how. She said a big brother has to know how to change diapers in case his mom forgets."

"I don’t want to run into anyone who might ask about Mom."

Grandma May - past tense - so she is gone and clearly mum is not there either but why? How long has mum been gone? Hank is only eleven - do these kids have money? Is there any other family they can call on for help? AND then there is a dreadful knock on the door:

“Open the door. Mrs. Hooperman. Geri! Geri Hooperman.” He bang-bang-bangs. “I know you’re in there, Mrs. Hooperman. And I have every right to enter the premises.” He rattles the doorknob. Boo puts her hands over her ears and burrows into my leg. We get in the shower stall, but we can still hear. “You owe six months’ rent, Mrs. Hooperman. I’ve given you multiple warnings. We have started eviction proceedings. I need payment in full by tomorrow morning or you and your kids will be forcibly removed. Did you hear that, Mrs. Hooperman?” He slaps the door."

Hank knows that he has to leave. Mum has disappeared before but never for a whole week. On his field trip permission form (yes he had to miss the field trip) his mother wrote a name and an address. Hank knows Lou Ann was a friend to his late grandmother. Early the next morning they set off. The journey takes all day and several bus changes until eventually they arrive and while this place feels safe it also feels very temporary.

"Why is my life a Would You Rather game? Not a funny one, like Would you rather have a cute girl tell you your fly is down or announce to everyone that you have dragon breath? Mine is, Would you rather be evicted or take a bus for four hours to a person’s house you don’t know?"

Finally let's go back to the title. The tenth mistake. Here a quote to explain this (without tell you Hank's worst mistake):

"I hate making mistakes. Little ones are not so bad. You forget to write your name on your homework. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, that’s a level two. You can survive a level two mistake. You don’t get credit for doing the assignment that day. Big deal. But mistakes on the eight, nine, or ten level…they’ll take you out. You forget to hold your little sister’s hand and she runs in front of a car. TEN! TEN! TEN! I never did that, but I came close. Even an almost TEN! is terrifying. I don’t want to choose wrong. But doing nothing can be a mistake too."

One of the many parts of this book that I truly loved was the way the other kids at Hank's new school were so fantastic - thank goodness he didn't have to encounter an awful bully as happens so often in realistic fiction books like this one. I just wanted to hug Ana, Carmen, Legend, Tadeo and Quincy.  And of course Ray, the man next door is a true hero in this story. He felt so real I actually thought about writing him a thank you letter.

The best part of this, which Choldenko mentions in the end notes, is that the kids at school are accepting of Hank, even when he can't tell them everything about his life. They are kind, understanding, and help out when they can. Even Tadeo, Ray's nephew who is jealous of Hank for several reasons, is nice to him. Ms Yingling

There are also small but deeply moving acts of kindness in this story - a lady on the bus gives Hank exact instructions about how to find Lou Ann's house; his mum's hairdresser has no idea where mum has gone but she carefully recuts Hank's hair after the disastrous one from Lou Ann; Coach P recognises Hank has a talent for basketball (you can see that on the cover); Carmen invites him to sit with her group on his first day at lunch time (this is huge); and there is always the nutty up nutty down song:

“Nutty up, nutty down, nutty turn yourself around. Nutty pillow, nutty bed, nutty covers over your head,” and she climbs in bed. Then I hold her hand until she falls asleep."

This book will break your heart. I was so invested in this story but I had to keep telling myself Gennifer Choldenko is sure to rescue Hank by the end of the book and yes, she does but not in a saccharine or contrived way - thank goodness. 

Publisher's Weekly said: "A gut-punch tale that is by turns heartbreaking and hopeful.” 

One of the most complex characters in this book is Lou Ann. She loves little Boo right from the start when the two kids turn up at her door late at night, but she is on her guard about Hank. He is tall for his age. He looks like a teenager. We only get glimpses of this, but it seems Lou Ann had a very bad time with her own teenage son - whatever happened all those years ago she has never recovered. 

I kept hoping Hank was misinterpreting Lou Ann's reactions and discipline and seeming lack of kindness or compassion. I expected a big scene at the end where Lou Ann would reach out a hug Hank and that he would understand her better but, my reading friend, that does not happen - and I am glad. How wonderful to not be able to predict the ending.

Several times each week I catch a bus to the city. It is about a 50-minute trip so it is good to have a book to read. I have loaded quite a few recommended US titles because, yes they have been recommended, but also it is often impossible or impossibly expensive to obtain the print copies of these here in Australia. (Note the paperback of The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman will be available here next month).

Yesterday I started reading The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. I read it going to the city, I read it coming home, I read it before bed, I read it at 2am and I finished it over breakfast! YES, you know what I am going to say because I have said it before, this book is THAT GOOD! And the final chapter will make you sob.

Publisher blurb: 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.

IF I have not convinced you that this is a book you will love please take a look/listen to Colby Sharp talking about The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. AND please read the Kirkus Star review too.

This book might remind you of The Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. Here are some other companion books:

The Boy in the Suit

Small as an Elephant

Almost Home

The Star outside my window

You can see more books by Gennifer Choldenko. I previously LOVED these books:

No passengers beyond this point

Dogtown and Mouse and His dog

When Lightning Struck by Betsy R Rosenthal

James has lost his dad - he was killed by a lightning strike. His mum is in jail for bootlegging and she is also suffering from depression. James lives with his grandfather (Pappy) and until recently with his beloved grandmother (Abuela) but six months ago she died. Abuela was a town healer. Pappy runs the local diner and he makes delicious food for the people in the town. I loved the way James tucks into pie and hamburgers. 

There is a new kid who has moved to Odessa, Texas. He is from Ukraine and he has very little English. He is older than the kids in the class and so he is taller which is helpful for James because he is regularly tormented by a bully named Virgil and now Paul is his friend so her has someone on his side when the bullies attack. Paul's family seem very different to James. They speak a strange language (he later discovers this is Hebrew) and they observe unfamiliar customs which often include special rituals and very delicious food. They don't go to the local Christian church. 

Just before she died Abuela gave James an amulet which has a strange symbol on one side and foreign writing on the back. The Pappy shows James the family bible and it seems Abuela has a connection that goes back to 1492 when Jewish people were expelled from Spain. You can read about that in this picture book:

The Key from Spain

"Things were starting to get a little less muddy. Between the charm and the Bible with my name in it and the Hebrew writing, I felt like Abuela was sending me a message from the grave, trying to tell me that I was somebody different than I'd thought I was. And I go to wondering, too, if this news about my family's past could have something to do with me finding my purpose."

"I think your Texas Odessa is named after my Odessa because railroad workers here said this place reminded them of their home in Ukraine. ... Same name but better place for our family that Ukraine, Odessa ..."

Readers aged 10+ might gain a little more understanding about Jewish culture and the history of their persecution through this story. Paul talks about the terror his family experienced in Ukraine - a situation which has been repeated today with the Russian army. 

Our famous children's bookshop The Little Bookroom has reopened in a different location in Melbourne and I was there on their first day (not their official opening which was held two weeks later). The new owner filled several shelves with books from the previous store and marked them at 90% off the retail price and so that is how I came to find When Lightning Struck. This book was published in 2022. The ebook version is available. 

The setting for this book is Texas in 1928 but apart from references to prohibition, the Klu Klutx Klan and a few sporting heroes the parts of the story set in Texas didn't feel historical enough for me.

Here is list of other books by Betsy R Rosenthal (and there is a link to teachers notes from When Lightning Struck).

Bookseller blurb: It's 1928 in Odessa, Texas, and eleven-year-old James is struggling to find his purpose in life and to uncover a family secret. With his father struck dead by lightning and his mother in jail, he is taken in by his grandparents. Treated as a pariah at school, James is taunted as being cursed by his family's bad luck. But he finds a friend in Paul, a Russian immigrant, who is also treated as an outcast, and together, they battle the school bully. But James's life is turned upside-down yet again when he uncovers a family secret involving his beloved grandmother. His discovery leads him to find the sense of purpose he's been seeking.

The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow illustrated by Joe Todd Stanton

that next year will be tough ...

that it's time to knuckle down and focus

that it's all worth it in the end

that it's the most important year of our 

lives so far and we need to act like it ...

that it's time for us to step up and become top of the school

that it's the final year.

You can feel the tone of this writing from this extract near the beginning of the book. It feels a little like a rap song:

See the take-aways and neon-washed litter?

The disfigured pigeons 

huddled under railway bridges and flyovers?

Taxis buses pizza-boxes vape shops?

This is not a place of labradors and lattes and electric Audis

this is a place of staffies and cider

and exhaust-pipe smoke,

a place of one foot in front of the other brother

cos what else ya goona do?

Nathan Wilder (Nate) has two brothers, Dylan aged nearly four and Jaxon aged eight, and each of them has a different dad. Mum had Nate when she was just seventeen. Money is very short but mum is sure she can win at the bingo. Mum also likes to drink. Nate didn't ever meet his dad he just knows his name was Nick and he looks a little like Jesus. Jaxon's dad was a bully and a bouncer and he liked beer, lots of beer. He is now in jail. No one is sure about Dylan's dad. Dylan loves spiderman and he a kid always on the move. Nate loves his brothers, but Nate is also battling his own very serious anger issues. 

Early on we discover, just four little words my pile of books to show Nate is a reader (and a writer). Nate sleeps in the lounge room of their tiny flat - how does a kid like this have books? Why are the books hidden? Later we read "when I need to chill I head to the library." and "I've read everything I can find by David Almond. ... His style like music like poetry." Nate especially loved The Colour of the Sun. (I have added it to my own to read list). Then joy of joys the book his Grade 6 class will study is Skellig.

Notice the title - The Final Year. It is the final year of Primary. Nate has one great mate Parker Smith or PS. But when the new classes are formed the friends are separated. PS seems to have perfect life. Clean house, parents with jobs, food - regular stuff. Nate on the other hand has, in some ways, become a parent to his two young brothers.

Mum's out cold still

the morning after Bingo

so I get the boys ready

like I've done a thousand times before.

At the end of Gade 5 Nate and his class visit the room where they will go next year:

The classroom 

belongs to the old Year 6

stinks of 'em

and I mean stinks.

Their fadin name-tags are peeling off drawers

their work is all over the walls

Nate gets the new teacher Mr Joshua. He has no idea but this is so wonderful. Mr Joshua may be very inexperienced, but he is so wise and he offers gentle and caring support to Nate. He also loves to include music into his classroom which made me cheer. 

The other issue at school is Turner - the school bully and his gang. And now PS seems to be friends with Turner. 

Turner's no learner

he'll fight and he'll burn ya

he's done things that can't be forgiven.

Turner man, Turner

those fists gonna earn ya

a stay in triangular prison.

It is heart breaking to witness the disintegration of the friendship between Nate and PS. Thank goodness for his new friend Caleb. Then everything changes because Dylan is really unwell - seriously very very unwell. You will gasp over these scenes.

How can my head

be so full of stuff, Sir

so full of sadness

so full of questions

so full of danger

so full of pain

yet I am so empty?

Here is a description from their journey to the school camp in Windermer:

As we get closer

the hills are whiter than they looked

snow everywhere

like someone's laid down feathers

on the shoulders of a new world.

This book will break your heart and then mend it again. Please try to find this book and read it then give it to your young readers aged 10+ or pop it on display in your school library. This is one of those truly special books that needs to be in the hands of readers. This might be my book of the year. Teachers will love Mr Joshua and also the subtle commentary about the idiocy of state testing of our students - hooray! When you share this book make sure you find the music for "Every little things gonna be all right" (Bob Marley) and play it with the sound up LOUD. Here are some very detailed teaches notes. Matt Goodfellow introduces his book.

Carnegie shadow judges' notes say:

The Final Year is about …

 • The importance of friendship

 • How it is possible to control your anger

 • The power of writing

 • Putting family above everything else

 • How teachers can be inspirational

 • Growing up

 • How tough life is for some young people

 • Putting a brave face on things

 • The importance of kindness

A poignant exploration of change and loss. Nate struggles to come to terms with the changes facing him in his home and school life during his final year at primary school. His best friend moves class and his home life becomes increasingly uncertain after the tumult and turmoil of his brother being rushed into hospital. Can Nate find his place among a fast-changing world?

Highly accessible, lyrical and life affirming, this is a must-have novel that will authentically resonate with so many under-represented children and perfectly captures what this crucial transition period feels like. As such, it is a must-read for adults as well as the children who will devour it. It will also resonate with children who have made that transition and perhaps help them with their own feelings, as well as encouraging them to write for themselves. Love Reading 4Kids

This incredibly powerful novel, written entirely in free verse, really packs a punch. Nate’s innermost thoughts burst from the pages, enabling readers to really connect with his intense feelings of pain, anger and love. Thoughtful black-and-white illustrations punctuate the text of this spectacular debut novel, which is a heart-wrenching and ultimately uplifting read. Book Trust

Next step for me is to find the sequel published early in 2025 because the final words of The Final Year are ... 

Companion book:

Motormouth (now out of print but is sure to be in many Australian school libraries)

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Manifest verb: to show something clearly, through signs or actions

Manifest adjective: easily noticed or obvious

It's taken me a few days to read this 2011 winner of the Newbery Medal and I am glad I didn't rush because this book does require some concentration as we shift between 1917-1918 and 1936 and also juggle a myriad of small town sightly eccentric characters. I finished this book around 2am last night and on page 320 I gasped out loud because Clare Vanderpool made me care so much about the people of this town and, well I can't tell you what happened on October 28th, 1918 only to say this is a very sad moment and a powerful turning point in the story. Another marker of a great story to me is when I finish my journey, in this case to Manifest, I then am so keen to think of another reader who will enjoy this book - that's one of the many things I do miss about working in a school library. 

Here are a few of the characters:

• Abilene Tucker, a brave 12-year-old girl.
• Shady Howard, pastor, bootlegger and owner of the home where Abilene lives in Manifest
• Gideon Tucker, father of Abilene.  He sends her to Manifest. [absent parent]
• Miss Sadie Redizon, a mysterious Hungarian fortune teller who only tells stories about the past.
• Jinx, a boy that comes to Manifest.
• Soletta (Lettie) Taylor, Abilene's friend who is helping find the Rattler and Ruthanne's cousin
• Benedek (Ned) Gillian, friend of Jinx

Minor characters

• Hattie Mae Harper, the town's newspaper reporter who helps Abilene research her family's past.
• Sister Redempta, the town's school teacher nun, also helps with other affairs.
• Mr. Underhill, an undertaker
• Velma T Harkrader, chemistry teacher
• Eudora Larkin, president of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Manifest

Publisher blurb: The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future. Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colourful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

The mementos in the box are a fishing lure; a tiny doll from a nesting set; a silver dollar; a skeleton key and a cork. "To me they were like treasures from a museum, things a person could study to learn about another time and the people who lived back then." And that's exactly what happens. Abilene loses her father's lucky compass in the local graveyard. It turns up in the home of Miss Sadie hanging from the roof of her verandah. Abilene breaks a huge pot in the garden when she climbs up to retrieve her precious compass and so as payment she has to do chores and gardening for Miss Sadie. Over the coming weeks Miss Sadie tells Abilene stories of the town specifically events of 1917-1918 and each story mysteriously mentions one of the objects from that cigar box she found under the floorboards at Shady's place. I do enjoy stories that feel like making a jigsaw. It is not until you reach the end of the story that the whole picture is revealed - this is very satisfying. 

Listen to an audio sample from chapter one. Ms Yingling did not really like Moon over Manifest but she does give a good story summary as usual. 

I just can’t even begin to tell how enamoured I am of this book. It is one of those deceptively simple slow-burning stories: the kind that needs to be savoured little by little so that the reader can truly absorb its subtle themes and its hidden meanings. It features stories within stories and the power that those stories hold in preserving memory as well as changing the future of a place. The Book Smugglers

Kirkus star review.

Clare Vanderpool is an American children's book author living in Wichita, Kansas. Her first book, Moon Over Manifest, won the 2011 Newbery Medal, becoming the first debut author to achieve the feat in thirty years. I am now very keen to read her second book published in 2014

Here is a list of Newbery winners from 2001 onwards:

• A Year Down Yonder (2001)
• A Single Shard (2002)
• Crispin (2003)
• The Tale of Despereaux (2004)
• Kira-Kira (2005)
• Criss Cross (2006)
• The Higher Power of Lucky (2007)
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (2008)
• The Graveyard Book (2009)
• When You Reach Me (2010)
• Moon Over Manifest (2011)
• Dead End in Norvelt (2012)
• The One and Only Ivan (2013)
• Flora & Ulysses (2014)
• The Crossover (2015)
• Last Stop on Market Street (2016)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2017)
• Hello, Universe (2018)
• Merci Suárez Changes Gears (2019)
• New Kid (2020)
• When You Trap a Tiger (2021)
• The Last Cuentista (2022)
• Freewater (2023)

These might seem like strange choices but here are some companion reads:

Pony

The Parker Inheritance

One came home

Someplace to call Home

Walking with Miss Millie

Three times Lucky

Girl of the Southern Sea by Michelle Kadarusman

"All you see is a poor girl ... A girl without power of choices. But you are wrong. 

I am here to live a different story. I am here to write my own story."

Nia has lost her mother and her father has begun drinking heavily to ease his grief. Nia, young brother Rudi and her father live in poverty. Each week it is a desperate struggle to find enough money for their rent payment and food. Nia's father has a small food cart from which he makes fried bananas to sell near the busy railway station. 

Nia is a clever girl. She longs to continue her education and move onto High School but this costs money and now that her father has stopped earning money due to an accident she has to leave school and attend to the food cart. 

Nia loves to tell stories and these are woven into this book. Her stories are about Dewi Kadita, Princess of the Southern Sea and are based on Javanese folktales.

Her life takes a strange turn when Nia is involved in a mini bus accident. While others are badly hurt and one boy is killed, Nia walks away uninjured. A witness to this incident - Mr Oskar a local tailor - declares Nia is now a special girl and that buying her fried bananas will bring good luck. Long queues form as people jostle to buy from her stall. Some what unwisely Nia increases her price and money begins to flow in but it is very clear this enterprise is doomed. Meanwhile her father has disappeared and Nia and her brother are struggling. Oskar, who keeps hanging around, also has his own, shocking reasons, for wanting to befriend Nia. 

It is a sharp and politically attuned work that will give readers further appreciation for the value of access to education, health care, and justice. Quill and Quire

A thought-provoking peek into a culture ... Kirkus

Here is an alternate cover. Which do you like best?

I have had such a feast of wonderful reading this week - Talking to Alaska by Anna Wolta (due out in July); Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim; Beyond Belief by Dee White; and Haywire by Claire Saxby and now I add Girl of the Southern Sea to this list.

I do need to give a violence warning for The Girl of the Southern Sea. The publisher lists this book as suitable for ages 9-13. Once again, as I often seem to do lately, I disagree. In my view this is a book for mature readers aged 11+. There is a horrific scene in this book when the crowd discover Nia is not "a lucky charm" as they had been led to believe. The mob hurl stones at her and then she is doused in kerosene. Nia survives but the horror and raw hatred of this scene lingers with me (an adult reader) many days later. 

Michelle Kadarusman lives in Canada but she was born in Melbourne. She is the author of The Theory of Hummingbirds.

Companion reads:

The Paper House

Amal Unbound

Homeless Bird