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.---from the publisher
528 pages 978-1536229097 Ages 10-14
Keywords: novel in verse, anorexia, survival, loners and outcasts, self acceptance, self image, self esteem, dealing with thoughts, dealing with feelings, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, 14 year old, eating disorder, mental health, mental illness
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“...[A]norexia nervosa isn’t really about food.”
“More than one person dies every hour as a result of an eating disorder, which equates to more than 10,000 deaths each year in the U.S. Of all mental health disorders, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate [and] anorexia has the highest death and mortality rate of all eating disorders. While women have anorexia more often than men, the mortality rate for males with anorexia is double that of females. Worldwide, eating disorders cost more than 3.3 million healthy life years annually. There are many factors that can contribute to death from anorexia. Early intervention and treatment are essential to minimize the risks…Anorexia can take a major toll on the brain and body. The longer the system is deprived of essential nutrients, the more damage can occur. This can lead to organ damage, brain shrinkage, and issues with the nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems. It can also cause significant mental health issues like depression and anxiety.”
– from The Bulimia Project website
"And the next thing ya know
Your son is playing for money
In a pinch-back suit
And listening to some big out-a-town jasper
Hearing him tell about horse-race gambling
Not a wholesome trotting race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy
Setting on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say”
– “Trouble” from “The Music Man,” winner of the 1957 Tony Award for Best Musical, and my own childhood favorite musical.
“...I look at a photo of
Emily Dickinson
taped to my desk.
I know
her poem
‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’
by heart.
So I run in place,
burning as many calories as I can,
repeating
the opening lines
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you–Nobody–too?
as
FAST
as
I
can.
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you–Nobody–too?
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you–Nobody–too?
The Voice says,
YOU–ARE–REPULSIVE!
Am I Nobody,
Too?
………….
When I can’t run anymore
I sit down again at my
big brown desk.
Mom
knocks, knocks, knocks
on my bedroom door.
I ignore her.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
I don’t have
enough energy
to tell her to
GO AWAY–
to leave me alone.
I wish everyone
would leave me alone–
forever.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
Worry enters the room.
She brings it
wherever she goes.
You can feel it.
Smell it.
Mom puts a plate of
pretzels and pepperoni
on my desk next to me.
My stomach
G-R-O-W-L-S
again.
The Voice says,
DON’T EAT THAT GARBAGE!
YOU ALREADY ATE AN APPLE TODAY!
YOU DIDN’T EXERCISE ENOUGH!
She says,
Why haven’t you started your homework?
This isn’t like you.
What’s going on?
I want to say,
This isn’t like you.
You don’t usually care.
I glare at
math
problems
wishing
X and Y
would
run away.
I imagine
feeding the
garbage
disposal
pretzels,
pepperoni, and
these
wretched
worksheets,
watching
it
grind
everything
into
tiny bits.
The
negative
Voice
inside
my
head
talks
nonstop.
It
has
since
the
middle
of
seventh
grade.
It’s
louder
than
the
hunger
in
my
stomach.
I
weigh
myself
10
times
per
day.
Then
15
times
per
day.
Then
20
times
per
day.
The
lower
the
number
on
the
scale
goes,
the
bigger
I
feel.
The
bigger
I
feel,
the
less
I
eat.
The
less
I
eat,
the
less
I
feel.
I
make
my
body
smaller
and
smaller
and
smaller.
I
punish
myself
day
after
day.
Why?
For
taking
up
too
much
space.
For
being
me.
For
breathing.”
It’s a lot of fun to receive advance reader copies in the mail and be in the forefront of raving about some killer tale that goes on to win one of the big children’s or YA book awards.
But those I’m-a-guy-in-the-know experiences don’t hold a candle to spreading the word about a book that you know, damned well, will sooner or later be instrumental in saving some young person’s life.
LOUDER THAN HUNGER is that kind of book. It may or may not win some awards or make some best-of lists at the end of the year. But, I guarantee you that, sooner or later, this one is going to be part of getting timely help for some suffering kid.
“...[A]norexia nervosa isn’t really about food.”
In LOUDER THAN HUNGER, author John Schu has fictionalized his own horrific personal experience of developing anorexia nervosa in junior high, and spending a year in and out of facilities battling the disorder and closely-related health issues.
So, what in junior high triggered the rise of The Voice in his head? The answer can be found in James Howe’s 2001 tween novel, THE MISFITS, the seminal tween book about name-calling and bullying.
Do you still believe that such behavior is just harmless kids-being-kids? Read this book and then tell me that.
Yes, LOUDER THAN HUNGER is 528 pages. But that’s 528 pages of a verse novel. The passage I quote, above, takes up 11 pages in the book. The powerful writing here kept my butt glued to my seat from page one right on through to the author’s note and other backmatter.
LOUDER THAN HUNGER will particularly well serve 10-14 year olds. There’s no two ways about it. Given the statistics, I’d call it malpractice for those serving tweens to ignore a book like this.
Buy it. Read it. Shelve it. Booktalk it.
And make the world a better, healthier place for all our kids by doing everything you can to stop the bullying and name-calling. My own experience is that one never fully recovers from that abuse.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California USA
See more of Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
