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Review: The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

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The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman
Gennifer Choldenko
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published June 11, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

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.

My Review

This book is as good as everyone says it is. Every review I’ve seen has raved about how full of heart and unbelievably fabulous this book is.

Well. It really is! Oh my gosh. Hank’s relationship with his little sister Boo is the absolute sweetest. He takes care of her so attentively. They have these little rhymes or songs they do together, rituals that he uses to comfort her or help her settle.

After he takes Boo to a family friend’s house to wait for his mom to return, the story really kicks into high gear. Hank has a challenging relationship with his new caregiver, who keeps referring to him (age eleven) as a teenager in a way that leaves no doubt she’s got some baggage or past trauma somewhere in there. Their relationship makes so much sense, though. Sometimes Hank does kid things, and she reacts as if he’s deliberately trying to be hurtful. It’s not all bad, though. She is an excellent caregiver for Boo and helps Hank regear their relationship into one more appropriate to siblings rather than child and caregiver.

Hank is awesome, too. He draws pictures, plays basketball, and skateboards. I could see him being a really relatable character at a lot of levels.

I thought the story did a great job showing some of the big feelings that kids experience in a family in crisis and some of the layers to those feelings. Hank shuts people out, not wanting to connect since he doesn’t know how long he’ll be with his caregiver. He holds his anger close. Because his ability to trust adults (starting with his mom) has been broken, he has a really hard time trusting the other adults in his life. His behavior felt pretty realistic.

I can easily see why so many people love this book. I felt like I flew through the pages and could not stop reading. If you enjoyed Kyra Just for Today by Sara Zarr, definitely check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Hank enters the foster care system shortly after the book begins. His mom is an alcoholic. He has a diverse group of school friends and is close to a Latine family.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to someone getting a divorce in the past. References to Hank’s mom’s past boyfriends.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone has gotten in a car accident (off scene), and the car shows the damage still. A toddler sits in the back seat of a car without a car seat. A drunk person attempts to operate a vehicle with children inside it. A caregiver abandons children at a store.

Drug Content
Hank sees his mom drink alcohol. In one scene, she’s very drunk. At one point, he tries to reconcile her behavior and her statements about it. He rationalizes that every adult drinks sometimes. It doesn’t mean his mom has a problem. It sounds like he’s regurgitating things that his mom has said about her drinking. He can’t escape the knowledge that when she drinks, she doesn’t take care of him or Boo very well.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings by Dionna L. Mann

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , , , ,

Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings
Dionna L. Mann
Margaret Ferguson Books
Published August 6, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Mama’s Chicken and Dumplings

Growing up in segregated 1930’s Charlottesville, ten-year-old Allie is determined to find a man for her mama to marry— but not just any man will do!

Allie’s life with Mama isn’t bad, but she knows it could be better if Mama would find someone to marry. Allie’s worst enemy, her NOT-friend Gwen, has a daddy, and Allie wants someone like that—someone to fix things when they break, someone who likes to sing, and has a kind-smile.

So Allie makes a plan—her super secret Man-For-Mama plan. She has a list of candidates with a clear top Mr. Johnson, who owns the antique store. Best of all, Mr. Johnson went to school with Mama, and he wants to get reacquainted! The battle’s half won, and Allie is sure that when he tries Mama’s yummy chicken and dumplings, he’ll be head over heels.

But someone else is interested in Mr. Coles, Allie’s teacher, who’s also Gwen’s uncle! Mama can’t marry him—no way is Allie going to be related to Gwen. On top of it all, Allie’s best friend is moving to Chicago; Allie keeps getting in trouble; and everyone seems to think she’s jealous of Gwen, for some reason. Nothing is going how she planned, but Allie is determined to get things back on track toward the life she knows she and Mama both deserve. . . even if Mama doesn’t agree yet.

My Review

Earlier this year, I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and it made me realize how little literature I’ve read set before the Civil Rights Act written by Black authors. It seems wild to me now that I’ve noticed it. When I saw this novel, I decided reading it would be a great opportunity to add some more perspective.

I love Allie’s voice. She’s precocious and smart. Her friendship with Jewel is incredibly sweet. The girls support one another and share such a close bond. It was easy to empathize with Allie’s grief when Jewel moves away.

I think the story also has great layering in terms of showing the difference between Allie’s perspective on what’s happening and making the larger picture, or what the adults see going on, available to readers to pick up between the lines. Some of those moments made me laugh. A few were pretty poignant.

One of the things I enjoyed a lot is that Allie is a musician who plays the flute. She also often describes her experiences in terms of sounds, so the story contains a lot of onomatopoeia. The sounds were well-described, so I knew exactly what the descriptions meant. I thought that was a cool way to showcase Allie’s connection to sound as a musician and add a fun element to the story.

All in all, this is a delightful debut. I am really excited to see what Dionna Mann writes in the future. I have a feeling I’ll be picking up any subsequent novels she writes as well as recommending this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Allie is trying to start a romance between her mom and a local businessman.

Spiritual Content
References to attending church. A couple of scenes take place after the service.

Violent Content
Two girls get into a fistfight after one swipes a toy belonging to the other.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.

Review: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Little, Brown, Books for Young Readers
Published March 10, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A remix of the National Book Award-winning STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING for ages 12 and up.

A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism–and antiracism–in America.

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This is a remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING, winner of a National Book Award. It reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an antiracist future.

STAMPED takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative, Jason Reynolds shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas–and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

My Review

First, the summary description of the book as “gripping, fast-paced and energizing” is totally accurate. I listened to this book as an audiobook twice in a row. There’s so much information packed into such a short span of pages. It is a lot to take in, so I’m sure this won’t even be the last time I read it. I have a hard copy that I’d like to go back to and highlight certain passages in as well.

So, the summary also says this isn’t a history book. Yet, it talks a LOT about history. It looks at history from the perspective of racism and relationships between black and white people in America. It looks at the beginning ideas about our differences and how those ideas evolved (or didn’t) as history played out.

One of the things I like a lot about the book is that it gives a survey overview of a lot of moments but zooms in on some critical places and familiar people as well. There’s quite a bit of discussion about Thomas Jefferson and the things he believed and where the contradictions are. I found that really helpful to clarify and explain some of the things I already knew about him. It definitely filled in some blanks for me.

I think in school, because we’re looking closely at certain parts of history, I sometimes had a “can’t see the forest for the trees” experience. In this book, Reynolds shows us the forest. We kind of get to see the whole of how the relationship between black and white people developed and changed, the rise of different ideas, and why they were harmful or helpful. I liked that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen dots connected in this way. It actually made me feel like I wish we had more books like this– conversational and easy to understand– about other topics. Give me this, but with the history of the United States from an indigenous perspective. Or from the perspective of women’s rights. LGBTQIA+ rights.

I’m sure some of those books already exist, which is awesome because now I’m hungry for them.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The book references and briefly summarizes the lives of many people, predominantly white men and women and black men and women.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to rape and claims of rape. For example, the book references a movie called Birth of a Nation in which an actor in blackface plays a man who rapes a white woman. No graphic descriptions.

Spiritual Content
Some discussion of the Puritans and early Christian colonists and their views about indigenous people and African people. Some discussion of a church leader and prolific writer who wrote a book that spread fears about witchcraft.

Violent Content
No graphic descriptions of violence, but mentions of enslavement and enslaved people being punished by being whipped. Mentions of people being lynched. Mentions of war.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog.

Review: Wolfpack (Young Readers’ Edition) by Abby Wambach

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Wolfpack (Young Readers’ Edition)
Abby Wambach
Roaring Brook Press
Published October 6, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Wolfpack (Young Readers’ Edition)

In this young readers’ adaptation of her #1 New York Times bestselling book, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA World Cup champion Abby Wambach inspires the next generation to find their voice, unite their pack, and change the world.

From rising young star to co-captain of the 2015 Women’s World Cup Champion team, Abby Wambach’s impressive career has shown her what it truly means to be a champion. Whether you’re leading from the bench or demanding the ball on the field, real success comes when you harness your inner strength, forge your own path, and band together with your team.

Updated with stories that trace her journey from youth soccer to the hall of fame, this young readers’ adaptation of Abby’s instant bestseller Wolfpack is for the next generation of wolves ready to change the game.

My Review

I love the inspirational tone that Wambach maintains throughout this whole book. It’s uplifting and encouraging, but it doesn’t ignore hardship or unfairness in our lives.

The book is broken into eight chapters, each highlighting a rule for young readers that will help them unite with others, find their voice, and make changes in the world around them. It’s about cultivating a new kind of leadership that elevates others and sees what can be despite the obstacles that may sit in the way.

My favorites are chapters three and five, both of which focus on lifting others up and celebrating their achievements, even when we’re not in a starring role. I love this so much. Instead of a competitive spirit that dominates others or is threatened by others’ success, this teaches kids to be comfortable with and celebrate others’ achievements as a part of good leadership. If we have a whole generation of people who do this, I can’t imagine what we’ll be able to do.

I’m probably gushing, and honestly, this book deserves it. It’s a super quick read– less than 100 pages– and absolutely worth it. Give this to the aspiring athletes and leaders in your life. Share it with the people who are part of your wolfpack. (There’s an adult version for older readers, too!)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Abby Wambach is married to another woman.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
The author references her marriage and other times she has fallen in love.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Reference to sports injuries and treatment. At one point, she remembers a time when she had a head injury that was stapled closed.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Amber Brown is Not a Crayon: The Graphic Novel by Paula Danziger and Victoria Ying

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Amber Brown is Not a Crayon: The Graphic Novel
Paula Danziger
Adapted and Illustrated by Victoria Ying
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Published May 21, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Amber Brown is Not a Crayon: The Graphic Novel

Even when her best friend is moving away, Amber Brown is always bold, bright, and colorful. #Amber Brown is out now on Apple TV+

Amber Brown and Justin Daniels are best friends. They’ve known each other for practically forever, sit next to each other in class, help each other with homework, and always stick up for each other. Justin never says things like, “Amber Brown is not a crayon.” Amber never says, “You’re Justin Time.” They’re a great team—until disaster strikes. Justin has to move away, and now the best friends are fighting. Will they be able to work it out before it’s too late?

Along with the ups and downs of shared custody, the Amber Brown chapter books are beloved for tackling relatable dilemmas with thoughtfulness, humor, and plenty of puns.

My Review

I don’t usually review chapter books, but sometimes the overlap with a middle grade audience is pretty high. This one is a graphic novel adaptation of a popular chapter book series by Paula Danziger that came out decades ago. I haven’t read the original, so I can’t compare it to this adaptation.

I loved the expressive faces on the characters in this graphic novel. The characters experience a broad range of emotions and their faces clue readers into what they’re feeling, very often with a comedic flare.

The opening pages introduce us to Amber as her class prepares for an imaginary flight to China. Her teacher serves as the pilot, and the class learns different things about Chinese history and culture as part of the “trip.” I thought that was a cool idea. We also get to know Amber’s best friend, Justin, whose family is about to move from New Jersey to Alabama. As the story progresses, Amber and Justin deal with the move in ways that drive a wedge between them. With the move date drawing near, Amber is at a loss for how to save her friendship with Justin and enjoy the last of her time with him.

What a cute book! I already mentioned the facial expressions, but they’re my favorite part of the book. They communicate feelings and, many times, add humor and charm to the story. I like Amber’s spunky attitude and that she and Justin have different strengths and interests yet are still best friends.

This is a fun read for kids as they age up from chapter books to middle grade novels. It’s got a lot of humor but explores a complex emotional moment in a friendship that’s relatable to a lot of kids.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 7 to 10.

Representation
Most characters are white/white-passing. Amber’s teacher and a classmate are BIPOC.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to Amber’s parents’ divorce.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A girl calls Amber “messy,” and she tries to charge at the girl angrily. Justin holds her back.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life by Fiona Hardy

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How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life
Fiona Hardy
Kane Miller Publishing
Published August 25, 2020

Kane Miller Website | Bookshop | Goodreads

About How to Write the Soundtrack to Your Life

Murphy Parker is going to be a songwriter. If she can summon up the nerve to play in front of anyone other than her dad, that is. When an unplanned keyboard performance at school goes well, Murphy wonders if maybe her dreams have a chance after all. Until her entire grade accuses her of plagiarism.

Someone out there is playing Murphy’s songs. But why? How did they hear her play? Desperate to clear her name and reclaim her music, Murphy makes an unlikely alliance with two of her classmates. Turns out, friendship might be even more complicated than tracking down a song thief…

From the up-and-coming talent behind HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE IN 12 DAYS comes a funny and moving mystery about family, friendship and finding your voice.

My Review

Oh, wow. I really identified with Murphy as the quiet kid in school. The way people treated her, where they assumed things about her and filled in the blanks about her life, really resonated with me. I totally understood how difficult it was for her to speak up, even when she had something to say. I remember having those experiences and being so frustrated with them.

Murphy has a family life that’s not often represented in children’s books. She has a close relationship with her dad, and he’s doing the best that he can and visits her a lot. She lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousins, though. This gives her a lot of stability and support. I liked her family members and the dynamics between them.

While the plot of the story centers around Murphy’s music and finding out who stole her songs, the true superstar in the story is in the relationships. In the beginning, Murphy considers two girls her best and only friends. As the story unfolds, the way she sees those relationships and others changes. She learns what it means to be a friend in addition to what it means to have one. The narrative balances the relationship and mystery elements really well while also giving readers a glimpse into life with a parent diagnosed with depression.

This is the first novel by Fiona Hardy that I’ve read, but I’m looking forward to reading her other book, How to Write a Movie in 12 Days, which follows one of the minor characters in this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Murphy’s dad has depression. Her mom is absent. She lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousins.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Other kids taunt Murphy and say mean things to her. She describes being bullied by a girl in the past. References to someone hospitalized for depression.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday

I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle with Greg Pattridge.