Louder Than Hunger by John Schu

Hardcover, 528 pages
Release Date: March 19, 2024
Published by: Candlewick Press
Read from: April 18-19, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Texas Library Association Conference
TW: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Body shaming, Death, Chronic illness, Bullying, Cancer
For Readers Interested In: Novels in Verse, Mental Health Rep (Eating Disorder- Anorexia Nervosa), Realistic Fiction, MG

    Revered teacher, librarian, and story ambassador John Schu explores anorexia—and self-expression as an act of survival—in a wrenching and transformative novel-in-verse.
But another voice inside me says,
We need help.
We’re going to die.
     Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune, and reading mysteries and comics aloud to his teachers. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books—the weird one, the outsider—and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he eats, the bigger he feels. How long can Jake punish himself before he truly disappears? A fictionalized account of the author’s experiences and emotions living in residential treatment facilities as a young teen with an eating disorder, Louder than Hunger is a triumph of raw honesty. With a deeply personal afterword for context, this much-anticipated verse novel is a powerful model for muffling the destructive voices inside, managing and articulating pain, and embracing self-acceptance, support, and love.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I am not always a fan of novels in verse, but when done right like this one? It’s going to do it for me every time. Y’all, this book was incredible, but it is so so gut-wrenching and hard to read. Please be kind to yourself while reading this whether you have these types of food issues or not.

Ok so first things first, like I said, I’m not a fan of novels in verse because most times they chop the story up and parts feel like they’re missing. Tbh, I usually only REALLY like them if it’s via audio. The reason why is because I usually like to listen to the narrator since its most times the author. That way we get all parts of the book, including all the words they want to emphasize. In this case, I had the physical book, but it was for work so I read it. But this one, there was no choppiness to the plot at all. I didn’t feel like anything was missing from the story.

I mentioned that the audios usually have the narrators being the thing that shows the emphasis on certain things. But in the hardcover, the poems were in shapes, there were repeated words, and so much more. I think the teens will enjoy seeing this on page if we decide to use this book. And it will be an easy way to ask questions on those specific passages.

I also liked the information that was given on the eating disorders and the accompanying illnesses that Jake had. I even learned something from this book, so I’m sure they will too. My only qualm with this one is we don’t know how this one will land with them. BUT thee whole team doesn’t have to read each book, so if there is a teen who is or has struggled with an eating disorder, they can opt to skip this one. But even still, there are some great resources in the back that don’t deserve to be missed.

The relationship Jake had was so well done. The love he had for her was evident in the way he hid stuff from her, the way he actively lied to her and how it showed the pain that caused him in the words. That is the biggest thing about this novel, the emotion. I felt so much when I was reading this. Everytime that girl rubbed her collarbone I rubbed mine, everytime Jake started showing promise I was cheering. Definitely went through a lot of emotions while reading this.

I have to say, when this book was given to me by a co-worker, I was a little iffy. We haven’t done anything with an eating disorder before. But I can say, I would love to use this one as the first. And even if we don’t, April is National Poetry Month, so take this last week and read this book. You won’t be disappointed.

Overall, I give this