LOUDER THAN HUNGER, by John Schu, Candlewick, March 19, 2024, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 10 and up)
A teen with an eating disorder is sent to a residential treatment facility in Louder Than Hunger, a new novel in verse by John Schu.
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?
Louder Than Hunger is a fictionalized account of the author’s experiences and emotions living in residential treatment facilities as a young teen with an eating disorder. —Synopsis provided by Candlewick
Louder Than Hunger wouldn’t work if it hadn’t been written by John Schu. His honest look at anorexia, OCD and depression is raw, heartfelt and transformative.
At the center of the story is Jake, a boy who breaks your heart and makes you want to give him a hug. Jake is a fictionalized version of Schu, himself, who explains in his author’s note: “The reality is that many of his thoughts, including his disordered thinking and eating, are based on my own experiences as a young person.”
Schu utilizes verse to share Jake’s story, and it really helps set the tone. The pauses. The intentional breaks. It mirrors moods in its pacing and emotion in its grace. It’s a moving read.
Though the publisher’s suggested age range is 10-14, older teens will see value in it, too. Louder Than Hunger is one of the best books I’ve read this year.
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