Thoughts on The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

and how have I never read one of her books before?

Possible spoiler alerts!

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman is an emotional roller coaster about an eleven year old boy, Hank, and his three year old sister, Boo. When their mom doesn’t come home-for a week- Hank finds his way to Lou Ann, his Grandma Mae’s best friend of 48 years. Reluctantly, she let’s them live there for several weeks. However, she is always tough on Hank. But, what will happen to Hank and Boo when he makes a Level 10 mistake, possibly risking his and Boo’s lives?

My description does not do the emotional depth of the novel, the excellence of the story told, of how well Choldenko emotionally connects you to Hank, Boo, and everyone else in the story. You should DEFINITELY read this MG novel!

Choldenko pulls you in to Hank’s life through exposition, dialogue, and actions throughout the story. I feel like writing the story in first person, where you’re living through Hank as you turn the pages, helps connect you to Hank, to place and time as he lives through his journey.

But there’s more than just Hank. You fall for Boo, just like everyone else in the story does- EVERYONE loves Boo! There’s Ana, a girl he likes, but doesn’t want to like-like right now in his life. There’s so many more characters that are crafted so well, you want them to be in the story more than they actually are- like Ana’s cousins who are in the story so briefly, but are written so well.

This novel is such an excellent example of how an author can get you deep into the feelings of the characters. Choldenko also does an amazing job of making us see all the characters, no matter how long or short they were in the story for.

Definitely a must read.