The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman

Eleven-year-old Hank Hooperman’s mother has been missing for a week, forcing him to stay home from school to care for his three-year-old sister, Boo, and scavenge for coins to buy food. But when the power is shut off and the apartment manager threatens eviction, Hank seeks out his late grandmother’s old friend Lou Ann Adler. With Child Protective Services’ oversight, Hank and Boo stay with Lou Ann, who runs a day care and readily accepts precocious Boo, yet her ambivalence toward Hank causes him and Lou Ann to clash. Though he’s aware of his mother’s past incidents of drunk driving and abandonment, he is defensive of her (“My mom is a good mom”) and yearns for a reunion. As days turn into months, Hank bonds with an adult neighbor over basketball and makes friends at his new school, unaware that his continued search for his mother could carry disastrous consequences. An author’s note from Choldenko (One-Third Nerd) describes the book’s emotional core as reminiscent of her own life; that personal connection makes for a gut-punch tale that is by turns heartbreaking and hopeful. Hank, Boo, and Lou Ann read as white. Ages 10–up. Agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. (June)